The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation Announces Spring 2024 Programming at The 8th Floor

The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation
Announces Spring 2024
Programming at The 8th Floor

Film still courtesy of Krista Gay.

New York, NY – February 15, 2024 – The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation is pleased to announce its spring 2024 programs at The 8th Floor, including talks to coincide with the exhibition Reality Reframed: Recent Works by Todd Gray alongside the ongoing Sight/Geist series. Curated by George Bolster and Anjuli Nanda Diamond, Reality Reframed features recent photo assemblages drawing on Gray’s extensive archive of photography from the last forty years, and will have an opening reception on February 22. Following that, Todd Gray will be in conversation with curator and writer Kalia Brooks on February 24. The exhibition will close on April 13 with a program featuring political theorist Jacob Roundtree, who also wrote the exhibition’s catalogue essay.

Sight/Geist, a series for local emerging film and performance artists at The 8th Floor, enters its third season with an immersive sound performance by Cal Fish on March 7, a new audiovisual collaboration between Kamari Carter and Gladstone Deluxe on March 14, and a film screening with works by Krista Gay, Kearra Amaya Gopee, Jard Lerebours, and Devon Narine-Singh on April 5. Each program will be followed by a conversation between the artists in attendance and the Foundation’s Charles de Agustin, Sight/Geist organizer.

All events are free and open to the public, taking place at The 8th Floor, 17 W 17th St, NYC. RSVPs are encouraged via the individual links below.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday, February 22, 6-8pm
Opening Reception, Reality Reframed: Recent Works by Todd Gray
Details & RSVP Here

On view Thursdays-Saturdays 11am-6pm and by appointment through April 13, Reality Reframed will feature recent photo assemblages drawing on Gray’s extensive archive of photography from the last forty years. Throughout his photographic practice, the artist frequently defies the conventions of photography, destabilizing the primacy of the image and the traditional construction of pictorial narrative. Gray’s work often opens with beauty and closes with the dark, inherently grisly histories of global colonial subjugation, human trafficking, and ideological manipulation that enabled the aestheticization of the Old World, which was paid for by the New. Curated by George Bolster and Anjuli Nanda Diamond, the exhibition’s full press release and further details can be found here.

Saturday, February 24, 1-3pm
Todd Gray in Conversation with Kalia Brooks
Details & RSVP Here

Expanding from his recent photo assemblages exploring belief systems and colonial histories on view at The 8th Floor, Todd Gray will be in conversation with curator and writer Kalia Brooks, Director of Programs & Exhibitions at NXTHVN, whose research focuses on African American, trans-Atlantic, and diasporic cultures.

Thursday, March 7, 6-8pm
Cal Fish: Come Again Another Day
Details & RSVP Here

The third season of Sight/Geist kicks off with a “soft sound sculpture dance” led by Cal Fish. Come Again Another Day is an immersive performance rooted in New York City’s dripping soundscape shared over body-sensitive FM radio transmissions, alongside sculptural objects and acoustic instruments. Supported by collaborators Kwami Winfield and Becca Rodriguez, the artist aims to explore ideas around precipitation, absorption, and memory. The piece will be followed by a discussion between Cal Fish and the Foundation’s Charles de Agustin.

Thursday, March 14, 6-8pm
Kamari Carter & Gladstone Deluxe: Codes
Details & RSVP Here

Sight/Geist continues with Codes, a new audiovisual collaboration between Kamari Carter and Gladstone Deluxe using data extracted from live police scanner transmissions as material for musical exploration. Codes works toward a synthesis of Carter’s research around incarceration, black aesthetics, and surveillance alongside Deluxe’s haptic, afrological, and techno-inspired composition strategies. The performance will be followed by a discussion between the artists and the Foundation’s Charles de Agustin.

Friday, April 5, 6-8pm
Daily Basis: Krista Gay, Kearra Amaya Gopee, Jard Lerebours, Devon Narine-Singh
Details & RSVP Here

The third season of Sight/Geist concludes with Daily Basis, a screening of short films by Krista Gay, Kearra Amaya Gopee, Jard Lerebours, and Devon Narine-Singh. These five divergent works consider issues of love, history, and power in the push-and-pull of communing with others, as well as how sound manifests as violence and healing. The screening will be followed by a discussion between the artists and the Foundation’s Charles de Agustin.

Saturday, April 13, 1-3pm
Cultural Hegemony: The Underpinnings of Representation in Todd Gray’s Practice
Details TBA

On the final day of Reality Reframed, join the Foundation for a reflective afternoon with political theorist Jacob Roundtree, who wrote the exhibition’s catalogue essay. Subscribe to The 8th Floor’s mailing list to receive further details when announced.
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: Facebook @SDRubinFoundation, Twitter @rubinfoundation, Instagram @rubinfoundation

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Image description: A 4:3 low-res film still depicting a Black woman wearing a pink night gown, with her arms and head facing toward the sky, screaming, with a dark background. In overlaid neon green digital text: “LOVE ME!”

For media inquiries, please contact:
Max Kruger-Dull
212.675.1800
max@bluemedium.com