Primitive Games

On June 21, 2018, the Guggenheim's rotunda became an arena for the culminating performance of Shaun Leonardo's "Primitive Games" (2018). The project asked "What might happen when four seemingly divided groups are invited to debate one another without using words?" The event followed artist-led, movement-based workshops with participants from four groups, each with a unique relationship to gun violence: citizens impacted by street violence, military veterans, police officers, and recreational users of firearms. Staged amid increasingly divisive national politics, Primitive Games gave performers and audience members alike an opportunity to reconsider their own place within contemporary debates.