Evolver Artists

(Kostume Kult above)

"ASANAS & AYAHUASCA" SALON:

Sharon Gannon co-founded the Jivamukti Yoga Method, which is a path to enlightenment through compassion for all beings. She is a pioneer in teaching yoga as spiritual activism/activation. The Jivamukti Yoga Method emphasizes vinyasa, scriptural study, devotion, prayer, music, chanting and meditation as well as animal rights, veganism, environmentalism and political activism. The Jivamukti Yoga Method is taught in NYC, Detroit, Toronto, London, Berlin and Munich. Sharon has co-authored two books on yoga with David Life: Jivamukti Yoga, Practices for Liberating Body & Soul and The Art of Yoga. www.jivamuktiyoga.com

Daniel Pinchbeck is the author of 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl and Breaking Open the Head: Psychedelics and Contemporary Shamanism. He is Editorial Director of Reality Sandwich. www.realitysandwich.com

Opening Body Prayer:

David Life has been recognized by Yoga Journal as an "innovator" in yoga in the U.S today. Together with Sharon Gannon, he has helped create the Jivamukti Yoga method, which focuses on teaching and practicing yoga as a means to enlightenment. David created Life Cafe in 1980, which featured jazz, art, and poetry. David became an influential performer, artist and spokesperson in the political and lively arts community in the1980's Lower East. He has been a contributing writer for several publications including Yoga Journal and Yoga International. www.jivamuktiyoga.com

DJs
Haj is resident DJ of Sub Swara & Freek Factory. His "low-end monkey business is more about journey than genre." http://people.tribe.net/haj

Globesonic's Fabian Alsultany has spent his life bridging gaps. A first-generation American of Arabic and Hispanic decent, he was initiated into culture bending at birth. He is a diehard advocate of presenting diverse and eclectic musical sounds, from alternative and straight rock 'n roll to traditional African, qawwali and global electronica, alongside everything in between. His former company, Uprise Productions & Management, spanned the gamut of nations as he worked with prime musicians from varied lands: Morocco, India, America, Europe, South America, and wherever else you'll find a heartbeat or drum. www.globesonic.com

Globesonic's Derek Beres is one of the leading figures in international music in America, working in numerous facets of the industry, from journalist and DJ to producer and presenter. He has written for dozens of magazines covering the traditional and digital realms of global music and has toured internationally, playing alongside some of the most important figures in the scene today. Well versed in international music, he is equally adamant about world cultures, devoting his life to the path of yoga, Eastern philosophies and world mythology. Click here for more information on Derek. www.globesonic.com

Hercules (Safetycan) - Hobo Tech, Freshstep and Deep Electrofunk. He has performed jazz at the Knitting Factory, medieval music at the Spoleto Festival, and computer music at Burning Man. He has played punk rock at CBGBs, ambient music at the Walker Arts Center and "You Light up My Life" at the Theophilus Divinity School. He created a performance-art variety show called Safetycan and composed music for the BMW films project, a documentary called The World's Best Prom, and the promotional campaign for the film It's All Gone Pete Tong. www.heatercore.net

VJS

The Housewives' Guide to Anatomy (Sarah Porter) manipulates archival footage to explore the American unheimlich. She has mixed video at venues including The Nokia Theater, Roseland, Galapagos, Joe's Pub, Tonic, The Hammerstein Ballroom, and Burning Man.

The Love Intelligence Group are NYC music producers and visual artists 
Erik Jacobs and David Resnick. They are believers in the evolutionary 
significance of the times we are living in, and the ability of artists of sound and light media to conduct that evolution. Their work is aimed at expressing energies of healing, new language, and new harmonic resonance in step with the growing community of beings." www.loveintelligencegroup.com

Chris Jordan's "Reflection Quadration" utilizes digital light and refraction, exploring the connections between virtual and physical space, and the definition of identity.

