The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation Announces Fall 2023 Programming at The 8th Floor
The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation
Announces Fall 2023
Programming at The 8th Floor
The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation is pleased to announce its fall 2023 programs at The 8th Floor, including talks to coincide with the exhibition The House Edge and the Sight/Geist series of performances. On view through January 13, The House Edge highlights sixteen artists who consider the economic dimensions of Indigenous sovereignty. Programming features an in-depth tour with curator Caitlin Chaisson; a conversation with poet Heid E. Erdrich and artist Rachel Martin on symbols, stories, and myth in their practices; and a conversation with artists Chaz John, Matthew Kirk, and Nico Williams on their contributions to The House Edge.
Sight/Geist, an open call series for local emerging film and performance artists, enters its second season with three solo performance programs at The 8th Floor. Li-Ming Hu’s Can it be I’m not meant to play this part? explores representation and cultural production through a range of media and her experiences as an actor and artist. Zain Alam will present I am sounding a sacred space, a sound performance rooted in a live recitation of the azaan (Islamic call to prayer). Labor & Rest by Nicole Goodwin aka GOODW.Y.N. considers othered bodies in relation to work and movement, and the expectations of productivity in an ableist society. Each performance will be followed by a conversation between the artist and Foundation staff.
All events are free and open to the public, taking place at The 8th Floor, 17 W 17th St, NYC. RSVPs are encouraged at the individual links below.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Saturday, October 21, 2-3pm
Curatorial Tour of The House Edge
Details & RSVP Here
On the weekend of Open House New York, join curator Caitlin Chaisson for a walkthrough of The House Edge at The 8th Floor. Guests will be encouraged to engage deeply with the works on display and ask questions about the curatorial process.
Thursday, October 26, 6-8pm
Li-Ming Hu: Can it be I’m not meant to play this part?
Details & RSVP Here
Artist and former Power Ranger Li-Ming Hu will open the second season of Sight/Geist. Using a wide range of media, Can it be I’m not meant to play this part? explores representation, identity, and cultural production through Hu’s experiences as an actor and artist, in conversation with the history of Asian American theater. The performance will be followed by a discussion between the artist and George Bolster, Curator at the Foundation.
Thursday, November 16, 6-8pm
Heid E. Erdrich and Rachel Martin in Conversation with Caitlin Chaisson
Details & RSVP Here
Poet Heid E. Erdrich and artist Rachel Martin will discuss symbols, stories, and myth in their respective practices, in a conversation moderated by curator Caitlin Chaisson. This program is in conjunction with the exhibition The House Edge on view at The 8th Floor.
Thursday, November 30, 6-8pm
Zain Alam: I am sounding a sacred space
Details & RSVP Here
Sight/Geist continues with a sound performance by artist and composer Zain Alam. I am sounding a sacred space features live recitations of the azaan (Islamic call to prayer) distilled into pure tone, as an extension of and departure from Alvin Lucier’s I Am Sitting in a Room. The artist asks how sound can convey cultural knowledge despite the fixity of text and create sacred space in the process. The piece will be followed by a discussion between Alam and Charles de Agustin, initiator of Sight/Geist and Events & Communications Manager at the Foundation.
Thursday, December 14, 6-8pm
GOODW.Y.N.: Labor & Rest
Details & RSVP Here
The second season of Sight/Geist concludes with artist Nicole Goodwin aka GOODW.Y.N.’s Labor & Rest. This movement- and instruction-based performance considers ideas of work in relation to large, Black, queer, disabled bodies, and broader ableist expectations of productivity. The performance will be followed by a discussion between the artist and Anjuli Nanda Diamond, Executive Director of the Foundation.
Friday, January 12, 2024, 6-8pm
Chaz John, Matthew Kirk, and Nico Williams in Conversation with Caitlin Chaisson
Details & RSVP Here
Artists Chaz John, Matthew Kirk, and Nico Williams, whose work is currently on view in The House Edge at The 8th Floor, will speak about their contributions to the show as well as their wider artistic practices with curator Caitlin Chaisson.
On view through January 13, 2024
The House Edge
Thursdays-Saturdays 11am-6pm, or by appointment. Details on visiting here.
The House Edge, curated by 2023 Open Call Recipient Caitlin Chaisson, features the work of sixteen artists who consider the economic dimensions of Indigenous sovereignty. Though capitalism seeks to define relations between subjects and places, the artists demonstrate how notions of land ownership, property, and consumerism are contested and rewritten through diverse Indigenous practices. Working across media, with many works exhibited publicly for the first time, the featured artists are David Bradley, Jim Denomie, Joe Feddersen, Harry Fonseca, G. Peter Jemison, Chaz John, Matthew Kirk, Terran Last Gun, Rachel Martin, Kimowan Metchewais, Nora Naranjo-Morse, Duane Slick, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Bently Spang, Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie, and Nico Williams. A full press release and further details can be found here.
About the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation
The Foundation believes in art as a cornerstone of cohesive, sustainable communities and greater participation in civic life. In its mission to make art available to the broader public, in particular to underserved communities, the Foundation provides direct support to, and facilitates partnerships between, cultural organizations and advocates of social justice across the public and private sectors. Through grantmaking, the Foundation supported cross-disciplinary work connecting art with social justice via experimental collaborations, as well as extending cultural resources to organizations and areas of New York City in need. sdrubin.org
About The 8th Floor
The 8th Floor is an independent exhibition and event space established in 2010 by Shelley and Donald Rubin to promote artistic and cultural initiatives. Inspired by The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, the gallery is committed to broadening the access and availability of art to New York audiences. Seeking further cultural exchange, The 8th Floor explores the potential of art as an instrument for social change in the 21st century, through an annual program of innovative contemporary art exhibitions and an events program comprised of performances, salon-style discussions, and those organized by external partners. the8thfloor.org
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For media inquiries, please contact:
Max Kruger-Dull
212.675.1800
max@bluemedium.com
Image Description: An appropriated film still in which three Asian women in traditional dress and colorful makeup gaze at the camera, the artist’s own face superimposed in the center.