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Cedric Tai

@fakingprofessionalism

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Artist Type: “Dolphiny Owl” &
supp. a Scorpio moon, Aries rising, ‘85 Taurus, w/ Chiron in 3rd house... don’t get it but I enjoy being explained to.

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Either make mistakes early or give yourself permission to fail and try again, here we go!! 𝙄𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙈𝙚𝙖𝙣? and already thinking about what’s next before it’s all done…

w/ @lastingrayes at @laartcore

October PROGRAMMING:::

Public Opening — Saturday, October 10, 5–8 pm

Queer Filipino Cinema + Karaoke — Thursday, October 15, 6–9 pm
(Film TBD, all commentary to follow must be in the form of a song)

Make a Rayes — Sunday, October 18, 1–3 pm
A performance of a workshop…
Please keep your voice low and your spirit high during this activity, using house paint and backdrop paper to help bring an original, collectively made Rayes to life.
(All ages welcome, All supplies provided, Free, Max Capacity: 10 spots, so please RSVP by emailing IsThisWhatMean2026@gmail.com)

(Special open hours to coincide w/ Tuesday Night Cafe — Tuesday, October 20, 6:30–10 pm)

Curate-Your-Own-Adventure / Walls in Flux — Thursday, October 22, 6–8 pm
(No previous experience necessary, RSVP to bring your own artwork to install in spaces we’ll have
available for your work)

Late Night Art Gossip, Chisme, and Facing Your Fears in Art and Space — Thursday, October 22, midnight–2 am

(Food and drink will be provided. Warning: building is haunted, especially after 11 pm)

(Gallery is open but under construction October 23rd–24th...)

Closing “Opening Redo” — Friday, October 30, 5–8 pm

(RSVP required for all programming beyond the opening/closing so we can get a headcount:
IsThisWhatYouMean2026@gmail.com) taken in LA Artcore by @fakingprofessionalism

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6 days ago

Tomorrow 10/09 on “Sound of Artillery” on @kchungradio we welcome @fakingprofessionalism aka Cedric Tai (b. 1985; Detroit) is an undisciplinary artist and educator. They think through sculpture, talking, writing, performance, games, and experimental exhibitions.

Her work focuses on neurodivergent experience, labor, and politics. Tai has partnered with neuroscientists, academics from critical psychiatry, artist collectives, disability justice social media influencers, and somatic therapists to co-create accessible resources particularly around “mental health” and queer anti-capitalist liberation.

Tai holds a BFA from Michigan State University (2007) and an MFA from the Glasgow School of Art (2013).

They have an upcoming show at LA ArtCore “Is This What You Mean?” where they are installing the artwork of another artist (Rayes) and that artist is installing their work. Music playlist for the show provided by @lastingrayes!

Opening October 10th, 5–8 pm

Queer Filipino Cinema + Karaoke — Thursday, October 15th, 6–9 pm

with still more events until the closing on the 30th. by @fakingprofessionalism

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7 days ago

𝙄𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙈𝙚𝙖𝙣? A solo exhibition by Rayes and a solo exhibition by Cedric Tai ⁠   This show started with a door: an invitation to share space and keep the generosity going as a matter of interdependence.   Similar to two ADHD people cleaning each other’s houses as a kind of loophole to get the job done, the premise of “Is This What You Mean?” is to set up conditions for two artists to complete the other artist’s solo show, installing each other’s pieces beyond what the other originally intended.   Cedric keeps this solo show porous: other artists can put their own work up, change things, even as it remains their solo show.   In July, while looking for someone to repair their studio door, they were introduced to the artist @lastingrayes.   Rayes has been looking for the right weather, a moment to open themselves to chance and reveal their luster and shine. Responding to a post about a broken door reflects their trust in the flow of events rather than in controlling the outcome.   They wrote a set of agreements that included:  — “We want the show to feel alive.” (a playful arrangement between a film set and a pillow fort)  — “We agree to trust each other’s skills / knowledge / intuition / sensitivity, letting things develop without having as much control over the installation”  — “This exhibition will allow the artists to become friends”  — “This show allows us to make money to support ourselves: affordable things for sale, such as t-shirts, zines, even the artworks” ⁠  — “This exhibition will attempt to bend reality to our own desires, allowing them to flow freely between the audience and ourselves”  — “This exhibition will inspire undocumented people to start using their underground networks and ingenuity to break away from the fear of what might happen when you pursue a journey (towards freedom?)”  📅 October 10 – 30, 2026 📍 @laartcore, Open Thurs–Sun, 12–6pm  Ongoing programming will be shared in upcoming posts✨   More in the comments ⬇️   #LAArtcore #LittleTokyoArt #NeurodivergentArt #SoloExhibition #ArtistCollaboration 1Video is a video of both artists sitting at a chess board table setting up a photo to help advertise their show for emails, social media, and flyers for community message boards. taken in LA Artcore by @fakingprofessionalism

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a month ago

Excited to be the 2026 Migrating Pedagogies Fellow! @migratingpedagogies Which so far has included Touch Praxis and @nehabythesea !

