Mission & Values
LEIMAY (CAVE Organization Inc.) is a grassroots POC artist-run organization and performing arts ensemble that exists out of a converted garage space called CAVE in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Initiated by Shige Moriya of Japan in 1996 and joined by Ximena Garnica of Colombia in 2001, LEIMAY is led by immigrant artists and holds a regular NYC home season, offers classes to the public, brings in guest artists for workshops, and collaborates with presenting and educational partners across NYC and in upstate NY. LEIMAY was incorporated in 2003 by Ximena and Shige who were passionate about creating a space for art to exist amongst the barriers and challenges in NYC. We believe in the circulation of energies, resources, and imagination.
Our collaborative multidisciplinary works include sculptural, video, mixed-media, and light installations as well as photography, training projects, stage performances, and publications. Our work exists in different domains, from large-scale productions for the theater or gallery space to art installations or performances in public places, to artifacts for someone’s home, to advocacy projects and creative protests, to a multi-year festival or educational program. Check out Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya’s portfolio here.
LEIMAY supports butoh practitioners, dancers, musicians, theater artists, visual artists, puppeteers, performance artists, and beyond. Our vision is to effect positive change in our community, sustain a professional Ensemble of performers, and make interdisciplinary artwork accessible to people with limited resources, opportunities, or exposure to art. Under Ximena and Shige’s leadership, LEIMAY has spearheaded a plethora of programs and initiatives that support artistic exploration, resource sharing, community, and professional development. Read more about LEIMAY community programs here.
By Program
All
NYBF Artist
At Home Artists
Ferment Artists
Fellow Artist
Gallery Artist
Incubator Artist
NYBK Artist
OUTSIGHT Artist
SOAK Artist
Raul Zbengheci (he/him) is a Romanian-American cultural organizer, producer, and administrator. If contemporary art and culture functions today as an archipelago composed of small islands, Raul situates himself in the waters between the islands, following the currents and floating softly between different mediums, technologies, and influences. He specializes in producing and commissioning ambitious large scale art projects while also using his skills as a producer to support community groups fighting for social justice. Prior to joining NEW INC, Raul worked with the Whitney Museum of American Art, PERFORMA, Times Square Arts, PROTOTYPE Festival, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and more. He … Continued
José Rivera, Jr. (President) is a Puerto Rican – American multimedia performing artist, direc- tor & choreographer based in Brooklyn, NY, merging techniques in performance, fashion, technology, visual art, and theater techniques. NYC: OF CAKE & VANITY (NYU,The PIT), Mad Forest (Radu), ACTING: the first 6 Lessons (Creature Cho- rus), Spring Awakening (Dr.VonBrausepulver), the displacement Project & Qual- ia-Gardens (LEIMAY), Emily Dickinson OUTERSPACE! (Bushwick Starr). Choreo & Direction: Bohemian Lights (LiveSource/HERE), Miami is Sinking (Dixon Place), In the Heights, Passing Strange,The Girl Who Was Plugged In, Songs for a New World. José works admin at CAVE home of LEIMAY. BFA, … Continued
Ximena Garnica (Officer/Founder/Artistic Director), director and curator of the New York Butoh Festival and Artist in Residence at the CAVE gallery. “Once it touches, it enters. As it travels within it stirs my guts. It breaks off skin, and I soon find myself in pieces scattered in the void. With pieces still cracking, I now celebrate”. Ximena Garnica Gomez, born in Bogota, Colombia, is an actress, dancer and emerging theater director. She is Associate Director of CAVE Co-Director of CAVE ensemble and Artistic Director of LEIMAY Productions. She has trained with several butoh masters including Ko Murobushi, Yukio Waguri, Akira … Continued
Shige Moriya (Officer/Founder/Artistic Director) is an installation and video artist, and the founder and Artistic Director of the CAVE, a multimedia performance space, gallery and artist in residence space in Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY. Shige mixes live feed video with pre-edited materials and projects the images into sculpture constructed of layers of thin translucent screens. Shige invites audience and performer to enter the sculpture and discover further abstractions of a stretched two dimensional space. Video-installation artist and curator, Shige Moriya (born in Kyoto, Japan) has been in New York since 1993. He first worked as an exhibition curator in Soho, but … Continued
Jeremy Slater is an artist born in Wallingford, England who now lives in Williamsburg Brooklyn. He is a sound artist essentially, but also works with video and sound in performance and installation settings doing interactive and ambient-reactive installations. Otherwise known as ( ) Jeremy Slater uses his laptop computer to create a variety of sound, image, and interactive work. He was one of the 1999 recipients of the Computer Art Fellowship from New York Foundation of the Arts (NYFA) and has exhibited and performed nationally and internationally. www.jeremyslater.net
Was born in USSR. She studied Social Realism Painting in Kiev, Ukraine, obtained a BFA in Computer Graphics and Interactive Multimedia at Pratt and a Master of Interactive Telecommunications – NYU, Tisch School of the Arts, ITP. Irena has worked as artist in a diverse array of fields, starting from Archaeology, Theater, Children’s books illustrations, Animation, Video, Interactive Multimedia, Game Design, and Creative Code. She has co-designed and fabricated costumes for LEIMAY’s projects for the past nine years and performed in several LEIMAY projects. She has been a LEIMAY Fellow with her own work as a visual artist collaborating with … Continued
I am dancing with emotions and trance states, hovering within the intensities they share. I will be premiering a trio at the Chocolate Factory Theater this April 2022 and am also working on a solo premiering in 2023. What does the unknown mean to you? The unknown is space for alternative constellations of feeling.
By Discipline
All
Discipline
Discipline - Composer
Discipline - Costume Designer
Discipline - Dancer
Discipline - Director
Discipline - Filmmaker
Discipline - Lighting Designer
Discipline - Musician
Discipline - Painter
Discipline - Photographer
Discipline - Sculptor
Raul Zbengheci (he/him) is a Romanian-American cultural organizer, producer, and administrator. If contemporary art and culture functions today as an archipelago composed of small islands, Raul situates himself in the waters between the islands, following the currents and floating softly between different mediums, technologies, and influences. He specializes in producing and commissioning ambitious large scale art projects while also using his skills as a producer to support community groups fighting for social justice. Prior to joining NEW INC, Raul worked with the Whitney Museum of American Art, PERFORMA, Times Square Arts, PROTOTYPE Festival, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and more. He … Continued
Was born in USSR. She studied Social Realism Painting in Kiev, Ukraine, obtained a BFA in Computer Graphics and Interactive Multimedia at Pratt and a Master of Interactive Telecommunications – NYU, Tisch School of the Arts, ITP. Irena has worked as artist in a diverse array of fields, starting from Archaeology, Theater, Children’s books illustrations, Animation, Video, Interactive Multimedia, Game Design, and Creative Code. She has co-designed and fabricated costumes for LEIMAY’s projects for the past nine years and performed in several LEIMAY projects. She has been a LEIMAY Fellow with her own work as a visual artist collaborating with … Continued