Distortions: Moscow Conceptualists Working Today
September 9 – October 28, 2023

205 Hudson Gallery, Hunter College Art Galleries
205 Hudson Street (at Canal St.)
New York, NY 10013

Curated by Hunter College Professors Daniel Bozhkov and Joachim Pissarro with Dr. Olga Zaikina and Graduate Curatorial Fellow Victoria Borisova

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Moscow Conceptualism began as an alternative underground art world in the late Soviet Union. Its unofficial status shaped its artistic methods and theoretical framework. The exhibition includes original objects, archival materials, and working models of original artworks, alongside new projects created by Moscow Conceptualists in collaboration with art and art history students and faculty at Hunter College. Thus, Distortions is an experiment in intergenerational and cross-cultural collaboration. It aims to transform the gallery into a two-month long forum exploring how existing artworks can be activated to create new living situations, and how documents can be used beyond the preservation of the past. 

Participating artists and art groups:
Yuri Albert (born 1959 in Moscow, lives and works in Cologne)
Collective Actions (active 1976-present)
Gnezdo (active 1974-79)
Sabine Hänsgen (born 1955 in Dusseldorf, lives and works in Bochum, Germany)
Andrei Monastyrski (born 1949 in Pechenga, Russia, lives and works in Moscow),
Victor Skersis (born 1956 in Moscow, lives and works in Bethlehem, PA)
Nadezhda Stolpovskaya (born 1959 in Moscow, lives and works in Cologne, Germany)
SZ Group (active 1980-84, 1989, 1990)
Vadim Zakharov (born 1959 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, lives and works in Berlin, Germany).

Distortions: Moscow Conceptualists Working Today was developed through a two-semester graduate curatorial seminar at Hunter College led by professors Daniel Bozhkov and Joachim Pissarro with Dr. Olga Zaikina. It included studio art students: Lauren Cline, Tucker Claxton, LeLe Dai, Paula De Martino, Alicia Ehni, Stevie Knauss, Milly Skelington, Johnny Sagan; and art history students: Caitlin Anklam, Victoria Borisova, Jay Bravo, Andrea Dauhajre, Curtis Eckley, Daniel Kuzinez, Jake Robinson. Visiting scholar: Virginia Marano, PhD Candidate, University of Zürich, Switzerland. 

PUBLICATION

In concert with the exhibition, the Hunter College Art Galleries has produced a new publication which chronicles the development of the concept of the show over the two-semester long graduate curatorial seminar, as well as describes the past and the new projects of Moscow Conceptualists presented at the exhibition. Purchase publications through our

This exhibition and publication were made possible by the generous support of the Wolf Kahn Foundation and Emily Mason and Alice Trumbull Mason Foundation on behalf of artists Emily Mason and Wolf Kahn, Clarissa Bronfman, Andrew and Christine Hall, Linda Macklowe, Katia Ilina, and the Prospect Hill Foundation.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

Public Opening Reception
September 9, 6–9pm

Distortions Symposium I
September 9, 2023 4–5:30pm

ABOUT HUNTER COLLEGE ART GALLERIES

Hunter College Art Galleries under the auspices of the Department of Art and Art History, have been a vital aspect of the New York cultural landscape since their inception over a quarter of a century ago. The galleries provide a space for critical engagement with art and pedagogy, bringing together historical scholarship, contemporary artistic practice, and experimental methodology. The 205 Hudson Gallery is dedicated to presenting exhibitions and programming that examine the impact of and critical issues around contemporary art. Located in Tribeca on Hunter’s MFA Studio Art Campus, the gallery also hosts the MFA thesis exhibitions each semester.

For more information about exhibitions and public programs visit:
huntercollegeartgalleries.org

PRESS INQUIRIES
E-mail Aleeq Kroshian, aleeq.kroshian@hunter.cuny.edu

205 Hudson Gallery
205 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10013
Open daily 11–6pm
Free and open to the public

MayDay
Hunter MFA Thesis Part 2
May 9–May 25
*EXTENDED: Now on view through June 1
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 9, 6–9pm

Exhibiting Artists:
Evan Bellantone
Natalie Birinyi
Elizabeth Englander
Tim Foley
Noa Ginzburg
Freddie Greis
Jenna Gribbon
Jazmine Hayes
Talia Levitt
Ryunosuke Matsui
Valerie Skakun

Performances and conversations:
May 18, 7–9pm

For more information on this exhibition, hours and the artists, visit: http://www.mfa205hudson.org/mfa-thesis-exhibitions/thesis-spring-2019

Do You Believe in Life After Love?
Hunter MFA Thesis Exhibition: Part I
April 11–April 27
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 11, 6–9pm

