For the second intervention of their three-month residency as part of MOCAs Engagement Party program, Slanguage presented "Dislexicon: A Word Performance". The term Dislexicon combines dyslexia, a learning disorder marked by an impaired capacity to interpret spatial relationships, often resulting in severe reading disabilities, with lexicon, an inventory of meaningful units in a language. True to its name, Slanguage, a portmanteau itself, explored the idea of a visual lexicon and its poetics in relationship to text, spoken-word performances, music, and video, turning away from written word in favor of spoken (s)language. Through humor, poetry, text, video, and music, "Dislexicon: A Word Performance" examined the many facets of growing up in Los Angeles, metaphorically traversing the urban landscape to mine both its comedic and tragic elements. The performance featured poetic works by Slanguage members Karla Diaz and Raul Spew Vasquez. (less info)