2021
Perfect Day: A Public Panel Discussion on Drugs, Art, and Healing
Tuesday, December 14, 7-9:30 PM
First Spanish United Methodist Church of East Harlem
New York
Since the dawn of history, entheogens were thought as sacraments by shamans. Today, medical research into the synthetic equivalent of hallucinogenic flora and fauna has produced possibilities in treating psychological disorders through their low-level administration known as micro-dosing. At the same time, pain-relieving drugs used during surgery and in postoperative rehabilitation have been abused creating large-scale addiction and fatal overdoses in the tens of thousands, leading to lawsuits against the main producer of opioids: Purdue Pharma. However, unlike people of color incarcerated for drug usage and victims of draconian laws, not one White-American Purdue Pharma CEO was arrested. Only fines were levied against the drug manufacturer.
This panel discussion, presented in conjunction with the exhibition, PERFECT DAY: Drugs & Art, opens up a dialogue and debate around the show’s theme: the use and abuse of drugs, with emphasis on opioids and the destructive force in NYC minority communities.
WhiteBox presents a panel discussion in collaboration with and hosted by First Spanish United Methodist Church of East Harlem
Co-sponsored by the 2B&2C: The Ken Cro-Ken Memorial Foundation and Blueprint For Accountability
Moderator
Raul Zamudio | curator, art critic, educator
Panelists
Stacey Rubin | nurse, Mount Sinai Opioid Division
Giorgio Handman | social worker, Mount Sinai Opioid Division
Raymond Perez Sr and Member of the People’s Church (TBD)
Noritoshi Hirakawa | artist and filmmaker
Special Guests
Special performances designed for the occasion
Jorge Quevedo | New Composition
Matt Sullivan | Amazing Grace Version
Chin Chih Yang | Performance Art
Catálogo de Arqueología Indígena
Museo Casa Blanca
Viejo San Juan
Puerto Rico
El Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (ICP) anuncia la publicación de su primer "Catálogo de Arqueología Indígena", que presenta una selección de piezas indígenas de la Colección Arqueológica de esa institución fotografiadas por el artista plástico Jason Mena.
El libro es una muestra del legado indígena de Puerto Rico e ilustra su historia a través de objetos y artefactos, que dan paso al universo arqueológico pre colombino.
El lector podrá conocer, reconstruir e interpretar a través de ensayos y objetos arqueológicos aspectos de la vida de estas tempranas sociedades humanas. La importante publicación incluye varios ensayos escritos por expertos de los estudios arqueológicos en Puerto Rico como el arqueólogo Miguel Rodríguez López, el doctor L. Antonio Curet y el doctor Osvaldo García Goyco.
En el libro de 396 páginas a color, se presentan 121 piezas indígenas de unas sobre 20,000 que custodia el ICP en su Colección Arqueológica. Cada grupo cultural se inicia con un ensayo, seguido de las piezas que le pertenecen. Los objetos pertenecen a las culturas indígenas de Puerto Rico, específicamente de los arcaicos, saladoides, huecoides, ostionoides, elenoides y taínos. Entre los objetos incluidos, resaltan piezas como amuletos de concha, hachas, puntas y navajas, vasijas, asas de vasijas, cemíes, aros líticos, espátulas vómicas, lanzaderas, pintaderas, máscaras, dujos y colgantes.
Esta edición bilingüe en español e inglés cuenta con la traducción del Dr. Alejandro Álvarez Nieves e incluye dos fotos históricas: una de don Ricardo Alegría en un sitio arqueológico en Luquillo (1947) y otra de John Alden Mason en Caguana (c. 1914).
El Catálogo de Arqueología fue presentado como parte de las actividades de la décima edición de Campechada inspirada en el legado de Don Ricardo Alegría. La presentación se hizo a modo de conversatorio en el Museo Casa Blanca con el arqueólogo Miguel Rodríguez López y la directora del programa de Arqueología y Etnohistotria, Nancy Santiago. La actividad moderada por la coordinadora de la Revista ICP, Ana Teresa Toro, contó con una exhibición de piezas arqueológicas.