Exhibiting Artists:
Rebecca Baldwin
Dounia Bendris
James Chrzan
Rachel Hillery
Jisoo Hur
Staver Klitgaard
Liz Naiden
Hannah Schutzengel
Stewart Stout 
Tan Tian

Performances:

April 13, 6:21am
Dawn Chorus, James Chrzan

April 13, 7pm | April 18, 7pm | April 24, 7pm | April 27, 2pm
Piece for 2, Liz Naiden
Insert[FirstName], Rachel Hillery
Txt Play, Rebecca Baldwin

For more information on this exhibition, hours, and the artists, visit: http://www.mfa205hudson.org/mfa-thesis-exhibitions/thesis-spring-2019

Refiguring the Future
February 9—March 31, 2019
205 Hudson Gallery, Hunter College Art Galleries
New York, NY 10013

Opening Reception: February 8th, 6-8pm 
During the opening reception, artists Bararak adé Soleil and Lauren McCarthy will be activating their work. American Sign Language interpretation will be provided at the opening.

Conference: February 9-10, 2019
February 9th, 2018
10am – 6pm
Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College
695 Park Ave, New York, NY 10065

February 10th, 2018
12pm – 6pm
Knockdown Center 
52-19 Flushing Ave, Maspeth, NY 11378

Refiguring the Future is organized by Eyebeam and REFRESH in collaboration with the Hunter College Art Galleries.

Curated by REFRESH collective members Heather Dewey-Hagborg and Dorothy R. Santos, the exhibition title is inspired by artist Morehshin Allahyari’s work defining a concept of “refiguring” as a feminist, de-colonial, and activist practice. Informed by the punk ethos of do-it-yourself (DIY), the 18 artists featured in Refiguring the Future deeply mine the historical and cultural roots of our time, pull apart the artifice of contemporary technology, and sift through the pieces to forge new visions of what could become. 

The exhibition will present 11 new works alongside re-presented immersive works by feminist, queer, decolonial, anti-racist, and anti-ableist artists concerned with our technological and political moment including: Barak adé Soleil, Morehshin Allahyari, Lee Blalock, Zach Blas*, micha cárdenas* and Abraham Avnisan, In Her Interior (Virginia Barratt and Francesca da Rimini)*, Mary Maggic, Lauren McCarthy, shawné michaelain holloway*, Claire and Martha Pentecost, Sonya Rapoport, Sputniko! and Tomomi Nishizawa, Stephanie Syjuco, and Pinar Yoldas*. 

*Denotes participation in conference.

SUPPORT 
Refiguring the Future is supported by grants from the Open Society Foundations and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as part of NetGain. This partnership is a philanthropic collaboration seeking to advance the public interest in the digital age.

Additional support for the presentation of Refiguring the Future at the Hunter College Art Galleries is made possible by the David Bershad Family Foundation, the Susan V. Bershad Charitable Fund, Inc., Carol and Arthur Goldberg, Agnes Gund, Joan Lazarus, and the Hunter College Foundation.

VENUE ACCESSIBILITY

205 Hudson is an accessible space. The entrance and lobby is on the ground floor at 205 Hudson at Watts St.  The mezzanine level is accessible via a wheelchair lift. Restrooms are located on the ground floor and are wheelchair accessible. 

Kaye Playhouse is an accessible venue. The conference entrance and lobby are located at 68th Street, between Park and Lexington, on the north side of the street, through the courtyard. Accessible entrance is available by ramp on the left side of the courtyard. Restrooms are located on the ground floor and are wheelchair accessible.

The Knockdown Center is an accessible venue. The conference entrance is located on 52-19 Flushing Ave at 54th St through a parking lot. The accessible entrance is available by ramp in front of the building. Restrooms are located on the ground floor lobby area and are wheelchair accessible.

HUNTER MFA THESIS EXHIBITION PART II

December 15, 2018–January 9, 2019

Opening: Saturday, December 15th, 5–8pm

Corey Allen
Alison Kizu-Blair
Michelle Hernandez Vega
Lila Jamail
Jessi Li
Wai Ying Zhao
Jason Rondinelli
Christopher Roberson

For more information on this exhibition hours and the artists, visit: http://www.mfa205hudson.org/mfa-thesis-exhibitions/fall-2018

HUNTER MFA THESIS EXHIBITION PART I

November 10 – December 2, 2018

Opening: Saturday, November 10th, 3–6pm

The Hunter College MFA Program in Studio Art is pleased to announce Part I of the Fall 2018 MFA Thesis Exhibition at 205 Hudson Street, November 10 – December 2, 2018. 

The exhibition will feature seven MFA Candidates: 

Jordan Artim
Patricia Ayres
Amanda Brown
Joseph Burwell
Amy Butowicz
Nathan Sinai Rayman
Kyle Utter

The exhibition will be open seven days a week from 11am–6pm, and is free and open to the public. The seven artists in the exhibition represent an array of art making practices, including painting, sculpture, photography, video, performance, and site-specific installations. 

