Blue Medium Newsletter: Winter/Spring 2024

Welcome to 2024 and the new Blue Medium newsletter.

It’s winter in New York. Post-holidays, the City’s draw wanes for some. Wind picks up, blowing us along avenues like cotton balls. Temperatures continue to drop, and the bitter cold is no longer diffused by twinkling window displays and anticipatory holiday cheer. “Let’s catch up in the New Year” emails aren’t an excuse anymore, and to-do lists resume, as if they’ve never stopped. But we love a challenge, and the promising reward of everything to come. The radiator whistles and chugs, like a steam engine, propelling us into the New Year.

With that, we’re thrilled to introduce you to our refreshed and repurposed newsletter, designed by reiH of UANDME.studio and REIONTHEWALL. This format includes more practical content including upcoming programming from our clients, highlights of creative firebrands in the “Blue Muse” section, and more. We are in the business of amplifying the voices of those committed to art making and those presenting and nurturing visual arts and design excellence. We’re not one for resolutions, but with the turning of the year comes renewed excitement for everything to come in 2024: more art to be made and experienced, more creators to discover and champion.

They say that summer is for living, and winter is for creating. Sure, springtime blooms and autumn colors are enticing. But for now, until we thaw, let us show you what we’ve been working on.

—John, Michelle, Andy, Meg, Dalia, Max, Katrina, Michael, Lara, and Madeline

02/ BLUE MUSE

Featuring Akeia de Barros Gomes

Akeia de Barros Gomes, Senior Curator of Maritime Social Histories at Mystic Seaport Museum,

joined the Museum in 2021 as part of a two-year initiative to examine Mystic’s and other regional museums’ collections, to develop contemporary re-imaginings of people’s actions in the past and present, and to translate the information into content relevant to today’s social environment.

The result of this initiative is Akeia’s first curatorial project with Mystic Seaport Museum, titled Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea. Opening in April, the exhibition is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and is a continuation of her doctoral dissertation and lifelong studies in Black and Indigenous communities. Entwined is a survey of Indigenous, African, and African American experiences in relation to the ocean and maritime history and will feature objects on loan from local Indigenous communities and new works by artists of color. A focal point of the exhibition is a canoe created in collaboration between two Native American artists (Mashantucket Pequot and Mashpee Wampanoag) and two African artists (Ghanaian and Togolese) who all work in a “dugout” tradition, highlighting the through line of spirituality and water across the Atlantic. Other highlights include Nkisi bundle fragments discovered underneath a floorboard in the attic of one of the oldest standing colonial houses in Newport, Rhode Island, and the only surviving Eliot Bible owned by a Native American tribal nation—initially translated into Algonquin dialect to Christianize Native Americans, but used recently to reclaim Northeast Indigenous languages.

Gomes is a descendant of Cape Verdean whalers and came to the Museum after serving as the Curator of Social History at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

03/ WHAT’S ON | VISUAL ARTS

ASU ART MUSEUM

Twin Flames: The George Floyd Uprising from Minneapolis to Phoenix, February 3 — July 8

Arizona State University Art Museum, ASU’s Center for Work and Democracy, and the George Floyd Global Memorial present Twin Flames, a community-led exhibition that showcases a selection of the thousands of offerings laid by mourners and protesters at George Floyd Square, the street intersection where George Floyd was murdered on March 25, 2020. Displayed for the first time outside of Minneapolis, the objects foster dialogue, understanding, and empathy using the collective power of arts, creativity, and imagination.

Contact: Max Kruger-Dull

CITY OF MIAMI BEACH ART IN PUBLIC PLACES

Aspen Ideas: Climate 2024, March 11 — 13

In March of 2024, the City of Miami Beach will host the third annual Aspen Ideas: Climate Conference, presented by The Aspen Institute. It will coincide with the Spring 2024 installment of Elevate Española, the city’s temporary public art program that suspends site-specific installations above Española Way. This edition will feature environmentally themed work by the Brazil-born Miami-based Beatriz Chachamovits. Currently on view is Assume Vivid Astro Focus’s Adora Vanessa Athena Fantasia, which plays a vibrant tribute to South Florida’s storied drag community.

Contact: Katrina Stewart

Mary Lucier: Leaving Earth, January 19 – March 2

Mary Lucier’s first solo exhibition with Cristin Tierney Gallery will feature a multichannel video installation meditating on the final journals of her late husband, the painter Robert Berlind. During Berlind’s decline, Lucier began to admire how fearlessly he documented his thoughts on his impending death. In contrast to much of Lucier’s earlier work, Leaving Earth embraces randomness, non-sequential logic, repetitive thoughts, and moments that verge on chaos, mirroring the composition of a dying mind.