ART/PERFORMANCES

Glass Bead Collective's "Spaceship Inflatable": The Glassbead Collective brings together individuals from diverse backgrounds including video art, film, theater, architecture, photography, music, mathematics, fine arts and philosophy to produce live art events and films experimenting with a multi-disciplinary approach to contemporary issues. http://www.glassbeadcollective.org

Peripheral Media Projects: {E}volutionary {E}volver Printing: Peripheral Media Projects' {PMP's} delegates ZERO & Negative ZERO have teamed up on another mission to bring super-Evolver-inspired visuals to the event. These retinal treats comprise some fresh-of-the-press releases and some classic delights. Bring a shirt, fabric, piece of clothing, paper, whatever, and we'll drop the Evolver happiness on it, live, in person, printed by hand, with love. www.peripheralmediaprojects.com

Scott Draves' "Electric Sheep.” The Electric Sheep are created with an original algorithm that realizes a cyborg mind composed of 50,000 computers and people communicating with a genetic algorithm. The designs are created by evolution driven by audience preference as well as crowd-sourcing aka "intelligent design",making this the ultimate in "art 2.0". http://hifidreams.com, http://electricsheep.org

Dr. Brainwave's "Mind Machine”: Dr. Brainwave administers audiovisual stimulus to induce a drug-free state of deeply relaxed awareness. He is an experienced meditator and visionary mystic charged with the task of integrating western science and eastern spirituality. Charged by whom? By Dr. Brainwave. Who is Dr. Brainwave? Dr. Brainwave is an experienced meditator and visionary mystic charged with the task of integrating Western science and Eastern spirituality. Charged by whom? By Dr. Brainwave. Who is Dr. Brainwave? Dr. Brainwave is a pickle farmer from the future, sent here to help the people of the present realize that they, too, are from the future.

Creative Bodypainting Transformations by Nelia: Nelia is a Ukrainian-born graphic designer with a background in visual arts, fashion, and performance arts. Nelia infuses the art of face and body painting with deep meaning inspired by sacred symbolism, visionary art, and cross-cultural shamanic traditions. Her designs originate from a deep insight into the truest essence of the person being adorned, using the language of color and shape to create new levels of awareness and delight. Through these universal energetic marks, you will nourish a profound relationship with your divine authentic self.

Face Painting by Kostume Kult: Kostume Kult is an NYC-based group dedicated to self expression through creative fashions, participatory street theater, themed events, and community participation. Born at the Burning Man Arts Festival, Kostume Kult is now active locally in the NYC Halloween Parade, ZombieCon, Leprecon, the Horned Ball, the Mermaid Parade and many other inspired events. www.kostumekult.com

Kostume Kult Painters:
Limor. Jim Su. Beata Zolovska is a psychiatrist in training and a hypnotist in addition to being a face painter. www.shantimind.com, Liana Fan is a kostumer and still just discovering herself; Dan Walker is an artist who loves toys. www.robotmonkey.net.

Stephanie Radia Hope's Hoop Dance and Exploration: Stephanie Radia Hope picked up a hoop in the summer of 2006 and hasn't put it down. This simple plastic circle has facilitated her self-discovery as a dancer, performer, teacher, and community builder. She currently performs at events, teaches hooping to groups and individuals, sells customized hula-hoops, and is a member of the performance troops Colorwheel, Groovehoops, and Lady Circus. myspace.com/radiahope colorwheel.ws groovehoops.com ladycircus.com

Gastronome Cache-Cache: The Masked Meal: Close your eyes and open your mouth for a sensory experience that starts with your taste buds. A collaboration of Louisa Shafia and Nellie Kurtzman, get ready to strip away one of your five senses to bring the others into sharper focus. Louisa collects vegetable scraps and has a farmer fetish. Nellie works for a mouse marketing opiates to the masses. www.lucidfood.com

Future Unincorporated's "Poll of the Future" by Cassie Thornton: Cassie Thornton is the Director of The Future Unincorporated, a Consulting Company previously located in the forests of southern Finland. This is the company's first American event, and we are proud to offer free consultations to all attendees of Evolver with one of our professional future managers. Just for Evolver, we will present the world's second "Poll of the Future"-- a chance for New Yorkers to participate in a vote for their destiny, with the possibility to win their choice of fated prizes. Come and be your own fortune teller with Future Unincorporated! www.cassiethornton.com www.futureunincorporated.com