For more information on this exhibition and the artists, visit: http://www.mfa205hudson.org/mfa-thesis-exhibitions/fall-2018

May 17th–June 2nd, 2018
Monday–Sunday, 11am–6pm
 

Opening Reception:
May 17th, 6–9pm

Featuring the work of:

Ben Browne
Justin Cloud
Sarah Creagan
Paola Di Tolla
Emily Furr
Carter Johnson
Jule Korneffel
Madhini Nirmal
Russell Perkins
Leonard Reibstein
Todd (T. Eliott Mansa) Thomas
Andy Van Dinh

For more information, please visit:

http://www.mfa205hudson.org/mfa-thesis-exhibitions/spring-2018/

April 19th, 2018–May 5th, 2018
Monday–Sunday, 11am–6pm
 

Opening Reception:
April 19th, 6–9pm

Featuring the work of:

Patrick Costello
Theresa Daddezio
Rachelle Dang
Pablo Diaz
Mikey Estes
Zac Hacmon
Michelle O'Connell
Hector René Membreno Canales
Becky Jane Rosen

For more information, please visit:

http://www.mfa205hudson.org/mfa-thesis-exhibitions/spring-2018/

Elective Affinities: A Library

Curated by Jocelyn Spaar and Sarah Watson

February 18–April 9, 2017
Opening Reception: Tuesday, February 21, 6:30–8:30pm

205 Hudson Gallery
Hunter College Art Galleries
205 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10013
Entrance on the south side of Canal Street between Hudson and Watts
Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 1–6pm

With a library you are free, not confined by temporary political climates. It is the most democratic of institutions because no one—but no one at all—can tell you what to read and when and how. ­­—Doris Lessing

For the 2017 spring season, the Hunter College Art Galleries have transformed 205 Hudson Gallery into a library and reading room comprised of works centering on the notion of family and community in a very broad, inclusive sense, whether that pertains to one’s biological or chosen family, artistic or literary lineage, intellectual community, virtual network, or neighborhood. This library is intended to function as a gathering space to host readings, screenings, performances, meetings, and workshops. 

Committed to cultivating conversations by a multiplicity of voices to create an open and inclusive space for dialogue and engagement with art, the gallery has invited artists, small presses, libraries, and organizations to collaborate in the creation of this exhibition to interrogate the concept of family across various selections of printed matter, film, video, and photography.    

The library includes selections from Archipelago Books, Blonde Art Books, Ediciones Popolet, Explorers Club of Enrique de Malacca, Melville House, Miniature Garden, New Directions, Primary Information, Purgatory Pie Press, Roof Books, Seven Stories Press, Small Editions, The Song Cave, Stonecutter, Ugly Duckling Presse, Verso, Wendy’s Subway and Word Up Books, with works by artists Erica Baum, Joey Carducci, Kevin Everson, Barbara Hammer, Shigeko Kubota, Sondra Perry, and Bryan Zanisnik.

Our hope is that Elective Affinities: A Library continues to evolve and expand through the creativity, intellect, insight, diversity, connectivity, and power of all who occupy the space.

Elective Affinities: A Library is made possible by the generous support of the David Bershad Family Foundation, the Susan V. Bershad Charitable Fund, Inc., Arthur and Carol Kaufman Goldberg, and Joan and Charles Lazarus.

Press
Untapped Cities
The Culture Trip

Something Possible Everywhere: Pier 34 NYC, 1983–84

Curated by Jonathan Weinberg
Featuring the photographs of Andreas Sterzing

September 30–November 20, 2016
Opening Reception: Friday, September 30, 7–9pm

205 Hudson Gallery
Hunter College Art Galleries
205 Hudson Street
Entrance on Canal Street between Hudson and Greenwich Streets
New York, NY 10013

Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 1–6pm  

Something Possible Everywhere: Pier 34 NYC, 1983-84 is the first exhibition to revisit the extraordinary time and place when David Wojnarowicz and his friends and peers, including Jane Bauman, Mike Bidlo, Keith Davis, Steve Doughton, John Fekner, David Finn, Jean Foos, Luis Frangella, Valeriy Gerlovin, Judy Glantzman, Alain Jacquet, Kim Jones, Rob Jones, Ruth Kligman, Stephen Lack, Liz-N-Val, Bill Mutter, Michael Ottersen, Rick Prol, Russell Sharon, Kiki Smith, Huck Snyder, Betty Tompkins, and Ruth Zwillinger among many others, effectively seized a city-owned pier and filled it with art. Andreas Sterzing’s remarkable photographs, along with related images by Peter Hujar, Marisela La Grave, and Dirk Rowntree, document how these artists turned the Ward Line shipping terminal at the foot of Canal Street into a series of makeshift art galleries and studios.

