stacey KIRBY

Kirby is a queer, white-bodied, self-appointed civil servant from North Carolina who creates socially-engaged interactive performance art. Her performative interactions set within site-specific installations utilize bureaucratic forms, postures and language in vintage office environments to engage participants and community performers in questions around civil authority. Through humor and satire, Kirby reinvents the bureaucratic process in alternative, private and public spaces to elicit diverse dialogue about identity, community and human rights in the United States. Developed over the past 20 years, in more than 200 performances, with over 300 community performers and 10,000 participants, Kirby’s work evolves with the physical and historical setting, political climate and participants’ involvement at each location.
Creative embodiment and trauma-informed practices inspire Kirby’s engagements with students, community performers and participants. She views performance as service which is rooted in Kirby’s 15-year practice of yoga, mindfulness and meditation. She received her 200-hr certification in yoga teacher training and continues her education with teachers in the Embodied Social Justice program. Kirby strives to honor and amplify unique lived experiences and is committed to working alongside BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ collaborators to unpack the oppressive culture of racism, hatred and violence that divides us.

Kirby’s work and videos of performances can be found here.