Choreographer C. Eule Dance: "Flight of Fantasy" with "Journey" video and costume designer by Yuliya Lanina. Performers: Caron Eule, Erin Hunter Jennings, Yuu Fujita Toews :
C. Eule Dance is a New York City-based modern dance company under the direction of choreographer Caron Eule. With movement fusing classical, modern and folk dance from around the world, the company performs in traditional and unconventional venues such as festivals, street fairs, art galleries and public schools to make dance available to the community. A new work will be premiered in the Asian New Year Celebration at the Kumble Theater on February 15th and 16th. www.ceuledance.org

Yuliya Lanina, a native of Russia, is a Brooklyn-based multimedia installation artist and sculptor busy at work on an upcoming solo show at Marvelli Gallery. Her allegorical creations explore the body and its relationship to time and consciousness. www.yuliyalanina.com

Multimedia video installaton: INFINITY, Installation Artist: Lisa Paul Streitfeld. Kundalini Couture/Wearable Art: Selma Karaca. Video Artist: John Knowles:
Selma Karaca is a Brooklyn-based award winning fashion designer and inventor of Kundalini Couture, which transforms energy in the body through sacred geometry founded in traditional female clothing such as corsets and hoop skirts. She was selected as the 2007 Art for Progress Fashion winner which sponsored her in the Spring 2008 Collections and was an international finalist in the Avant Garde category of the Gen Art Styles 2004 competition. www.selmakaraca.com

John Knowles is a reporter, director and producer of TV news who makes video art for and about multimedia installations/performances. He is currently making a documentary on the My Sweet Lord controversy. www.rogersmithnews.com www.panmanproductions.com

"Chakracize" with Kiana Love: Get a taste of Chakracize with Chakra Play Time. Come play with the energy centers in your body. Lets go back to the playground and explore. Open and energize your chakras with fun and games. Prepare to laugh and be childish. For an extended experience look for my Chakracize class. Take a journey through the energy centers of the body using breath, meditation, yoga, stretching, toning and more. Kiana Love, Founder and Director of Kakini Health, is a holistic practitioner that uses somatic therapies, energy work and reflexology to help balance the body, mind, and spirit. She holds a B.S. in Behavioral Science from the University of Houston and has certifications in body mind healing. She has studied hand, foot, and vertical reflexology. Kiana has continued to study somatic psychology and the integration of eastern charkas system with western psychology. Yoga, stretching, meditation, and breath work are some of the tools she employs to integrate these systems. Kiana is a certified Reiki master, Advanced Vortex Practitioner, and Master Integrative Energy Instructor. She also provides support as an interfaith minister. Kiana provides a compassionate presence that allows the body to express, and integrate its truth, which brings healing and peace of mind. www.kakinihealth.com

Fort-Da/Image Node: Screen #1: Resolve: Todd Polenberg is a new media artist, electronic musician, and ersatz electrical engineer. His a a member of the Fort/Da audiovisual collective and a founding member of Image Node. His artwork consists of large-scale LED installations, audiovisual remixes, rituals for the secular, and explorations of the unheimlich of technology. He performs abstract techno music as Habitrail and ambient hiphop as Autophage. His work has been seen and heard in places such as Ars Electronica, The Bunker, Brooklyn lofts via The Danger, Artbots, Roseland, and the Burning Man festival. http://www.imagenode.org

Michael Robinson's "Universus" project: Michael Robinson aka Nowherenyc is a Creative Director, Typographer, Revisionist Historian, Educator, Visual Artist, Prankster, and founding member of Reality Sandwich. He lives and works in Brooklyn. Michael Robinson/Nowhere. michael@nowherenyc.com, www.nowherenyc.com

COMMUNION SQUARE CAFE PERFORMERS:

Courtney Weber: Cafe MC and Astro Hour: Courtney Weber (MC) is a Wiccan Priestess, writer, performer, Astrologer and Tarot Advisor, orginally from Portland, OR who now resides in Manhattan. She has studied spiritual and occult philosophy with Gavin Bone and Janet Farrar, Orion Foxwood, Lilith Dorsey and Raven Grimassi among many others. She received her Priestess ordination under Reverend Cynthia DeFay of the Grove of Sacred Oak, Rowen and Yew, and leader of the Cluan-Feart School of Men's and Women's Mysteries. Courtney is the author of the cult-favorite astrologyexplained.blogspot.com and host of the monthly live Astrology show: The Ass-tro Hour with Sister Mary Manhattan at Stain Bar in Bushwick. She is delighted to be available for Tarot consultation.

