NEW YORK STATES OF MIND
December 16, 2007 – March 23, 2008
New York City Building
Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Queens, NY 11368-3398
718.592.9700
A FRESH VISION OF NEW YORK THROUGH EUROPEAN EYES
After critical and popular acclaim at Berlin’s House of World Cultures, the Queens Museum of Art presents New York States of Mind, an exhibition and film program on view December 16, 2007 through March 23, 2008. New York States of Mind offers a fresh vision of New York City from an outsider’s perspective while evoking nostalgia for the city’s gritty past. New York City, the larger-than-life myth that envelops our everyday reality, is an urban hub where diverse communities seek refuge and flourish, a concrete jungle where only the strong survive, and a 24-hour space of limitless opportunity. Through an interdisciplinary exploration, New York States of Mind provides a corrective backdrop to this mythical New York while demonstrating how artists have engaged with the city as a democratic and experimental space. Featuring a dynamic group of emerging and established artists whose work reflects the New York City’s shifting paradigms and demographic, New York States of Mind focuses on the more flexible practice of contemporary art from Marcel Duchamp to Kehinde Wiley. Featured artists include: Iona Rozeal Brown, Ian Burns, Laura Carton, Carolina Caycedo, Patty Chang, Marcel Duchamp, Rainer Ganahl, Hans Haacke, David Hammons, Jonathan Horowitz, Tehching Hsieh, Kim Jones, Michael Joo, Jon Kessler, Terence Koh, Nikki S.Lee, Mark Lombardi, Mary Ellen Mark, Gordon Matta-Clark, Josephine Meckseper, Ana Mendieta, Sarah Morris, William Pope.L, Printed Matter Inc., Elaine Reichek, Carolee Schneemann, Ward Shelley, Tavares Strachan, Kehinde Wiley, Fred Wilson and Jordan Wolfson.
“The selection of artworks and artists for this exhibition helps to define contemporary culture and the cultural understanding of makers based in New York, of how living in New York impacts on production, especially since the sixties,” said curator Shaheen Merali. “The selection purposefully collates a series of works by artists from a diverse set of social, political, ethnic, and intergenerational spaces bound together only by the confined space that is the city of New York.”
New York States of Mind is also a timely contribution to the transnational dialogue between the United States and Germany. The exhibition opens a month after Carnegie Hall’s first major international festival, Berlin in Lights: a celebration of artistic production in contemporary Berlin. Both Berlin in Lights and New York States of Mind have emerged as parallel collaborations between two of the world’s most cosmopolitan locales. Queens Museum Director Tom Finkelpearl states, “Last year, we examined Robert Moses’ vision for New York City. This season, New York States of Mind presents a complete contrast which, combined with the curatorial vision of Shaheen Merali and 30 artists, conveys the messy vitality of the city.”
The films in New York States of Mind range from early silent films documenting the rise of the world-famous Manhattan skyline in the 1920′s to contemporary shorts, art films and feature documentaries. Collectively, these works portray New York City as a political, social and sexual sphere of interaction and evaluate how artistic production has been influenced by these dynamics. The film program corresponds to the themes Counter Cinema, Slow Motion and Trans-Borders and includes works by Abigail Child, Jem Cohen, Laura Cottingham, Mary Jordan, Sarah Morris, Jennifer Reeves and Michael Winterbottom.
ORGANIZATION AND SUPPORT
New York States of Mind is an exhibition curated by Shaheen Merali of the House of World Cultures, Berlin. New York States of Mind film program is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts.
The exhibition and film program was on view at the House of World Cultures, Berlin from August 8, 2007-November 11, 2007.
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Available upon request. Please contact Krista N. Saunders at 718.592.9700 x221 or ksaunders@queensmuseum.org
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The Queens Museum of Art was established in 1972 to provide a vital cultural center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park for the borough’s unique, international population. Today it is home to the Panorama of the City of New York, a 9,335 square foot scale model of the five boroughs, and features temporary exhibitions of modern and contemporary art that reflect the cultural diversity of Queens, as well as a collection of Tiffany glass from the Neustadt Museum of Tiffany Art. The Museum provides valuable educational outreach through a number of programs geared toward schoolchildren, teens, families, seniors and individuals with physical and mental disabilities.
The Museum’s hours are: Wednesday – Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday: 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Admission to the Museum is by suggested donation. seniors, students and children, and free for member and children under 5. For general visitor information, please visit the Museum’s website www.queensmuseum.org or call 718.592.9700.
The House of World Cultures has set itself the task of presenting cultures from outside Europe through their fine arts, theatre, music, literature, film and the media and engaging them in a public discourse with European cultures. The House of World Cultures’ programme focuses on the contemporary arts and current developments in the cultures of Africa, Asia and Latin America as well as on the artistic and cultural consequences of globalisation. It gives priority to projects that explore the possibilities of both intercultural co-operation and its presentation.
All photos may be printed free of charge solely when published in context with the exhibition.
Full caption and credit line must be given.
All photographers – if they are listed – must be named.
Contact:
Krista N. Saunders
718-592-9700 x221
ksaunders@queensmuseum.org