Contact: Max Kruger-Dull

FABRIC WORKSHOP AND MUSEUM

Risa Puno: Group Hug, March 1 — July 21

Group Hug marks Risa Puno’s most personal exhibition to date. An artist constantly exploring how humans relate to gaming and play, Puno and The Fabric Workshop studio team are creating an interactive experience based on both Whac-A-Mole and labyrinths. In this exhibition, Puno will investigate social relationships to providing and receiving care, especially in relation to her own life and Filipino identity.

Contact: Max Kruger-Dull

FORMAN ARTS INITIATIVE

Forman Arts Initiative and Mural Arts 2024 Public Works

Forman Arts Initiative will soon announce their second annual Public Works, a residency program in partnership with Mural Arts that pairs artists and Philadelphia government agencies to develop artwork that forges new connections between the agency and the communities they serve. Later this spring, FAI will continue its partnership with Philadelphia Foundation, inviting Philadelphia artists and organizations to apply for Art Works, a $3,000,000 grantmaking program to support cultural organizations and artists working in partnership with BIPOC and other historically under-resourced communities throughout the city.

Contact: Max Kruger-Dull

MARLBOROUGH NEW YORK

Michele Oka Doner: The Book of Enchantment, January 23 — March 2

Celebrated for her diverse artistic oeuvre spanning over six decades, Michele Oka Doner presents installation, sculpture, and monoprints in The Book of Enchantment. Utilizing an array of materials including bronze, silver, gold, terrazzo, and handmade paper, Oka Doner’s multidimensional creations draw inspiration from the natural world and urge viewers to reflect on the fragility of our ecosystem. Oka Doner’s exhibition will be joined on the gallery’s second floor with an exhibition of Matthew Schreiber’s holograms–including his noted collaborations–sculptures, drawings, and a new video installation, as well as a show on the third floor of works in video and photography by emerging artist Mickey Aloisio on the gallery’s third floor.

Contact: Max Kruger-Dull

KALLIR RESEARCH INSTITUTE

International Programming for the 100th Anniversary of the Neue Galerie, Spring 2024

The 100th anniversary celebrations of the original Neue Galerie, which began this fall in Vienna with the exhibitions Otto Kallir and the Neue Galerie in Historical Documents 1923-1954 at the Galerie nächst St. Stephan, and 100 YEARS NEUE GALERIE VIENNA: Homage to Otto Kallir at Wienerroither & Kohlbacher, will extend to Otto Kallir’s adopted home of New York City. On the occasion, the Kallir Research Institute will open its new research center to the public, and will be joined by an adaptation of Wienerroither & Kohlbacher’s exhibition at its New York gallery. All exhibitions were curated by KRI President and scholar Jane Kallir.

Contact: Katrina Stewart

MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM

Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea, April 2024

Curated by Akeia de Barros Gomes, Mystic’s Senior Curator of Maritime Social Histories, the exhibition will survey maritime histories in Indigenous, African, and African American worldviews and experiences. Unraveling the threads of existing maritime narratives for the history of the Dawnland (New England), Indigenous dispossession, and racialized slavery, Entwined is rooted in voices and histories that have been silent or silenced. Focal points of the exhibition include a dugout canoe created as a collaboration between two Native American artists and two African artists, and Nkisi figures discovered underneath a floorboard of the oldest standing colonial house in Newport, Rhode Island.

Contact: Katrina Stewart

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG FOUNDATION

Call for Works, Ongoing ‘24

A call to all owners of Rauschenberg paintings or sculpture: The Rauschenberg Foundation recently announced a public call for works in preparation for the first Robert Rauschenberg catalogue raisonné. Owners of artworks dating from 1948 to 1953 are invited to submit details ONLINE or by mail. The catalogue raisonné will be published online and entirely free of charge, with the first volume published digitally in October 2025 to coincide with the centennial of Rauschenberg’s birth.

Contact: Katrina Stewart

SHELLEY & DONALD RUBIN FOUNDATION

Reality Reframed, Recent Work by Todd Gray, February 22 — April 13

Todd Gray’s exhibition of recent photo-sculptures will examine histories of global colonial subjugation, human trafficking, and ideological manipulation, which were enabled by the aestheticization of the Old World in service of the New World. Gray’s work steps beyond text-driven historical storytelling, depicting rich built environments through the use of stacked images, all of which exist in frawhomes of varied scales and historical periods.

Contact: Max Kruger-Dull

BEYER BLINDER BELLE

Gallery 64

Beyer Blinder Belle reveals its contemporary design for the new 12 story apartment building, Gallery 64. Twenty percent of the new residences within Gallery 64 are dedicated to affordable housing, and the residences will be sure to activate the street with more pedestrian activity and visual interest. Additionally, BBB worked to maximize sustainability in all ways possible in their design. The new building will complement DC’s newly opened Rubell Museum DC, a world class contemporary art museum, and the minimalist concept of Gallery 64 echoes that of the adjacent museum’s. BBB’s design of Gallery 64 also affords expansive views of the Capitol and the National Mall.