Sitar and Sufi poetry with Dawoud Kringle and Asad Khan

Asad Khan is a 21 year old actor/poet/filmmaker/playwright double majoring at Rutgers University in Theater Arts and Economics. He has been featured and writes for ?The Genuine Review?, which is an online poetry magazine. Recent acting/performance credits: The Seed Gallery-Resonate, Patriot Acts-off off broadway, The Strand Theater- Afterthoughts of a Madman. Asad has also worked with Alzheimer patients at JFK Hartwick. Since the beginning of 2007 Asad has been researching shamanism, entheogens, telepathy, Sufism, yoga, and how to actively achieve methods in spreading global consciousness. He can be reached at asadkhan@eden.rutgers.edu

Dawoud Kringle is a sitar player, multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, & producer, with over 36 years of experience. He has performed in the US and Europe, composed for film and theater, enjoyed radio airplay in the US, Europe, Russia, and Indonesia, and experimented with unprecedented techniques and applications of the sitar His musical offerings, beyond mere entertainment, blending east & west, modern & ancient, invoke a deep spiritual awakening within the listener. It is a musical apotheosis. His websites are www.renegadesufi.com and www.myspace.com/renegadesufi. He may be contacted at dawoudkringle@aol.com.

Fantastical storytelling by Martin Dockery: Martin is a frequent storyteller in New York's storytelling scene. In addition, he's working on finding a venue for "Wanderlust," his one-person show about a temp looking for something permanent in the desert, ocean, and railways of West Africa.

Jessica Star's Burner-Country: Singer/songwriter, Jessica Star, is a 9 year Burning Man participant previously based in Northern California. She has been living and performing her own brand of Country music here in NYC for the last 5 years. Her songs are all based on her real life experiences, which span the gamut of hanging with hippies, living in the Burning Man culture, traveling throughout the Southwest in her motor-home, and more recently transforming into a New Yorker and a dedicated yoga practitioner. www.jessicastar.com, www.myspace.com/jessicastarband

Michael Brownstein's "Must Not Sleep”: Poet Michael Brownstein will invoke the plant spirits and read from his book World on Fire. His website is www.healingdick.com. His latest novel, Must Not Sleep, can be listened to FOR FREE at Podiobooks.com. That's http://www.podiobooks.com/title/must-not-sleep/

Asad and company: An interplay of visuals/sound/and a theater performance incorporating improvisation and poetry. Donald Arrington is a poet/playwright/musician residing in New Jersey. His new one act play Afterthoughts Of A Madman: Remnants Of A Broken Soul was recently featured in the Playwrights On The Rise series at The Strand Theater. He is also the founding editor of The Genuine Review an online community (website comming soon!), and would love to be contacted at majesticpoeticness@yahoo.com.

Doug O'Neil is a visual artist working with both video and 2d media. His main goal is to write the story of his life and to communicate to others their own ability to write the story of their lives. www.dougoneil.com

Philippe Javier Garcesto is a recent graduate of Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts with a BFA in Visual Art. He is a Filipino-American who moved to the US when he was 8 years old. He is a performance artist with roots in theater. He has worked with Clifford Owens at the Studio Museum of Harlem and PERFORMA06. In addition, he has performed with Rafael Ortiz in Unmaking: The Work of Rafael Montanez Ortiz at the Jersey City Museum. He is currently an artist in residence at SEED Gallery in Newark, New Jersey.

Luke Smith is a Graphic/Web Designer currently living in New Jersey. He works as a freelance designer and a staff writer for Defy Magazine, where he also leads the design team. He has an undying passion for hip-hop and most every type of DJ production; perhaps they are our generation's Bach's and Mozart's -mixing/composing beats that will later be labeled classics. He can be reached at luke@defymusicgroup.com and would love to work on your next project...

Bill Kennedy Café MC: Actor, Writer, Dreamer. And yes, that is his gaggle of geese.