Accompanying Sterzing’s photographs are over seventy-five paintings, drawings, and sculptures made by the many artists who worked on the pier. Sadly, the building was demolished and almost all of the art made on the pier no longer exists, but the presence of contemporaneous work in the exhibition makes tangible some of the waterfront art's physicality and its larger aesthetic context.

The numerous artists who worked on Pier 34 crossed generations, from established figures like Alain Jacquet and Ruth Kligman, to emerging artists like Steven Doughton and Rhonda Zwillinger. They utilized a variety of media and styles, from the performance art of Kim Jones and Paolo Buggiani, to the expressionism of Judy Glantzman and Stephen Lack. This diversity and the site-specificity of works by artists like John Fekner and Teres Wydler, challenges the stereotypes of the 1980s art scene as market-driven and conservative with a turn toward easel painting. Indeed, the chief instigators of the Pier 34 experiment, Wojnarowicz and Bidlo, intentionally envisioned the site as anti-commercial.

As rumors spread in the spring of 1983 about what was happening on the waterfront, Bidlo and Wojnarowicz released a statement to friends in the press that explained their resistance to the gallery system and their aim to create an opportunity for anyone “to explore any image in any material on any surface they chose. It was something no gallery would tolerate…” Above all, they claimed that Pier 34 forged a community: “People who lived in this city for years said it was the first time they experienced fulfillment in terms of contact with the art scene and strangers.”

This exhibition is made possible by the generous support provided by Carol and Arthur Goldberg, Joan and Charles Lazarus, Dorothy Lichtenstein, and an anonymous donor.

Press
Art Forum
Art in America
HyperAllergic
New York Times
New Yorker

Catalogue
Issuu (Link)

Installation view: Buren, Mosset, Parmentier, Toroni, Hunter College Art Galleries, 2016. Photo by: Bill Orcutt.

Buren, Mosset, Parmentier, Toroni

Curated by Joachim Pissarro and Annie Wischmeyer

February 27–April 10, 2016
Opening Reception: February 26, 6–8pm

205 Hudson Gallery
Hunter College Art Galleries
205 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10013

Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 1–6pm

This exhibition marks the first critical examination of the significant, albeit brief, work of the BMPT Group, composed of Daniel Buren, Olivier Mosset, Michel Parmentier, and Niele Toroni in 1967.

On Christmas night, 1966, Buren, Mosset, Parmentier and Toroni drafted their first declaration, inviting the public to attend a demonstration at the 18th Salon de la Jeune Peinture, stating, “For the first time, on January 3, 1967, something will happen.” This event became the first in a series of “Manifestations”—events in various formats, at various locations in Paris. These events criticized the institutionalization and spectacularization of art as well as the public’s passivity, encouraging new modes of critical engagement that defied and denied older exhibition models.

Coming out of the political tumult of France in the 1960s, the activities of the group were not hermetic, isolated occurrences, but rather a response to the particular intellectual moment, one defined by radical philosophy and social unrest. While the legacy of each artist has fallen under the rubric of painting, this strict classification ignores the conceptual, political, and performative impetus in deference to medium. 

This exhibition seeks to reexamine the BMPT group by placing its work in context with the broader conversations surrounding institutional critique, performance, and the role of painting as a political medium.

The show also includes a work from 2010 by Hugo Pernet, Hugo Schuwer-Boss, and Frediric Sanchez titled “Buren, Mosset, Parmentier, Toroni n’exposent pas”—a contemporary iteration of the BMPT group’s infamous refrain from Manifestation 1.

In conjunction with “Buren, Mosset, Parmentier, Toroni” is “Critical Gestures & Contested Spaces: Art in France in the 1960s,” curated by Hunter College MA and MFA students. Coming out of a dual-semester course, working under the guidance of the HCAG curatorial team, the students conceived and executed the exhibition. 

This exhibition is made possible by the David Bershad Family Foundation and Susan V. Bershad Charitable Fund, Inc.; The Brant Foundation, Inc.; Arthur and Carol Kaufman Goldberg; Andrew and Christine Hall; The Hunter College Foundation; Stephen King, C12 Capital Management; Anna Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation; President Jennifer J. Raab; and an anonymous donor.

Installation view: Critical Gestures & Contested Spaces: Art and Politics in 1960s France, Hunter College Art Galleries, 2016. Photo by Bill Orcutt.