This entails producing 4 postcards and giving a talk to a class. Relatedly, here’s other artist/educators I invited to share their thoughts… 2️⃣

So far, I’ve given a talk (for a second time) to @gabrielle_civil ’s ‘Performing the Self’ class at CalArts, doing my interactive choose-your-own-adventure artist talk 1️⃣

where folks hear about artworks that I can’t present anywhere else. 3️⃣

I have a teaching certification in art education from Michigan State Uni but I refer to myself as an undisciplinary artist/educator. This is in part because I’m very process oriented but not towards the mastery usually associated with each artistic discipline and my pedagogy doesn’t fit the authoritative/coercive ways that American education is often structured.4️⃣5️⃣(note: A menso/mensa in Spanish…)

For example if I’m teaching drawing I’ll usually try to bring in silkscreening… 6️⃣

I’ve interviewed @utopias4all at SFAI who described how their work creating a social practice curriculum was scrapped entirely and how educational institutions will fail their teaching staff and students. American higher ed all started going downhill when schools began treating students as consumers for an ever increasingly cost prohibitive product. 7️⃣

I’ve been thinking about how to teach the classes I didn’t end up getting re-hired for, for free, so that I can develop these experimental ideas and co-learn with peers and working class artists. 8️⃣

Much of my artwork is inspired by what I learn about how learning/teaching works, and I hope that by doing alternative modes of art education, I won’t lose the joy of helping people find their curiosity, their community, and their freedom.

9️⃣🔟+
Finally here’s some of my lecture performance for ‘Communicator Series’ where I described my ‘Cultural and Social Design of Games’ class where I led students through making disabled characters for video games, and then queering games…

Oh! Another Migrating Pedagogies method I do, I like making glass/ceramic test tiles for other ppls classes to reference... by @fakingprofessionalism

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5 months ago

Back in July last year I was invited to the first ever LevelGround Film Salon that was “designed for emerging filmmakers working on projects that defy categorization.”
 And then I got an e-mail from @samanthacurley asking if I wanted to be part of an inaugural fellowship cohort of filmmakers led by @navamau   🎥 “Level Ground’s Filmmakers Fellowship supports a cohort of trans and queer filmmakers and filmmakers of color in creating their next short films. Through a series of film salons, 1:1 mentorship, a stipend, and fiscal sponsorship, we’re exploring new models of making and sharing work with emerging filmmakers motivated by innovation and creative risk.”  Fellowship goals:
* Expanding tolerance for complexity in content, sustainability, and experimental approaches to making work
* Building tools and ecosystems to make work more equitably
* Teaching alternative approaches to distribution (via audience and impact development)
* Fostering a community of filmmakers who are working and exploring new models together
 So last April, I got to screen a VERY rough 10-minute cut of, “A Neuroqueer Film” (which is really a slew of various edits from dif. ppl) to go with the theme of the Film Salon’s first of three themed events “Building teams and partners within a collaborative ecosystem.”

But now what do I do??, that was the ideal audience!   That night I took @lukafisher advice to film the screening so that it could still count as “Me only using the iPhone 17” (loophole!) to make a short film for the OTV Brave Futures challenge! I realized later I setup the mic all wrong and didn’t record any of my description of the project, but I still used the footage, so take THAT impulsivity!

Thanks to @Levelground.co and especially @csrcalloway in particular for sending me some really amazing classic split screen films and giving me the idea that for the final full length iteration it will include me stopping the films every 10 minutes to interject with what’s going on and answer any questions in my enthusiastic choose-your-own-adventure kind of way. taken in Junior High by @fakingprofessionalism

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5 months ago

22 years into a friendship with @fakingprofessionalism, we found the right collaboration— a couple of lines pulled from a recent poem glazed and shined. Earth to earth— thanks for making my poetry tangible C., in awe of your clay game.✨ by @fakingprofessionalism

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5 months ago

#BraveFutures: The Nuance of Neurodivergence from @weareotv is coming to Los Angeles at on May 21 in partnership with FWD-Doc and @apple — three films by three neurodivergent filmmakers, all FWD-Doc members, shot exclusively on iPhone 📱 RSVP for free at the link in our bio!