WORKSHOPS

"Entheogenic Plants of the World" with Nat Bletter: Nat Bletter is Ph.D. candidate at CUNY and NY Botanical Garden in Ethnobotany and he specializes in medicinal plants of Peru and Mali. He is the author of a chapter on the psychoactive effects of chocolate in the recently released book Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao. He will show the wide range of psychoactive plants available and answer questions about the botany, neurochemistry, and shamanism of psychoactive plants. http://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/Profile_45.asp

Chakra balancing with Lisa Paul Streitfeld: Lisa Paul Streitfeld is a New York City-based writer, shamanic astrologer and curator of cosmologically based art exhibitions/performance. Inventor of the multimedia blogel (www.thealchemyoflove.blogspot.com), she has developed a 21st century perspective on the chakra system based on two decades of alchemical experiments and gives presentations/workshops on the role of art in the evolution of consciousness. www.alchemyalive.com, www.thehierosgamosproject.com

"Restoring the Revelation Dream" with Rodger Kamenetz: Rodger is the author of nine books of poetry and prose, including the landmark international best seller, The Jew in the Lotus. His latest book, The History of Last Night's Dream, explains how Western culture and religion shut the door on the revelation dream and how we can reopen that door today. He lives in New Orleans and works as a dream therapist. http://kamenetz.com

Yardena Denny Engel has studied Foot, Hand and Face Reflexology with Wendy Coad.She practices on friends and family members in New York and at the Gascoyne Potter Wellness Center in Columbia, PA. She has been a volunteer at the Hospital of Joint Diseases as a part of IWD (Initiative for Women With Disabilities). Being a part of a great group of women providing their various talents. She is ARCB(American Certification Board) certified. She is a member of the International Reflexology Association as well as the New York State Reflexology Association. She has a Reiki Level II degree(Usui System of Natural Healing. When not at her day job at The Pedre Company, she is an artist and practices yoga early mornings and weekends at the Jivamukti Center.

Ecstatic drumming with Jay Michaelson www.metatronics.net performing with Andrew Hahn http://www.kirtanrabbi.com/
Jay Michaelson (www.metatronics.net) is the author of God in Your Body: Kabbalah, Mindfulness, and Embodied Spiritual Practice (2006) and Another Word for Sky: Poems (2007). Jay is the founding editor of Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture (www.zeek.net), a columnist for the Forward, a teacher of Kabbalah and spirituality, the director of Nehirim: A Spiritual Initiative for GLBT Jews, and a Ph.D candidate in Jewish Thought at Hebrew University, where he is studying an 18th century heretic. He lives across from a goat farm in Putnam County, New York.

PHOTOGRAPHERS/VIDEOGRAPHERS

George Courtney is an artist living in Manhattan and has lived in New York City for the past 4 years. He graduated with a Bachelor of Sciences in Film Studies with studies in both art history and photography from Boston University. He has been inspired by his extensive travels abroad to Europe, to such countries as Italy, France, Spain Greece and Turkey. Now he peruses perfecting his art in photography from a whole range of subjects, from performance pieces to landscapes to collaborative projects. He has spent the past few years photographing performances in the Lower East Side such as performance artists, poets, comedians, and dancers. He started at Collective Unconscious and has since then photographed everything from headshots to business conferences. Through it all he holds close to the unifying force that brand all of his pictures and that is capturing that unique moment of human expression.

Zuvuya Collective: "Roaming videographers" :Olga Mazurkiewicz, Christian Austin, Peter Shapiro, Talena Sanders: Ride the shifting waves of time and the galactic unconscious; a collision of sound, image and spirit. Listen to its whispered secrets and swim in its shifting stream as laughter echoes into an endless night. Zuvuya Collective is an association of audio and visual artists who explore the dynamic relationships between time-based media, immersive installations, physical phenomenon and audio visual alchemy in order to reveal the hidden interplay between the conscious, subconscious and collective unconscious. Individual artists participating include: VJ KA, VJ OHM, VJ BOT and dr.littlefish, who all form the monthly and popular "LOVE" party at Hotel QT. www.myspace.com/zcollective, zcollective@gmail.com, myspace.com/zcollective