Critical Gestures & Contested Spaces: Art & Politics in 1960s France

Curated by Hunter College Graduate Students Isaac Aden, Jenn Bratovich, Flo Doukova, Lily Goldberg, Anna Jimenez, Michelle Molokotos, and Chris Spangler
Organized by Joachim Pissarro, Sarah Watson, and Annie Wischmeyer

February 27–April 10, 2016
Opening Reception: February 26, 6–8pm

205 Hudson Gallery
Hunter College Art Galleries
205 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10013

Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 1–6pm

The theoretical, political, and cultural terrain of 1960s France was characterized by anti-colonialism, commodity fetishism, and extreme leftism. Operating within this zeitgeist, artists experimented with a range of practices that questioned authorship, explored new collective forms of art making, and opened up new modes of aesthetic experience. Motivated by radicalism, skepticism, and disillusionment, their work was by turns pointed, playful, and mischievous. Artists moved outside the constraints of staid institutional structures and into the physical space and ideological circuitry of the everyday, blurring the lines between art and politics, performance and the quotidian.

Critical Gestures and Contested Spaces: Art and Politics in 1960s France examines the broader context of 1960s France by mapping the politics of exhibition-making and of encountering art during this time. Organized in conjunction with Buren, Mosset, Parmentier, Toroni and curated by Joachim Pissarro and Annie Wischmeyer, Critical Gestures developed out of a dual-semester Theory and Criticism/Curatorial Practicum seminar taught by Joachim Pissarro. Working under the guidance of the Hunter College Art Galleries’ curatorial team, the students conceived and executed the exhibition.

This exhibition is made possible by the David Bershad Family Foundation and Susan V. Bershad Charitable Fund, Inc.; The Brant Foundation, Inc.; Arthur and Carol Kaufman Goldberg; Andrew and Christine Hall; The Hunter College Foundation; Stephen King, C12 Capital Management; Anna Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation; President of Hunter College Jennifer J. Raab; and an anonymous donor.  

Installation view: The Experimental Television Center: A History, Etc..., Hunter College Art Galleries, 2015. Photo by Bill Orcutt.
 

The Experimental Television Center: A History, Etc...

Curated by Sarah Watson, Chief Curator of the Hunter College Art Galleries, Timothy Murray, Curator of the Rose Golden Archive of New Media Art, and Sherry Miller Hocking, Assistant Director of the Experimental Television Center.

September 25–November 21, 2015
Opening Reception: September 24, 2015, 7–9pm

205 Hudson Gallery
Hunter College Art Galleries
205 Hudson Street
New York, New York 10013

Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 1–6pm

For over forty years, the Experimental Television Center was one of North America’s preeminent organizations for video art. The Center fostered a community for creativity and innovation through its residency program and tool building research program. This groundbreaking exhibition documents the important role the Experimental Television Center played in the development of video as an artistic medium. The exhibition presents a virtually invisible, but vitally important, aspect of the history of video art, one marked by collaboration, hacker-technology, and artistic liberation. The Experimental Television Center: A History, ETC... marks the first academic survey of the Center’s prolific, yet under recognized, role in the evolution of video art. Divided into two parts, the show maps the ETC’s history and importance within the larger narrative of the development of video art in New York State, the United States, and beyond. Part I: A History examines the early years of the Experimental Television Center through ephemera, tools, and early works from the late 1960s through the 1970s. Part II: ETC... looks at the growth of the Experimental Television Center from the 1970s through 2000s and its influence on the trajectory of video art into the digital and internet age.

The Experimental Television Center, founded in 1971 by Ralph Hocking, developed out of the media-access organization Student Experiments in Television (SET), which Hocking, a professor at Binghamton University (New York), started on campus in 1969. Established during the advent of portable video tools such as the Sony Portapak, SET provided equipment to community groups, students, artists, and faculty. As the interest in video grew, Hocking recognized the potential that video equipment held for artists. With encouragement from the pioneering video artist Nam June Paik and support from the New York State Council for the Arts, Hocking moved the organization to downtown Binghamton.  In 1980, the Center moved to Owego, New York, where it was located until it closed in 2011.

The ETC focused on providing access to and training on this new technology to three major communities: artists; social, cultural, and educational organizations; and interested citizens. Invested in the artistic possibilities of video, the ETC developed a research program to push the boundaries of the medium by creating a more flexible set of processing tools for artists. One of the earliest machines built at the ETC was the Paik/Abe video synthesizer. Under the direction of Nam June Paik and Shuya Abe, the first synthesizer was constructed for the TV Lab at WNET-TV in New York, followed by a second one for permanent placement at the ETC. The arrival of the Paik/Abe synthesizer launched the Center’s artist’s residency program. Some of the earliest artists to participate in the residency were Shigeko Kubota, Nam June Paik, Hollis Frampton, Bill T. Jones, Jackson MacLow, Nicolas Ray, Walter Wright, and Arnie Zane.