Thursday, May 21, 2026
6:30pm at Apple Tower Theater
Meet the filmmakers:
✨ Cedric Tai (@fakingprofessionalism) | she/he/they | A Neuroqueer Film is Happening
✨ Cashmere Jasmine (@cashmerejasmine) | she/her | The CrashOut Diaries
✨ Gina Chin-Davis (@ginachindavis) | she/her | Clean Enough

This special edition will celebrate neurodiverse creative futures, spotlight regionally rooted narratives, and expand access to mobile-first filmmaking through a community screening and artist talk. Mark your calendars and come support BIPOC disability creativity!

Accessibility ♿ All video has captions. Live conversation will be ASL interpreted. Hearing loop technology available upon request. Apple Tower Theatre is fully ADA-compliant, per venue website. Over a close up photo of a person adjusting camera settings, text says, “Spotlight: Neurodivergent Stories with Open Television. May 21. 6:30pm. Today at Apple. Tower Theater.” taken in Los Angeles, California by @fakingprofessionalism

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5 months ago

LA 👀 get a first look at new work from @cashmerejasmine @fakingprofessionalism @ginachindavis as they preview their #BraveFutures films at Today at Apple: Nuance of Neurodivergence May 21st 🧠✨

RSVP free for a preview of:

Cashmere Jasmine: “CrashOut Diaries” [When it comes to a Crash Out the only way out is through, these are the inner thoughts on how we experience, recover, and repair]

Cedric Tai: “A Neuroqueer Film Is Happening” [Un-disciplinary artist Cedric Tai invents an interactive ‘Neuroqueer Film’ asking friends everything from "what does a producer do?" to "what could this film even be?”, a meandering spiral of film ideas, transformations, and experiments.]

Gina Chin-Davis: “Clean Enough” [Trapped in a looping ritual of handwashing, a figure chases the feeling of “clean enough” as the cycle intensifies—until a quiet moment of resistance breaks through.]

check the link in bio to RSVP today.

📷: @ellecolumbo

#BraveFutures #NuanceOfNeurodivergence #weareotv #TodayAtApple by @fakingprofessionalism

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5 months ago

Honored to have served as an associate producer on @fakingprofessionalism new short film which premieres later this month on May 21. Link in bio. “@weareotv Cedric Tai (she/he/they) makes art that lives in the spaces between structure and subversion. Their conceptual practice brings together neuroscientists, disability justice advocates, somatic therapists and anti-capitalist thinkers to co-create work that makes “mental health” political. From secretly planting miniature artworks on strangers to building Neuroqueer Film Workshops where every participant walks away with their own version of the film Cedric’s work refuses to exist in just one place. and honestly it has to be experienced.
Brave Futures: Nuance of Neurodivergence is May 21 at the Apple Tower Theatre in LA.” by @fakingprofessionalism

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5 months ago

Cedric Tai (she/he/they) makes art that lives in the spaces between structure and subversion. Their conceptual practice brings together neuroscientists, disability justice advocates, somatic therapists and anti-capitalist thinkers to co-create work that makes "mental health" political. From secretly planting miniature artworks on strangers to building Neuroqueer Film Workshops where every participant walks away with their own version of the film Cedric's work refuses to exist in just one place. and honestly it has to be experienced.

Brave Futures: Nuance of Neurodivergence is May 21 at the Apple Tower Theatre in LA.

get your tickets at the link in bio and follow Cedric @fakingprofessionalism #weareotv #BraveFutures by @fakingprofessionalism

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5 months ago

York Boulevard Road Concert, happening with @fakingprofessionalism and their Ribbon Dancing performance. Thanks @stephenvandyck for organizing the 40+ site-specific artworks, performances, interventions, participatory projects, music, and happenings.
I had a great time looking at the 🐴and dancing with the ribbons. by @fakingprofessionalism

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6 months ago

Meet S2 resident Cedric Tai.

Cedric Tai (he/she/they) is an un-disciplinary artist / educator born in Detroit, currently in Los Angeles (Tongva/Chumash/Kizh land.)

She thinks through sculpture, talking, writing, performance and experimental exhibitions.

They’ve partnered with neuroscientists, academics from critical psychiatry, artist collectives, disability justice influencers, and somatic therapists to co-create art and accessible resources where “mental health” meets anti-capitalist solidarity.

Welcome to @ninaidyllwild, Cedric ✨🌲

#artist #artresidency #sculpture #performance #idyllwild by @fakingprofessionalism

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6 months ago