2013 programming for Museum as Hub
New Museum
235 Bowery
New York, NY 10002
Founded in 2007, the Museum as Hub supports innovative and emergent projects in contemporary art. As both a physical site, online platform, and growing network of international art spaces, the Museum as Hub facilitates artistic and intellectual exchange through forms of exhibition, residency, public programming, editorial and digital projects, and more. In early 2013, the Museum as Hub will present a dynamic round of programming that will focus on the theme of artist as network, examining how individual artists or collectives build and activate local and international communities, and how this can inform or integrate with institutional practice.
Exhibitions
The season began with the exhibition Walking Drifting Dragging, a monthlong presentation of works by four emerging artists/collectives: Eunji Cho, Ellie Ga, Paulo Nazareth, and Mriganka Madhukaillya and Sonal Jain of Desire Machine Collective. Through extended expeditions by foot or by boat, and accompanied by a shifting ensemble of fellow travelers, all four artists work against contemporary notions of immediacy and access in a globalized world where any data point appears to be a search away and other cultures can seem legible with a quick round-trip. This exhibition is followed by:
Center for Historical Reenactments: After-after Tears (May 22–July 7, 2013)
Founded in 2010 in Johannesburg, Center for Historical Reenactments (CHR) is an independent contemporary art platform that responds to the institution of art and its global histories, reflecting on a period of rapid and unequal urban and cultural development in South Africa. CHR’s past activities mobilized around historic events and sites from the apartheid era to explore how established systems of thought (or ideologies) still condition contemporary life. With the support of a Museum as Hub Residency, CHR presents After-after Tears, an evolving, multifaceted exhibition that explores the lifespan of the organization and its operational strategies. The project utilizes the resources of the New Museum in New York to organize a gallery presentation that elucidates CHR’s working philosophy, while performances and public programs propose future directions for their activity. After-after Tears is organized by CHR members, Donna Kukama, Gabi Ngcobo, and Kemang Wa Lehulere, as well as associated members and invited guest contributors.
Residencies
Artists are provided accommodation and travel to New York City, as well as resources and institutional support through Museum as Hub to create new works. Produced works can take varied forms, from publications to performances and sculpture. Residents over the next six months include Nicolás Paris (Bogotá, Colombia), Stacy Hardy of Chimurenga (Capetown, South Africa), Mriganka Madhukaillya and Sonal Jain of Desire Machine Collective (Guwahati, India), and Donna Kukama, Gabi Ngcobo, and Kemang Wa Lehulere of CHR.
Propositions
A two-part seminar introduces a topic of current investigation in an invited speaker’s own artistic or intellectual practice. Upcoming participants include: artist Ajay Kurian (February 16), poet Cathy Park Hong (March 30), curator Montserrat Albores Gleason (April 27), and the Center for Historical Reenactments (May 18).
Museum as Hub Conference (April 13–14, 2013)
Curated with Museum as Hub partners, the conference convenes a group of curators and directors of international art spaces to discuss emergent models, challenges, and possibilities for international collaboration, with presentations by current Hub partners and invited artists and guests. Current participating partners include art space pool, Seoul; Beirut, Cairo; Miami Art Museum; de_sitio, Mexico City; Inhotim, Brumadinho, Brazil; Townhouse Gallery, Cairo; and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven.
Digital Initiatives
Museum as Hub maintains The Art Spaces Directory, featuring over 400 international art spaces from over ninety-six countries (viewable online) and has begun to publish commentary, essays, and interviews with participating organizations and artists through the Six Degrees blog.
The Museum as Hub initiative is led by Johanna Burton, Keith Haring Director and Curator of Education and Public Engagement, and Lauren Cornell, Curator of the 2015 “The Generational” Triennial, Museum as Hub, and Digital Projects, with Ryan Inouye, Assistant Curator, Museum as Hub. For further information on Museum as Hub and other collaborative projects, visit
www.newmuseum.org/collaborations.
Support
Museum as Hub is made possible through the support of the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation. Museum as Hub and public programs are made possible, in part, by the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
The Museum as Hub Residency Program is made possible through the lead support of the Rockefeller Foundation. Additional funding is provided by Laurie Wolfert.
About The New Museum
The New Museum is the only museum in New York City exclusively devoted to contemporary art. Founded in 1977, the New Museum is a center for exhibitions, information, and documentation about living artists from around the world. From its beginnings as a one-room office on Hudson Street to the inauguration of its first freestanding building on the Bowery designed by SANAA in 2007, the New Museum continues to be a place of experimentation and a hub of new art and new ideas.
