The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation Announces Spring 2022 Programming at The 8th Floor
The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation
Announces Spring 2022
Programming at The 8th Floor
Kalup Linzy, OK, 2020/2021. Single-channel video, sound. 10:55 min.
Courtesy of the artist and David Castillo Gallery.
The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation is pleased to announce its spring 2022 programming at The 8th Floor, presented in conjunction with Articulating Activism: Works from the Shelley and Donald Rubin Private Collection, on view through June 18, 2022.
Having safely welcomed the public back to the gallery for the March 3 opening of Articulating Activism, we’re now looking forward to two events focused on queer family making that were conceived for our prior exhibition, Kindred Solidarities: Queer Community and Chosen Families and were postponed due to Covid-19, followed by an additional performance commission.
The series will open with a panel discussion between Twiggy Pucci Garçon, Sara Jordenö, and Christopher Udemezue on April 28, and performances by Larry Krone and Kalup Linzy on May 14. Carlos Martiel will close the exhibition and program on June 18 with a new performance.
All events are free and open to the public, taking place at The 8th Floor, 17 W 17th St, NYC. RSVP required at the individual links below.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday, April 28, 6-8pm EST
Documenting Kiki Family: The Explosion of Ballroom
This discussion will address the task of actively forming community, centering on the 2016 documentary Kiki, that introduced a new generation to Ballroom culture, the queer families that formed it, and those formed through it. Panelists include filmmaker and visual artist Sara Jordenö; non-binary healer and ballroom participant Twiggy Pucci Garçon; and artist and activist Christopher Udemezue. The conversation will be moderated by the curators of Kindred Solidarities and Articulating Activism, George Bolster and Anjuli Nanda Diamond.
Saturday, May 14, 2-4pm EST
Performances by Larry Krone and Kalup Linzy
2pm: Larry Krone, Larry Krone and Family: Loving You is Easier
Loving You is Easier is the third in a series of scripted musical performances on the theme of personal identity by Larry Krone. Preceded by Who or What I Am, presented at Joe’s Pub in 2018, and Beyond Repair, presented at the RISD Museum in 2019, this new work will focus on the individual in the context of family. This entertaining and thought-provoking 40-minute extravaganza will take the audience through the painful dissolution of failed biological family dynamics and the work it takes to rebuild a new, healthier family unit based on love. Consistent with his practice over the past 25 years, Krone expresses himself in Loving You is Easier through a concert format, performing his original country songs interspersed with storytelling.
3pm: Kalup Linzy, The State of my Feelings and Emotions…
In The State of my Feelings and Emotions… multidisciplinary artist Kalup Linzy will perform as his alter-ego Taiwan Braswell. The new piece will feature tunes from his repertoire, alongside yet to be released material. The character is a member of Linzy’s Queen Rose family, whose sagas have been the mainstay subject of his irreverent video works. Modeled after soap operas, his cast of characters feature the artist in a variety of guises playing real and invented relations. Linzy’s work explores the love and loss inherent in real, fictional, and chosen familial structures through performance, film, and collaged paintings.
Saturday, June 18, time TBA
Closing Performance by Carlos Martiel
RSVP will be announced soon
Alter ego, a new performance by Carlos Martiel, will reflect on the construction of heteronormative masculinity and its implications for people of color through the artist’s corporeal presence as a queer Black man.
On view through June 18
Articulating Activism: Works from the Shelley and Donald Rubin Private Collection Open Thursday-Saturday, 11am-6pm, or by appointment. Navigate here for details on visiting.
Featuring: ACT UP, Belkis Ayón, Firelei Báez, Abel Barroso, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Tony Cokes, Ángel Delgado, Antonia Eiriz, Carlos Garaicoa, Guerrilla Girls, Gonkar Gyatso, Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds, Shaun Leonardo, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Armando
Mariño, Carlos Martiel, Frank Martínez, Mary Mattingly, Ana Mendieta, Cirenaica Moreira, Michael Rakowitz, Hunter Reynolds and George Lyter, Dread Scott, Tsherin Sherpa, José Ángel Toirac, Betty Tompkins, Chungpo Tsering, José Ángel Vincench, and Jorge Wellesley.
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
Follow the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation
Facebook: @SDRubinFoundation
Twitter: @rubinfoundation
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For media inquiries, please contact:
Lourdes Miller
212.675.1800
[Image Description: A video still featuring a screen split in three vertical sections, each featuring the artist in different guises, talking on the phone.]