Perfect Day: Drugs and Art
Curated by Raul Zamudio and Juan Puntes
Organized with Kyoko Sato
Opens November 10th, 6-8 PM
From November 10th - January 6, 2022
WhiteBox Annex @ ChaShaMa Space for Artists
1791 Lexington Avenue, New York
Perfect Day: Drugs and Art, is an international group exhibition of paintings, sculptures, works-on-paper, photography, video, and performance that explores the social, cultural, political, and historical contexts of drug or mind-altering substances in human societies.
Since the dawn of history, entheogens were thought as sacraments by shamans and ingesting them led to communing with deities, dead ancestors, and spirits. Today, medical research into the synthetic equivalent of hallucinogenic flora and fauna including powerful psychedelics such as LSD and MDMA has produced possibilities in treating a myriad of psychological disorders through their low-level administration known as micro-dosing. At the same time, pain-relieving drugs used during surgery and in post-operation rehabilitation, have been abused creating large-scale addiction and fatal overdoses in the tens of thousands leading to lawsuits against the main producer of opioids: Purdue Pharma. On “October 21, 2020, it was reported that Purdue had reached a settlement potentially worth $8.3 billion, admitting that it "knowingly and intentionally conspired and agreed with others to aid and abet” doctors dispensing medication “without a legitimate medical purpose."
Apart from Perdue’s intent of criminality, the "war on drugs" initiated by Richard Nixon in 1971 has been won, except drugs are the victors. In the wake of this, scholars have proposed decriminalization of all drugs that will lead to less crime and homelessness, overcrowding of hospitals and prisons, and underscore a humane approach to global drug addiction that has reached epidemic proportions. The legalization of marijuana for recreational use is the first stage in achieving this, and as evinced by certain countries of the European Union, drug decriminalization has led to positive social results in contrast to political conservatives who view that in doing so, would engender drug usage.
And then, of course, is the use of entheogens and drugs for aesthetic purposes in which many iconic works of art and literature were inspired by. With all these issues within its curatorial purview, Perfect Day: Drugs and Art is an international group exhibition of painting, sculpture, works-on-paper, photography, video, and performance that explores the social, cultural, and political contexts of drugs or mind-altering substances in human societies both historically and contemporaneously.
About WhiteBox: An asystematic art space open to debate and dialogue inspired by human and cultural history concerned with art taking the pulse of the times, WhiteBox aims to deliberate the present while orienting itself towards a more just future where through site-specific exhibitions, performances, screenings, readings, lectures, and panel discussions, live and online, it can provide the art public and its surrounding communities with a unique opportunity to experience an artist’s practice in radical, meaningful and evocative ways. In doing so, WhiteBox is helping sustain a better society, righting political and environmental wrongs, in hopes to leave a "living" cleaner legacy to future generations.
Participating Artists: Abdul Vas | Antonio Caro | Alvaro Verduzco | Arlene Rush | Avelino Sala | Bill Berry | Bradley Eros | Chin Chih Yang | Claudia Baez | Daniel Rosenbaum | Dirty Churches | Eduardo Gil | Ernesto Restrepo | Eteri Chkadua | Franck Saïssi | gua_s | Isolde Kille | Jaakko Heikkila | Jason Mena | Javier Téllez | Jeanette Doyle | Jerena Tomasevic | Jim Costanzo | Jorge Tacla | Julia Justo | Julia San Martin | Kiichiro Adachi | Lorin Roser | Loy Luo | Marni Kotak | Martin Durazo | Max Blagg | Miguel Rodriguez Sepulveda | Mona Saeed Kamal | Nina Kuo | Noel Hennelly | Oxana Kovalchuk | Pedro Sanchez III | Robert Boyd | Sasha Summer | Seonming Ahn | Susana Sulic | Tamiko Kawata | Tana Oshima | Teresa Serrano | Yann Leto | & Special Guests
Sueño o Realidad
Festival de Fotografia Artistica Fronteras
19 de Agosto del 2021 - 19Hs
Museo Casa Histórica de la Independencia
Tucumán, Argentina
Festival de Fotografia Artistica Fronteras es un espacio de gestión cultural y actividades especificamente relacionados con la rama de la fotografía artistica nacional e internacional. El Festival de Fotogarfía Fronteras, tiene como objetivo principal la difusión de la fotografía Argentina al mundo y viceversa.
