Awesome Grotto! is ritual performance based on the Ancient Greek Mysteries of Eleusis and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, channeled through the re-performance of a single unpopular shopping “haul” video posted to YouTube on Labor Day 2013 and later deleted by its creator.

Central to this ritual is a live confessional performed inside a giant reverse camera obscura. Mediated only by a simple lens, this confessional ceremonially reimagines the now-mundane act of looking into the camera and sharing a story with the world.

Awesome Grotto! was nominated for two Bessie Awards in 2019 for Outstanding Visual Design and Outstanding Production. It was commissioned by Abrons Arts Center with funding from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. The Art of Luv is a project of Creative Capital.

Royal Osiris Karaoke Ensemble (Tei Blow and Sean McElroy) is a musical priesthood that explores the metaphysics and mythologies of love, desire, and courtship at the end of the 20th century. By appropriating strategies of installation art, opera, and theater, ROKE uses multimedia, movement, and original music to create modern-day rituals from found text and video sources.

Creators
Tei Blow and Sean McElroy in Collaboration with Eben Hoffer, John Gasper, Shea Leavis

Director
Eben Hoffer

Choreographer
Annie-B Parson

Original Musical Composition
John Gasper and Shea Leavis

Video Performers
Allison Kelly, Sifiso Mabena, Tracee Rohde, Erica Sweany and Madeleine Wise

Video Designer
Hyung Seok Jeon

Performers
Tei Blow, Sean McElroy, John Gasper and Shea Leavis