For decades, the ETC served as a site for exploration, education, and practice for media artists. From 1971 to 2011, over 1,500 artists participated in their residency program. In addition to the artists listed above, the residency also hosted the artists Irit Batsry, Peer Bode, Nancy Buchanan, Benton Bainbridge, Barbara Buckner, Shalom Gorewitz, Alex Hahn, Barbara Hammer, Gary Hill, LoVid, Kristin Lucas, Darrin Martin, Marisa Olson, and Alan Sondheim, to name just a few. 

Although the Center closed its physical space in 2011, the philosophy and ethos of the ETC endures through its ongoing commitment to the education, research and preservation of the media. One of the ETC’s most significant contributions to this work is its comprehensive archive. The archive is now housed at Cornell University, in the Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, where it is being digitized, preserved, and made available for research. 

This exhibition is presented by the Hunter College Art Galleries in collaboration with the Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, Cornell Library.

The Experimental Television Center: A History, Etc... is made possible by the generous support of The Hunter Art Exhibition Fund; Foundation To Life, Inc.; The Arts Across the Curriculum Initiative at Hunter College, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art and the Digitization and Conservation Services, Cornell Library; Society for the Humanities, Cornell University; the Experimental Television Center; New York State Council for the Humanities; Electronic Arts Intermix; Dave Jones Design; and Signal Culture.   

Daniel Barroca: Refusal of the Image

Curated by Hunter College MA candidate Tatiana Mouarbe

July 24–August 22, 2015
Opening Reception: July 23, 6–8pm

205 Hudson Gallery
Hunter College Art Galleries
205 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10013

Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 1–6pm

In Barroca’s multimedia and interdisciplinary practice, the artist investigates the perceptual and performative qualities of images and their reconstitution over temporal, spatial, and cultural boundaries. Marking the first solo show of Barroca’s work in the United States, Daniel Barroca: Refusal of the Image, examines the artist’s experiments with the instability of images in a series of video, photography, and drawing works from the past fifteen years, including The Sequences of Memory, Silence, and War; …a hazy and confused landscape; Maps of Complicities; Stuck in a Loop: Thoughts and notes on the end of the world; The Destruction of the Destruction; and War Drawing

Much of Barroca’s work with video, photography, drawing, and installation derives from an engagement with the mutable properties of images, their multiple lives and their perceptual transformations over time. Barroca collects and archives images, both found and personal, assembling a repository of historical images to work from and within, in order to locate varying synchronicities inscribed in these diverse selections. Barroca draws from a wide-range of historical and documentary material – photographs, videos, and sound recordings – produced at the time of major epochal events. Dislodging these from their contextual origin through abstraction and collage in his video and drawing works, the artist configures a new, unspecified space for his images. By blurring distinctions between an image’s form and content, a process of structural reworking through multiple mediums, Barroca exposes the shadows of images – those traces of memory, form, and gesture belonging to a timeless realm of collective experience.

In The Sequences of Memory, Silence, and War, a three-part video series, Barroca works with the fragments of found images – selections from a collection of family photographs gathered in flea markets and bookshops, grainy World War I footage, and VHS recordings on the atrocities of the Portuguese Colonial War and World War II – to depict a surreal portrait of humanity and nature, removed from any sense of time, place, or context. Building upon this notion of the disembodied image in his video installation … a hazy and confused landscape, Barocca cuts, reassembles, slows, and loops various sections of Kreta, a WWII-era German propaganda film, into four sequences, to divest the moving images of any ideological or historical identification and disrupt the film’s narrative structure. A more tactile exploration of form and image is initiated in Maps of Complicities, in which Barroca carves out lines of connective tissue atop two photographic prints, culled from his father’s war album, of young soldiers pictured in moments of leisure. This diagrammatic mapping of form continues in Barroca’s Stuck in a Loop: Thoughts and notes on the end of the world and War Drawing. In The Destruction of the Destruction, Barroca draws influence from Jorge Luis Borges’ short story Averroes’s Speech to focus on the mistranslation of texts, images, and ideas and how these distortions are sustained and expanded upon over time. In each work, images enter into a precarious state; Barroca unravels, reassembles, dislocates, and obscures his images in ways that trace their movements, mutations, and transformations across historical and cultural bounds.  

Daniel Barroca was born in Lisbon in 1976. He studied painting and visual arts at Centro de Arte e Comunicação Visual (ArCo), Lisbon and earned a degree in visual arts from Escola Superior de Arte e Design (ESAD), Caldas da Rainha in 2001. He was a resident artist at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in 2008 (Bolsa João Hogan – Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation) and at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten with the support of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in 2010 and 2011. Since his first solo show in 2001, the artist’s work has been extensively exhibited by international institutions such as Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo; Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; Museum Abteiberg, Monchengladbach, Germany; Museu Colecção Berardo, Lisbon; Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto; National Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow; Rijksakademie, Amsterdam; Spanish Academy, Rome; Qbox Gallery, Athens; and Queens Museum, New York. Barroca is currently a resident artist in The Drawing Center’s Open Sessions Program (2014-2015) and is the recipient of a research grant form the Marcelino Botin Foundation with the project A land that is more slippery than stable.