En pocas palabras, el festival persigue establecer un punto de contacto y de intecambio cultural con artistas de todo el mundo dedicados a la fotgrafía.
https://fronterasfotofest.com/
Counter Flags
Curated by Natalia Viera Salgado
June 24 - August 22, 2021
Abrons Arts Center
New York
About the exhibition:
Historically, flags have served as tools that represent unification around an ideal, leadership, and national identity. Counter Flags explores the utility of the flag as a design object and its role in shaping cultural discourses and language. Through video, photography, installation, works on paper, and textiles, the works on view reflect on the performativity of flags when deployed in political and social contexts. The artists presented offer counter-arguments that subvert the embedded codes in flags. They offer possibilities for other ways of seeing and reading a flag beyond ideas of nationalism(s) and notions of sovereignty.
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Counter Flags reflect on the performativity and choreographed gesture of creating flags. Beyond ideas of nationalism(s), this exhibition explores the relationships to place, historical narratives, identities, borders, language, and the utility of this object. How can the design and presentation of flags be acts of resistance to colonial paradigms?
This exhibition offers counternarratives around these ideas and features work by Lizania Cruz (Dominican Republic), Kahlil Robert Irving (USA), Edra Soto (Puerto Rico), Carlos Martiel (Cuba), José Castrellón (Panama), Jason Mena (Puerto Rico) Melissa Raymond (Canada), René Sandín (Puerto Rico), María Lulú Varona (Puerto Rico), Ricardo Cabret (Puerto Rico), Esperanza Mayobre (Venezuela), and Esvin Alarcón Lam (Guatemala).
Edra Soto’s Let Love Win will be on-view in the Abrons’ garden, located on the lower level.
La Residencia is a co-located residency program in partnership with Pública. A cultural space in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Pública aims to provide a platform for local and international artists to strengthen relationships between Puerto Rico and a global audience. Over the course of eighteen months, Pública Co-Director Natalia Viera Salgado will serve as Abrons’ 2020-21 Curatorial Resident and will support the development of projects at Abrons and Pública.
Please note that our galleries will be closing at 5 PM on Thursday, June 24 and Friday, June 25. Our galleries will be also closing at 3 PM on Saturday, June 26.
This exhibition will be presented in our Main Gallery. By attending this exhibition, you are required to respect our Community Agreements:
• Wear a mask over your mouth AND nose at all times.
• Maintain 6 feet of physical distance from others at all times.
In accordance with public health guidelines, we are welcoming 6 visitors at a time in the gallery. Appointments are not required but are highly recommended.
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Funding:
Counterflags is presented by the Abrons Arts Center as part of La Residencia which is a collaborative residency partnership between Abrons Arts Center (New York, NY) and Pública? (San Juan, PR) and made possible with funds provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This exhibition was also made possible with support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
The 2020-2021 Season at Abrons Arts Center is supported, in part, by generous grants from the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the Harkness Foundation for Dance, the Jerome Foundation, the Scherman Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, the Jerome Robbins Foundation, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, and other generous Henry Street Settlement funders. This program is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
https://www.abronsartscenter.org/
Forma y Sustancia
V Festival Internacional de Performance 2021
22 al 28 de febrero 2021
VIDEOPERFORMANCE
1. Patricia Orellana Solares (El Salvador)
2. Alexander CHV (Costa Rica)
3. Diego Garzón (Colombia)
4. Sylvain Souklaye (Francia/Estados Unidos)
5. Carolina Camelo (Colombia)
6. Jorge Tadeo Baldeón (Perú)
7. Jesús Movellán (España)
8. Gabriela Reyna (Cuba)
9. Marina Barsy Janer (Puerto Rico)
10. Evelyn Loaiza (Colombia)
11. Liyu Xue (Estados Unidos)
12. Dimple B. Shah (India)
13. Juan David Medrano (Colombia)
14. Jordina Ros & Pere Estadella (España)
15. Hussein Waham (Irak/Austria)
16. Anabel Vanoni (Argentina/México)
DOCUMENTACIÓN
1. Ada Suárez (Argentina)
2. Mayté Esparza (México)
3. María Daniela Rojas (Colombia)
4. Nico Rodríguez Sosa (Argentina)
5. Man Yu (Costa Rica)
6. Miguel Romero (Honduras)
7. Claudia Garzón (Colombia)
8. Manuel Tzoc Bucup (Guatemala)
9. Jason Mena (Puerto Rico/México)
10. Mario Orbes (Colombia)
STREAMING
1. Bruno Borgna (Argentina)
2. Matilde Guerrero (Colombia)
3. María Eugenia Chellet (México)
4. Hugo Rebel (España)
Ideas para Monumentos en homenaje a las heroínas y los héroes desconocidos
Curado por Luis Camnitzer
Exposición virtual colectiva
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
Argentina
Proyecto colectivo en el que participan más de 40 artistas de 20 países.
El Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes tiene el agrado de presentar una exposición virtual colectiva organizada, durante los meses de confinamiento a causa de la pandemia mundial, por el artista y teórico Luis Camnitzer.
A través de su cuenta de Facebook, Camnitzer realizó un llamado abierto en el que propuso homenajear a héroes y heroínas desconocidos de la sociedad poniendo en entredicho el proceso habitual de la elección, financiación y construcción de los monumentos oficiales.
El resultado reúne 47 obras realizadas por importantes artistas de distintas latitudes –como Italia, Guatemala, Filipinas, España, El Salvador, Estados Unidos, Panamá, Kurdistán, Cuba, Alemania, Uruguay, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Nicaragua, Suecia, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Brasil y Argentina–, que responden de manera singular y original a la propuesta del artista, proponiendo diversos abordajes sobre el tema.
Andrés Duprat
Director del Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
La colección de proyectos que se presenta aquí es el producto de un llamado abierto hecho público en julio de 2020 a través de Facebook y de algunos correos electrónicos a artistas amigos. La idea surgió durante los meses de confinamiento producido por el covid-19. La posibilidad de crear monumentos a héroes desconocidos no es nueva, y entre los precedentes que nos comunicaron cuando la convocatoria reproducida aquí se hizo pública se debe mencionar el "Monumento al Heladero Desconocido", que Javier Tellez hiciera el 25 de octubre de 2001 en Valencia, Venezuela. Heladeros con su carrito se turnaron sobre un pedestal, y el alcalde de Valencia proclamó la fecha con el "Día del heladero".
Luis Camnitzer
Artista y teórico
*Ver aquí todas las imágenes de la exposición virtual: https://www.flickr.com/photos/186501806@N04/albums/72157718149713561
Sobre "Ideas para Monumentos en homenaje a las heroínas y los héroes desconocidos"
La imagen generalmente asociada con el héroe es masculina y con uniforme militar. Los monumentos celebran a individuos que murieron al servicio de causas,con frecuencia dudosas, creadas por intereses poderosos. Sin embargo, la mayoría de los actos heroicos son anónimos y en beneficio de nuestros semejantes, muchas veces cuestionando la legitimidad de aquellos que financian los monumentos.
Este llamado es para llenar un hueco cultural y celebrar a aquellos miembros de la sociedad que no son homenajeados a pesar de ser indispensables en el freno de los abusos de poder, en el cuidado de nuestra salud mental y física, y en general en la manutención de nuestro bienestar como especie humana dentro de un entorno habitable.
