This performance work has been conceived as a reflection on the reality of genetically engineered corn, and its devastating consequences on life. For Mexicans and many other Latin Americans, maíz nurtures the body, and also the soul, as native sacred texts tell the story of how our first people were made out of maize. As such, it plays a symbolic role in rituals, and it is also one of our key traditional food sources, from the American Southwest, to Patagonia. NK 603 is the name of one of the many genetically modified corn seeds available in the market. NK 603: Action for Performer and e-Maíz is an interactive piece. Live performance is punctuated by the active intervention of video. Electronic music by Luna’s collaborator David Molina, sustains the narrative through the mixing of recorded texts. Throughout its 45 minutes of duration, physical sequences and actions are clashed with violent and subversive imagery, as a kind of ritual of memory and resistance to the constant invasion of technology and market forces that threaten the way of life of entire communities.

NK603 – CREDITS:
Concept / Performance/ Costumes: Violeta Luna
Video Concept and Collage: Roberto Gutierrez Varea & Mickey Tachibana
Original Music: David Molina
Photos: Greg Crane (top left, bottom right), Nikolay Khalezin (top right)

REVIEW 1   REVIEW 2   REVIEW 3   REVIEW 4   REVIEW 5


NK 603: Action for Performer and e- Maíz has been presented at the following venues:

• National Hispanic Cultural Center. Revolutions International Theater Festival. Albuquerque, New Mexico
• DAH Theater. Belgrade, Serbia
• VII Encuentro de Mujeres en Escena: Tiempos de Mujer. Ibarra/Ambato/ Otavalo/Quito, Ecuador
• Aditorio Municipal, Festival del día Ixil. Nebaj, Guatemala
  Centro Estatal de las Artes. Mexicali/Ensenada/Tijuana, México
• La otra Mirada: V Encuentro Internacional de Mujeres en el Teatro. Alcalá de Guadaíra, España
• XIV Encuentro de Mujeres de Iberoamérica en las Artes Escénicas en el FIT. Cádiz, España
• Centre by Centre. Kígali, Ruanda
• University of San Francisco (USF). San Francisco, CA

• Teatro La Candelaria, Festival Alternativo de Teatro. Bogotá, Colombia
• Casa Yuyachkani, II Festival de Mujeres Creadoras. Lima, Perú
• California Institute of the Arts, Art in the One World. Los Angeles, CA
• Mission Cultural Center for the Latino Arts. San Francisco, CA
• Biblioteca Henestrosa, Oaxaca, México
• Front Ground & La Periferia, Mérida Yucatán, México
• Studio Gallery, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, México
• 7to. Encuentro of The Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. Bogotá, Colombia
• Galería Interferencial. Distrito Federal, México
• Maíz! A benefit for Corn and human Beans. Oakland, CA
• Skuc Gallery, 14th International Festival of Contemporary Arts –City of Women. Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Space Gallery. San Francisco, CA
• SOMARTS Bay Gallery. San Francisco, CA