In the beginning Kathleen Laziza moved her family from Manhattan's Soho area where she and partner William Laziza were already working as an artistic network, producing public access video, and raising a youngster to the 2nd floor of 123 Smith Street. Their videodance and videoart works aired at ABC No Rio, Wow Cafe, RYO, Context Hall, The Roxy, etc.. Displacement is a chronic condition for the artists of NYC. Being a Certified Artist for the City of NY via NYC Department of Cultural Affairs did not help her stay in Manhattan so Brooklyn seemed like a good option for the Laziza family. Kathleen was already catering meals for families with special diets, so moving close to Shahadi's seemed remarkably fortunate plus PS 261 was practically the backyard to Micro Museum.
Prior to arriving in NYC 1981 Kathleen Laziza was a notable visual artist and choreographer from TX. She was trained as a calligrapher and operated a small cottage business using those skill. Drawing and paintings were a natural extension. Her mentor was William Lester, where she apprenticed from 1977-1979. In addition, she received commissions to produce public performance events from Austin's Dance Umbrella as well as other private patrons. As a co-owner of notorious night club on 8th/Congress "After Ours" she booked stage acts like Stevie Ray and Jimmy Vaughn. William Laziza was already a significant part of her collaborative efforts. Eight drawings were purchased by Papyrus Institute in Egypt in 1979. Her drawings and paintings are always on display.
The story of LED Co. actually starts with LVLP which stands for Laziza Videodance and Lumia Project. The project was birthed at 30 Bond street in Soho area of Manhattan, where Kathleen and William Laziza were raising a newborn, inventing low-tech special effects for video, showing their video collaborations in small venue or through national public access channels and creating a team of dancers, musicians, videomakers and visual artists.
Back in the day the artists of Micro Museum were considering pioneers for an area of Brooklyn that was not know for it's safety. However it was filled with a beautiful diversity that allowed associate artists to fit right in. Kathleen Laziza directed her network of independent artists (LED Co) with weekly rehearsals and monthly public events. Her dance experiments sometimes involved neighbors who were invited to move for a video camera. For example William Laziza fabricated a hand held "warp lens" that manipulated the subject's body in poetic ways on the dancers of LED Co. but in Carroll Park the local kids became "coneheads."
Many of Laziza's interactive sculptures embrace concepts about communication. For them, it is a constant open question. Why and how do humans communicate and what does it do to us or say about us? These touch sensitive, user friendly art works have the ability to provoke the way we think about museums. This collection of installations are displayed at the museum.
The Brooklyn Heights Playground Committee hired Micro Museum to direct their summer arts/science/movement program from 1990-2014 at Pierrepont Park. In that time, under the direction of Kathleen Laziza, Brooklyn youngest residents and families visiting Brooklyn's famed Promenade produced over 3,000 projects every year. She trained dozens of NYC's future teachers and offered internship opportunities to hundreds of Brooklyn youth. Many of the organizations (Chinese American Planning Council, Good Sheppard Services, The South Brooklyn Local Development Corp., City-As-School, Center for Family Life) became partners to the museum and the students were able to receive first job experience as well as being paid minimum wages via NYC's Youth and Community Development Programs.
The parents of PS 261 approached Micro Museum with a request to host after-school activities on the school's premise. This program was known as "WHOLE ARTS." It was an active force in the neighborhood school from 1990 - 2000. Micro Museum extended these services to PS 29 from 1992-1994. Meanwhile on the second floor of the museum many art training programs were active for youngsters. Some of the groups were UpBring Dance, Music and Me, Musician General, Luminia Theater, classes that specialized in American Sign Language for toddlers, Animal safety classes and a slew of professionals who made their living serving NYC public schools as art professionals.
AC/DC Window is a kinetic sculpture in the second floor window of Micro Museum. It has a solar powered function and has run nearly continuously since it was first installed. There have been 6 configurations of the site and is a notable addition to the neighborhood. AC/DC Window is available for veiwing 24/7/365
For most of Kathleen Laziza's dance career she was choreographing works that involved many collaborators. These works were poetic abstractions. In the early 1990s Ms. Laziza created a series of solo performances that she could perform without involving the entire force of the Laziza Electrique Dance Co. These dances were performed at Brooklyn's Picnic House, Micro Museum, The Knitting Factory and other small venues open to performing artists in NYC.
Spontaneous Combustion began as live events before the artists of Micro Museum arriving in Brooklyn. These events were structured to highlight 2 videoart sections which were sandwiched with performing artists. Additionally, visual artists were invited to exhibit their works and Ms. Laziza prepared home cooked foods. The works were recorded on video and in 1993 they became the inaugural programming for Brooklyn Community Access Television. The museum contributed actively to BCAT until 2004. Now the collection is a part of the archives and from time to time have opportunities for public broadcasts or post-graduate studies.