Installation view: Robert Barry: All the things I know... 1962 to the present, Hunter College Art Galleries, 2015. Photo by Bill Orcutt.

Robert Barry: All the things I know... 1962 to the present

Curated by Max Weintraub, Sarah Watson, and Annie Wischmeyer

February 6–April 4, 2015
Opening Reception: February 6, 6–8pm

205 Hudson Gallery
Hunter College Art Galleries
205 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10013

Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 1–6pm

Robert Barry: All the things I know... 1962 to the present examines the art of Robert Barry (American, born 1936), an artist widely regarded as one of the founders of American Conceptualism. Since the 1960s, Barry has investigated the conditions of art and perception and explored the evocative and communicative properties of words. He has used radio waves, inert gases, and even telepathy to question traditional assumptions about art and expand its possibilities.

Marking the first major solo exhibition of Barry’s work by an academic institution in New York—and the first in the United States in thirty years—Robert Barry: All the things I know... 1962 to the present features works from six decades of the artist’s career. Among the exhibition’s highlights are two new site-specific window and wall pieces and the groundbreaking early works Electromagnetic Energy Field (1968), Closed Gallery (1969), Inert Gas Series: Helium (1969), Marcuse Piece (1972), and Invitation Piece (1972–73). A new variation of a continuing performance piece by Barry Untitled Performance (1972–present) is also included and will be performed for the first time by students. Running for the duration of the exhibition, this performance showcases Barry’s longstanding interest in exploring the temporal dimension of art and continues his history of artistic collaborations with Hunter College students, which began when he taught at the college in the 1960s and 1970s.

In conjunction with Robert Barry: All the things I know... 1962 to the present, Barry will be the spring 2015 Judith Zabar Visiting Artist at Hunter College. The Judith Zabar Visiting Artist Program allows Hunter to bring a series of internationally recognized artists to campus to work directly with students in the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and Master of Arts (MA) programs, providing students with a unique opportunity to interact with top practitioners in their fields. Barry will engage with students through master classes, critical seminars, workshops, and private tutorials. He will additionally give a public lecture on his work. 

Born in 1936, Robert Barry received his BFA and MA from Hunter College, where he also taught from 1964 to 1979. Since his first solo exhibition in 1964, Barry's work has been exhibited extensively throughout the US and internationally. His artwork is included in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Musée d’Orsay, Paris; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, among others. Barry currently lives and works in Teaneck, New Jersey.

This exhibition is made possible by the leadership support of Carol Goldberg, Agnes Gund, and an anonymous donor. We are also grateful to Judy and Stanley Zabar for their support of Robert Barry's residency at Hunter College through the Judith Zabar Visiting Artist Program. 

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Another Place: The C12 Exhibition

Curated by MA candidates Sophia Alexandrov, Lindsay Aveilhe and Samantha Best
Organized by Sarah Watson and Annie Wischmeyer

September 18–October 18, 2014
Opening reception: September 17, 6–8pm

205 Hudson Gallery
Hunter College Art Galleries
205 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10013

Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 1–6pm

Another Place: The C12 Exhibition presents the work of eight Hunter College MFA graduates from the past decade whose art practices redefine space: Jules de Balincourt, Emmy Catedral, Ryan Lauderdale, Rodrigo Lobos Huber, Cybele Lyle, Ryan McNamara, Carolyn Salas, and Denise Schatz. Through painting, sculpture, performance, and installation, these artists create alternative places that function within, but as a counterpoint to, society. Philosopher Michel Foucault calls such locales heterotopias—circumscribed areas that deviate from customary rules and behaviors.

As the first curated exhibition at Hunter College’s 205 Hudson Street building, Another Place also commemorates the MFA program’s recent move to Tribeca from 41st Street in Hell’s Kitchen, where the program had been located since 1989. All of the featured artists had studios in the old space, making this show a bridge between the old and the new and serving as a meditation on the power and transmutability of place.

Painter Jules de Balincourt‘s work renders familiar places unfamiliar and also provides a haven in his Bushwick studio for younger artists to experiment, despite an unforgiving economic climate. Cybele Lyle‘s projections onto architecture create queer spaces whose spatial negotiations are fluid and determined by each individual’s encounter with them. Ryan Lauderdale mines the past for abandoned styles and utopian ideals to sublimate into sculpture—constructions that play on the notion of the archive and reify discarded histories. Ryan McNamara‘s performative lecture condenses disparate immersive experiences into a single space and time. Carolyn Salas‘s post-minimalist sculptures playfully delineate the positive and negative planes, concurrently activating and deactivating space for the viewer. Rodrigo Lobos Huber‘s plaster tablets create microcosms out of disparate materials that, once united and flattened, form unlikely constellations. Emmy Catedral‘s “Amateur Astronomers Society of Voorhees” hosts salons and walking tours that examine instances of human success and failure at measuring and ordering the universe. Denise Schatz gives art a permanent place to exist within the pages of her artist books.