EVOLVER EVENT ORGANIZERS

Jonathan Philips is the Community Director/News Editor of the web-magazine Reality Sandwich and Executive Editor of the NYC body/mind/spirit events newsletter, Souldish.com. He is a Reiki Master and the founder of the NYC Gnostics. He also does a regular podcast called "The Electric Jesus" and teaches "Electric Jesus" workshops using energy work to bring out the divine. To schedule a workshop email, jonathan@realitysandwich.com, www.realitysandwich.com

Elke Dehner is an event producer, curator and marketing professional. She has organized international art festivals in Germany and coordinated multi-media events, warehouse dance parties, flash mobs and art installations in New York City and at the Burning Man Festival. Elke is member of Safetycan, an interdisciplinary supergroup and creative think tank that develops new models of participatory culture. She creates immediate one-of-a-kind experiences and explores new forms of creative collaborations as opportunities for unique and intimate experiences.

Kevin Balktick is a cultural event producer living in Brooklyn, NY.
He has organized a wide range of events including multimedia art
exhibitions, outdoor festivals, conferences, street parades, dance
parties and many things in between. These events are designed to
build New York City's cultural community by providing a forum for
people to meet each other in creative contexts. Their settings have
included such diverse environs as streets, churches, lofts &
warehouses, public parks, art museums, bars, yoga studios and
subways. His larger projects include Decompression, a 2,500 person
non-profit art exhibition and party and Figment, an outdoor arts
festival on Governors Island.

Elizabeth Brackbill will graduate from Gallatin at New York University in May with an individualized degree in holistic health focusing in nutrition, psychology, mind body integration and energy healing. She is the co-founder of Fruition--a developing holistic wellness company whose mission is to spread mindful bliss through nutrition, energy healing, mind-body integration, sustainability, self-reliance, and ecstatically action-oriented community building (website coming soon).

Lisa Paul Streitfeld is a New York City-based writer, shamanic astrologer and curator of cosmologically based art exhibitions/performance. Inventor of the multimedia blogel (www.thealchemyoflove.blogspot.com), she has developed a 21st century perspective on the chakra system based on two decades of alchemical experiments and gives presentations/workshops on the role of art in the evolution of consciousness. www.alchemyalive.com, www.thehierosgamosproject.com

Alison Levy turned 29 this week and is hoping her Saturn Return will not be too harsh. She has been curating site-specific art exhibitions and public art projects for 6 years including organizing the Peekskill Project in Peekskill, NY. She lives in Williamsburg with an incredible Aquarian roommate and her tortoiseshell cat, Peaches. Last year, she earned her Master of Arts in Contemporary and Modern Art History, Criticism and Theory from Purchase College. This May, she is curating an art event at 3rd Ward influenced by her favorite band, DEVO.

Salma Shamy has been working on several new projects lately including spearheading the "Green" initiative and the Marketing and Promotions effort for the Evolve 2012 Music and Arts Festival to take place on a 100+ acre farm in New Jersey. She also edits the Souldish On the Radar NYC events calendar published on Realtiy Sandwich and in newsletter form. Currently she"s working as a Personal Trainer and wellness expert, graduating from NPTI (National Personal Training Institute), the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York City and the Institute for Therapeutic Learning in Seattle, WA. She is a certified Fitness Trainer, Holistic Health Counselor, Reiki Master, Energy Coach (CEC), Transpersonal Hypnotherapist and Bach Flower expert. Her approach is a spiritually focused and an individually crafted mind, body and spirit alchemical celebration of the divinity within each one of us. She is also a digital artist and photographer, and creates unusual portraits and colorful documentations of people and places. In addition, she regularly volunteers her time at CoSM and hopes to become more involved in the spiritually oriented underground Cultural Revolution in art, music and dance, helping to create community and fun. Http://www.myspace.com/aylavue is another online community where she frequently blogs and shares art, poetry and inspiration

Natasha Blank, on the verge of completing a degree in Consciousness Studies and Holistic Health at NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study, is a Reiki practitioner and co-founder of Fruition--a developing holistic wellness company whose mission is to spread mindful bliss through nutrition, energy healing, mind-body integration, sustainability, self-reliance, and ecstatically action-oriented community building (website coming soon). She thinks it's very important to dance as often as possible. natashablank@gmail.com