COLIN SELF
IS INSPIRED BY THE SHRINES OF
AGOSTO MACHADO
Free, RSVP required
IS INSPIRED BY THE SHRINES OF
AGOSTO MACHADO
Free, RSVP required
Saturday,
June 21, 2025
Doors: 6:30pm
Performance: 7pm
Limited capacity
June 21, 2025
Doors: 6:30pm
Performance: 7pm
Limited capacity
A few years ago, the artist Tourmaline told her friend Colin Self about meeting the artist Agosto Machado. Colin was talking about writing a record in reverence to their dead community—various queer and trans people who had passed away who continue to deeply impact Colin’s life. “Colin,” Tourmaline softly suggested, “you have got to meet Agosto! The two of you are kindred spirits, doing the same work across generations.”
With Colin in Berlin and Agosto in New York, the two began to have sprawling phone calls about what Agosto calls “the ensemble of life”—the vibrant and dynamic figures of the New York counterculture. Soon enough, Colin began describing Agosto as a mentor and spiritual guidance counselor.
With Colin in Berlin and Agosto in New York, the two began to have sprawling phone calls about what Agosto calls “the ensemble of life”—the vibrant and dynamic figures of the New York counterculture. Soon enough, Colin began describing Agosto as a mentor and spiritual guidance counselor.
Earlier this year, Colin released the record, and it’s called respite ∞ levity for the nameless ghost in crisis (RVNG Intl, 2025).
This new theatrical performance, conceived by both artists, is a celebration of Agosto’s legacy as a crucial figure in New York’s countercultural theater and drag scenes, and an homage to the countless named and unnamed deceased figures Agosto and Colin make art in reverence to.
While the new record plays, the two artists respond to one another onstage through lip-syncing, dance, and improvisation with make-up, costumes, objects, and music.
Colin introduces this performance with “Voice of a Shadow”—a lecture on queer ancestry interspersed with a capella song.
This new theatrical performance, conceived by both artists, is a celebration of Agosto’s legacy as a crucial figure in New York’s countercultural theater and drag scenes, and an homage to the countless named and unnamed deceased figures Agosto and Colin make art in reverence to.
While the new record plays, the two artists respond to one another onstage through lip-syncing, dance, and improvisation with make-up, costumes, objects, and music.
Colin introduces this performance with “Voice of a Shadow”—a lecture on queer ancestry interspersed with a capella song.
Colin Self (b. 1987, USA) is an artist, composer, and puppeteer based between Brooklyn and Berlin. They create music, performances, and new systems for interfacing with the human spirit, across a spectrum between the living and deceased. As many of their practices revolve around the temporary assembly of communities, their work envelops collaborative and dialogical experiments into play. Their third LP, respite ∞ levity for the nameless ghost in crisis was released on RVNG Intl. in 2025.
Agosto Machado (b. USA) has been a vital participant in and witness to cultural and creative life in New York since the early sixties. A key figure in art, theater, performance, and film, his presence within social and political countercultural currents and at the dawn of the gay liberation movement is deeply felt. Over the past five decades, he has carefully assembled shrines and altars on shelves, boards, and in cabinets. Each one incorporates artworks, photographs, and relics from his vast archives—a kind of lost world that documents his own life and the wider creative history of downtown New York. He lives in New York.
