Distance /decay / is an art and media exhibition by Pioneers Go East Collective. Designed for the gallery space at Time & Space Limited, Distance/decay/ offers an immersive experience, blending dance, music, and new media in a visual installation environment.
The work includes a series of solo performances and short films, as well as a series of pencil drawings by Mark Tambella, and new drawings by Joyce Isabelle.
The exhibition is inspired by Latina Feminist poet Alejandra Pizarnik’s writings and archival records which explore themes of displacement, artistic agency, and belonging. It draws connections to Francesca Woodman’s surreal photography, which often addresses bondage, emotional absence, and the relationship between bodies and their environments.
Archival interviews, letters, audio recordings, visual art, and music provide a foundation for the exhibition. Aestheticized in a new way, these elements reflect on history, power, and mental health care, amplifying and transcending their historical contexts to create a powerful dialogue between the past and the present.
Distance /decay / examines how art can effectively communicate everyday life and the cultures that shape us. We explore how people feel, watch, and listen in different places and how these spaces shape their identities. We highlight the ongoing struggle for individuals to define their personal and mental spaces and express their dignity to the world.
This project is made possible thanks to the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
Over the past 3 years, we received The New York Times’ highlight and a Notebook review in Dance for the Out-FRONT! Festival (2023 and 2025); Dance Magazine Pick; Forbes interview featured (2023), The Observer interview (2024); Brooklyn Rail interview featuring Pioneers Go East Collective (2023); NPR – WAMC Northeast Public Radio (2023), TimeOut NY Critics’ Pick (2021 & 2025); The New Yorker’s Highlight ‘Things to see’ (2021); Dance Enthusiast’s Pick, NY Magazine’s Pick; hailed by CULTUREBOT as “a strong gesture about collective queer yearning on a deep microcosmic, personal level.”
Pioneers Go East Collective is a radical queer laboratory collective of performing and visual artists dedicated to time-based and media art to empower the LGBTQ+ experience. Since 2012 based in New York City, we create works of high artistic merit, speak out about social issues, and build a platform to positively impact the LGBTQ+ community.
Founded and led by Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Daniel Diaz, and Philip Treviño, in collaboration with Joey Kipp, ALEXA Grae, Anabella Lenzu, Mark Tambella, and syd island, the collective portrays same-gender-loving experiences, memory, and marginalization that resonate with contemporary lives. Pioneers Go East Collective combines stories of vulnerability and courage with popular culture to facilitate communal meaning and advocate for cultural integrity. Pioneers Go East Collective’s work has been developed and presented in New York City at Socrates Sculpture Park (2025/26), BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music’s residency in 2023), BRIC ARTS MEDIA (2022/23), The LGBT Center (2019-24), Judson Church (2018-25), La MaMa Moves (2024), Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (2018-19), Center for Performance Research (2021-23), Exponential Festival (2018-20), JACK (2018), La MaMa (2012-16), St Ann’s Warehouse (2014), Governors Island/ Process Residency LMCC (2013/14), Chashama Gallery (2012), Goethe Institute Gallery (2012), Art on Air – Clock Tower Gallery (2012); and Upstate NY at Lumberyard (Catskill, NY) in 2023, Collar Works Gallery (Troy, NY) in 2023, Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency (2024), Kaatsbaan Cultural Park (Tivoli, NY) in 2024, and Time Space Limited (Hudson, NY) in 2025; as well as Buddies in Bad Times in Toronto, Canada. Current collaborators: Symara Sarai, Darrin Wright, Paul Simon, Joyce Isabelle, Azmi Mert Erdem, joy burklund, Anabella Lenzu, Adele Overbey, Bree Breeden, Kathleen Kelley, Jesse Timm, and Bryan Baira.
