Jean-Ulrick Désert and Trenton Doyle Hancock on Radical Presence

Jean-Ulrick Désert and Trenton Doyle Hancock are two of the artists participating in Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art. Curated by Valerie Cassel Oliver for the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Houston, the exhibition is now appearing in New York City. Some of the show’s performance art events will be featured in New York’s Performa 13 this November.

This week, for the first time ever, we’re also publishing the uncut versions of our field recording sessions with the two featured artists. When we met in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, Jean-Ulrick Désert talked about his migratory life style and the range of projects he’s taken on as an artist and activist in Haiti, the U.S., France and Germany. We traveled to Houston, Texas, to see Trenton Doyle Hancock perform “Devotion” at the Museum of Contemporary Arts, Houston. In his studio the next morning, Trenton explained the complex mythology behind his evolving autobiographical work.