Contact: Michelle DiLello

BEYER BLINDER BELLE

MET Skylights

Beyer Blinder Belle congratulates the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the public reopening of the European paintings galleries. This reopening reintroduces more than 700 breathtaking works from 1300-1800. Thanks to the extensive skylight replacement that was designed and overseen through construction by BBB, the art shines in a whole new way. The project made sure to address sunlight control, thermal efficiency and system longevity to ensure the collection’s preservation.

Contact: Dalia Stoniene

FRIEDMAN BENDA

The New Transcendence, January 11 — February 24

On view starting January 11 is The New Transcendence, the last in a series of three pace-setting exhibitions curated by Glenn Adamson for Friedman Benda. The exhibition will explore the place of the spiritual in contemporary design today. The New Transcendence is not about religion in the organized, traditional, or dogmatic sense. Rather, it aims to discover how design can serve as a vehicle for personal and societal transcendence. The exhibition will include work by the designers: Ini Archibong, Andrea Branzi, Stephen Burks, Najla El Zein, Courtney Leonard, and Samuel Ross. Each participant has their own perspective, yet they are all united by the impetus to provide an objective, material anchor for the subjective and ultimately private nature of spiritual belief.

Contact: Michelle DiLello

FRIEDMAN BENDA

Estúdio Campana: On the Road, March 7 — April 13

Friedman Benda will present in New York the first solo exhibition of Estúdio Campana, On the Road. The exhibition will premiere some of the studio’s most recent material explorations: aluminum, adobe and Capim. The exhibition debuts Capim dorado buffet and a new version of Jalapão Chair, a reactivated sophistication and complexity of design that shows the studio’s indefatigable quest for new possibilities from local materials.

Contact: Michelle DiLello

HACIN

District Hall Makeover, Winter ‘24

Ten years after its initial construction, District Hall, South Boston’s Seaport District’s celebrated innovation center, is undergoing a reinvention. Since its completion in 2013, the building has acted as an anchor point for the burgeoning neighborhood, hosting hundreds of thousands of visitors and facilitating thousands of events. Conceived as a fostering environment for innovators and entrepreneurs to exchange ideas and host events, the space has grown to become a highly sought-after multi-purpose community hub where students study, runners hydrate, residents vote, and working professionals socialize. Many original program spaces will be reimagined, while upgrades such as new fixtures, finishes, and furniture will be implemented throughout. Entrances on all four sides will be enhanced, expanded, and reprogrammed to create stronger connections with the surrounding neighborhood and all it has to offer.

Contact: Dalia Stoniene

MIAMI CENTER OF ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN

Open House Miami, March 1 — 2

On March 1-2, Miami and Miami Beach will host the Open House Worldwide architecture festival for the first time. This global network, encompassing nearly 60 non-profit organizations, fosters festivals and dialogues about architecture, design, and urban living. Open House Worldwide is committed to cultivating more transparent, accessible and inclusive cities. The Miami Center for Architecture and Design (MCAD), is spearheading Open House Miami. MCAD is set to honor and celebrate the storied history of Miami Beach’s architecture and design. Open House Miami will give attendees access to over 50 individual experiences in 15 district neighborhoods with support from 75+ partners, and will unlock the stories, design, architecture and experiences that define the vibrant city of Miami.

Contact: Michelle DiLello

RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN

Tamanduas and Servals and Wrinkled Hornbills, Oh My!, December‘23

In a studio course called Design for Animal Enrichment, Industrial Design students have been creating objects thoughtfully designed to provide mental and physical stimulation for a variety of animal species at Roger Williams Park Zoo. The final projects encompassed various aspects such as habitat/environmental enhancements, cognitive exercises, sensory stimulation, food-based challenges, interactive toys, and behavioral/social interactions, all aimed at promoting natural behaviors, physical activity, and mental engagement in zoo animals.

Contact: Dalia Stoniene

RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN

Nancy Elizabeth Prophet: I Will Not Bend an Inch, Februrary 17

This exhibition at the RISD Museum is the first major museum presentation to celebrate the work and legacy of Nancy Elizabeth Prophet (1890-1960), an under recognized 20th-century sculptor and one of the first known women of color to graduate from the Rhode Island School of Design, best known for her contributions to expatriate culture in Paris during the interwar period. This survey will feature three-dimensional sculptures of marble and wood, painted wood friezes, watercolors and photographic presentations of archival documents and lost or destroyed sculptures.

Contact: Dalia Stoniene

Introducing Meg Cook

In short, Meg runs the back end of all things Blue. From office operations, to HR and finance, to contract updates and client liaising, she keeps the gears turning from the inside. Originally from Clearwater, Florida, Meg escaped to the Pacific Northwest after graduating college for graduate school in Portland, Oregon, where she studied literature and philosophy, and worked in the non-profit world of museums and film festivals. She eventually landed in New York in 2022. Meg moonlights as a literary critic and magazine editor; you can read her writing on her SUBSTACK and her digital magazine FECUND.