An artist book and publication designed by Denise Schatz will provide opportunities for further engagement with each artist’s practice through essays, images, and interviews focusing on their sensitivity to place, both while at Hunter College and since graduation. The exhibition’s public programming incorporates voices from the larger Hunter College MFA alumni community. A reading room installed within the gallery will display alumni’s artist books including Denise Schatz’s Miniature Gardens collection, alumni’s catalogs, and related publications. Another Place will also feature performances and events by Ryan McNamara and Emmy Catedral with Rotem Linial’s “Cinema Balash.”

Another Place is sponsored by Stephen King of C12 Capital.

Installation view: Vistas Latinas: Archives of a Collective, 1989–2014, Hunter College Art Galleries, 2014. Photo by Louis Chan.

Vistas Latinas: Archives of a Collective, 1989–2014

Curated by Hunter College Graduate Students: Isaac Aden, Roman Cochet, Alicia Cooper, Christopher Chung, Renzo Ortega, Bahar Pour Tabatabaei and Catalina Viejo Lopez de Roda. Organized by Sarah Watson with Annie Wischmeyer

March 7–28, 2014
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 6, 6–8 pm

205 Hudson Gallery
Hunter College Art Galleries
205 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10013

Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 1–6pm

Vistas Latinas: Archives of a Collective, 1989–2014 is the culmination of a curatorial project by Hunter College graduate students enrolled in a Fall 2013 Curatorial Methods seminar. Curatorial research began in the Vistas Latinas collection housed at the Library and Archives of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO). The project expanded beyond the archive to include works of art and oral histories, as well as research in The Fales Library and Special Collections at New York University.

Vistas Latinas was cofounded in 1989 by artists Miriam Hernández and Regina Araujo Corritore as a response to the lack of Latina artists represented in contemporary art galleries and museums in the United States. The collective accepts submissions from any Latina artist, then selects and curates according to each show’s theme. Exhibitions are characterized by bold aesthetics, a wide range of styles, and sensitivity to controversial issues. Using the organization as a vehicle for its members’ empowerment, Vistas Latinas belongs to a history of artist coalitions between women of color that use systematic intervention into conventional art practices to advocate for change in the art world. Influential organizations whose founding preceded Vistas Latinas were "Where We At" Black Women Artists, Inc. (WWA) and Coast to Coast: National Women Artists of Color.

Vistas Latinas: Archives of a Collective, 1989–2014 is an index to the story of its namesake coalition. Member artists are selectively represented through their contribution of works of art and oral histories. Ultimately, the exhibition is based on the experience of being in an archive. The exhibition explores the meaningful relationships between the image and original work of art, the organization’s statements and its artists’ unique voices, and the objects and their history.

Sanford Wurmfeld: Color Visions 1966–2013

Curated by William C. Agee, Evelyn Kranes Kossak Professor of Art History with the following graduate students: Rotem Linial, Bridget McCarthy, Theresa Andrea Morrison, Joan Reutershan, and Nicoline Strøm-Jensen. 

Assisted by Constance DeJong, Gabriele Evertz
Organized by Susan Crile with Lisa Corinne Davis

February 15–April 20, 2013
Opening Reception: Friday, February 15, 6-8pm

The Times Square Gallery
Hunter College Art Galleries
450 West 41st Street
New York, NY 10018

Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 1-6pm

Sanford Wurmfeld: Color Visions 1966–2013 celebrates the work of Sanford Wurmfeld, the Phyllis and Joseph Caroff Professor of Fine Arts Emeritus and the Hunter College Art Department Chair from 1978-2006. Wurmfeld is an internationally known painter and a fixture in the New York art world. For decades he has created abstract paintings about color and its affects on human mood and visual perception.  Drawing inspiration from Georges Seurat, Josef Albers, Claude Monet, Mark Rothko, and his mentors and colleagues from Hunter College, among others, Sanford Wurmfeld illustrates the psychological effects of color on large-scale canvases. He has pursued a near-scientific inquiry into the perceptual and experiential effects of color while remaining an intuitive painter.  With over sixty paintings, sculptures, drawings, and films - many of which have never been exhibited - Sanford Wurmfeld: Color Visions 1966–2013 presents the most comprehensive retrospective of the artist's works from his nearly fifty-year-long career. The exhibition provides a unique opportunity to explore Wurmfeld's groundbreaking examination of three-dimensional color as well as his legacy as a painter.