Artistas participantes:
Esther Aldaz (España)
Rosa Barba (Italia)
José Bedia (Cuba)
Luis Camnitzer (Uruguay)
Osvaldo Cibils (Uruguay)
Claudia DeMonte (Estados Unidos)
Sam Durant (Estados Unidos)
Magdalena Fernández (Venezuela)
Beatriz Red Star Fletcher (Estados Unidos)
Harrell Fletcher (Estados Unidos)
martinafischer13 (Alemania)
Louis Hock (Estados Unidos)
Isidro López-Aparicio (España)
Georg Lutz (Alemania)
Roberto Jacoby (Argentina)
Marco Maggi, (Uruguay)
David Enrique Martínez Guerrero (Colombia)
Ed McGowin (Estados Unidos)
Melendi & Rennó (Brasil)
Jason Mena (Puerto Rico)
Sylvia Meyer (Uruguay)
Michael Müller (Alemania)
Alicia Mihai Gazcue (Uruguay)
Priscilla Monge (Costa Rica)
Jonas Monib (Alemania)
Ronald Morán (El Salvador)
Cristina Ochoa (Colombia)
Renato Orara (Filipinas)
Nadin Ospina (Colombia)
Francisco Papas Fritas (Chile)
Jenny Perlin (Estados Unidos)
Jenny Polak (Estados Unidos)
Liliana Porter (Argentina)
Ángel Poyón (Guatemala)
Raúl Quintanilla Armijo (Nicaragua)
Leo Ramos (Argentina)
Angelo Ricciardi (Italia)
Kay Rosen (Estados Unidos)
Danny Ruiz (El Salvador)
Walid Siti (Kurdistán)
Luis Sosa (España)
Tamara Stuby (Argentina)
Alina Tenser (Estados Unidos)
Sophie Tottie (Suecia)
Ana Tiscornia (Uruguay)
José Toirac (Cuba)
Humberto Vélez (Panamá)
Sobre Luis Camnitzer:
Artista uruguayo, nacido en Alemania, en 1937. Vive en Nueva York desde 1964. Profesor Emérito de la Universidad del Estado de Nueva York. Entre 1999 y 2006, fue curador para artistas emergentes en The Drawing Center, Nueva York. Fue curador pedagógico de la 6ta Bienal de MERCOSUR y curador pedagógico de la Fundación Iberé Camargo, Porto Alegre, Brasil, de 2007 a 2010. Hasta 2012, fue asesor pedagógico de la Colección Patty Phelps de Cisneros. Co-fundador y co-director de ACE (Arte como Educación), preparó el manual para maestros del Museo Guggenheim de Nueva York y el Museo Jumex de Ciudad México para la muestra “Bajo el mismo sol”, y colaboró en el Manual para la escuela sustentable de UES en Lo Zárate, Chile. Trabaja en la coordinación del Proyecto Barrios del Centro de Fotografía de la Intendencia Municipal de Montevideo.
+ info: https://www.bellasartes.gob.ar/
The Haven Foundation Grant
The mission of The Haven Foundation is to offer interim financial assistance to freelance professionals in the arts who face crises. The Foundation’s reach in the United States and its awards are granted with a view to helping individuals overcome temporary adversity and return to full-time work.
In the summer of 1999, I was struck by a careless driver and nearly killed while taking my daily walk. It was ten months before I was able to work productively again. Some years later, a good friend of mine, audio reader Frank Muller, suffered terrible head injuries as a result of a motorcycle accident. He never worked again. My luck was infinitely better than Muller’s, but the two events set me thinking about the uniquely perilous situation of many freelance artists. The majority of mid-list writers, audio readers, and freelancers in the book and publishing industry have little or no financial cushion in the event of a sudden catastrophic accident such as that suffered by Muller and myself. Many aren’t affiliated with any professional associations or guilds that can help them in the event of such reversals. Even those who are affiliated with organizations such as The Authors’ Guild cannot look for much beyond token help over a short period of time.
My response to this has been the creation of The Haven Foundation. Its goals will be threefold:
First, to establish a compassionate and committed group of board members willing to sift through cases and identify those where the need seems to be the greatest. These “greatest need” cases would be freelance members of the fine arts community – who have found themselves unable to work due to disease or accident. We will also focus on freelancers who lost their homes and workspaces (with freelancers these are often the same) as a result of natural disasters or other catastrophic events.
Second, to help a number of these individuals each year, based on need.
Third, to establish cut-off points for such help. As I have discovered, the decision to cut off aid is an agonizing one, and best made by a group rather than by an individual. I have come to believe, however, that it must be made if help is to be rendered to the many rather than the few.
—Stephen King