Prostalgia HD is the queer arts duo of laura Hunter petree and Delilah Friedler. For twelve years, we’ve created immersive works that confront dominant myths around whiteness, lineage, gender, and the state. Our community-driven projects serve as scaffolding within which a diverse range of artists contribute layers of performance, music, technology, installations, and design. We re-imagine ritual theater: liberated from the stage, it takes on new, more compelling dimensions. These experiences resist passive consumption, empowering participants—never “audience”—to act within intentional worlds.
Our current focus is LORE, a series of transdisciplinary events that reimagine folktales by hybridizing “show” and “party.” Involving dozens of collaborators, these experiences question worldviews, re-write narratives—and they’re fun. Since December 2022, hundreds of people have been invigorated by LORE events like “Hansel/Gretel,” “Cinderella,” and “little red riding hood,” mounted at NYC venues like Hex House, Rubulad, and Parkside Lounge, as well as at woodland gatherings in Tennessee and Vermont. We have performed LORE material on the Lot Radio and mix series like Rave Scout Cookies and XOXA.
Hunter is a woodworker and performance artist, while Delilah is a freelance writer and DJ. We are active members of Brooklyn’s art and nightlife communities, and have performed together or individually in London, Mexico City, California, and beyond.
LORE: Hansel/Gretel is a communal re-imagining of the classic Brothers Grimm folktale as an immersive dancefloor experience. Spectators are invited to dance while the story is told through original spoken word narration layered into a DJ set, exploring themes of hunger, abandonment, and triumph through self-empowerment.
“Thank you thank you and thank you to everyone who made this residency (Black Artist Space to Create) possible. These past two weeks have been a blessing! Not only have I been able to deepen my own personal/artistic practices, I was given the space to connect with people that I love! I was given space to reflect on love, and to prepare for what this next year (2021) will bring! Shout out to New Dance Alliance, Modern Accord Depot and Angie Pittman for the time, the space, and opportunity! I am forever grateful! It felt like a good meal, with dessert!”
– Johnnie Cruise Mercer
New Dance Alliance
182 Duane Street
New York, NY 10013