The BRIC Biennial: Volume II, Bed-Stuy/Crown Heights Edition kicked off on November 10, featuring the work of local artists surveying the rapidly changing neighborhoods of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights.
As the largest and most ambitious exhibition organized by BRIC to date, the exhibit is also on view at four locations around Brooklyn: BRIC House, the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, FiveMyles, and Weeksville Heritage Center.
Check out the work of some of the exhibiting artists:
Tours of the exhibition for individuals and groups will be available on Wednesdays at 10:30am and11:30pm.
"Affective Bodies"
BRIC House (647 Fulton St, Brooklyn)
November 10, 2016 — January 16, 2017
An immersion in the world's rhythms would be one way to summarize the task of representing shared affect. To pay attention to the "affective" is to see how my body negotiates yours as we pass each other on the street; it is to notice how a neighborhood changes imperceptibly; it is to be aware of how our identities shape our everyday experiences of the world. The term "affect" is an attempt to describe all of the minor, often unnoticed, shared experiences of living in our bodies and in our communities. An emphasis on the affective allows us to track some shared thematic concerns, among them, how we respond to our environment, and to each other.
Participating artists at BRIC House include: Lala Abaddon | Aisha Tandiwe Bell | Jen Bervin | The Black Lunch Table | Brooklyn Hi Art Machine | Brandon Coley Cox | Zachary Fabri | Rachel Frank | Aaron Gilbert | Asuka Goto | Phoebe Grip | Ilana Harris-Babou | Maria Hupfield | Sara Jimenez | Rachelle Mozman | Kambui Olujimi | Nkiruka J. Oparah | Rachel Ostrow | Macon Reed | sol'sax | Jakob Kudsk Steensen | William Villalongo
"Translations and Annotations"
Brooklyn Public Library, Central Library (10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn)
November 16, 2016 — January 31, 2017
"Translations and Annotations" brings together five artists who document the personal and political possibilities of reading and drawing upon existing texts as artistic practices. The artists displayed in the Central Library use existing texts and documents as source material that they reinterpret, annotate, and translate to reflect on issues like personal loss, social issues, and reimagining the self. In conversation with the exhibitions at BRIC House and Weeksville Heritage Center, these artists explore the affective dimensions of textuality by putting on display the marginalia produced in the process of reading, which map the reader's own references and critique. These artists also pursue tactics of appropriation and reinvention, while considering forms or writing and reading that have emerged with the advent of the digital. With the ability to hyperlink and tag, and the emergence of electronic databases that are supplying physical libraries, the experience of writing and reading becomes pointedly personal, refusing the perceived linearity of the bound book.
The exhibition at the Brooklyn Public Library also includes a Special Project by photographer Hidemi Takagi, a study of the central role of barbershops in African American urban neighborhoods.
Participating artists at Brooklyn Public Library, Central Library include: Kumasi J. Barnett | Aaron G. Beebe | Asuka Goto | | Hidemi Takagi | Chris Nosenzo
"In Flux"
FiveMyles (558 St Johns Pl, Brooklyn)
All Performance take place at 7pm and are free. Remaining Shows include:
Carrefour, November 26
Conceived and performed by Renegade Performance Group. Part installation, part choreographed movement, the work concentrates on the stories of Crown Heights and on the future of the neighborhood through film and media.
Three Movement Performances, December 2
Performed by 25:25 PROJECT: Andrea Haenggi, Bell and Clixby and Sari Nordman, the evening presents a work-shop performance that brings together people, plants and audience; a mediation on the different states of the body, and an exploration of women's ancient role as goddesses and priestesses.
Motherwit, December 3
Words and wisdom from fierce poets talking motherhood and modern life with Keisha-Gaye Anderson, JP Howard and Vanessa Martir.
Concert, December 9
Moments from the artist's forthcoming album, a musical tapestry of fevers and stories of disease, circles and possibility. Music composed and performed by electric guitarist Grey McMurray.
Future Perfect, December 10
Two researchers from the future find themselves stranded in pre-historic times and struggle to make the best of their lives with the Cro-Magnons. Written by Adam Scott Mazer, directed by Dan Rogers. Presented by AntiMatter Collective
Maelstrom, December 3 - 11
FiveMyles will present a Special Project, the exhibition of Maelstrom, featuring new paintings by Jonathan Allen.
Participating artists at FiveMyles include: Jonathan Allen | Keisha-Gaye Anderson | Anti/Matter Collective | Asylos Company | Bell and Clixby | Hot Hands | Andrea Hengs | Maiko Kikuchi | Grey Mcmurray | Sari Nordman | Renegade Performance Group | Malik Nashad Sharpe
"The Lived City"
Weeksville Heritage Center (158 Buffalo Avenue, Brooklyn)
November 12, 2016 — January 6, 2017
In taking up the theme of "The Lived City," the exhibition at Weeksville Heritage Center focuses on artists whose work addresses themes of community, the city, and the affective infrastructures that shape the negotiations of public space. Art works include celebrations of black life and community, reflections on violence and the penal system, and manifestations of popular culture.. These works blur the boundaries between the white cube of the gallery and the thriving culture of Brooklyn's streets, and provide nuanced insights into what it means to share this city with each other.
Fittingly, the site of the exhibition, the Weeksville Heritage Center, represents one of the oldest free African-American communities in the United States, pre-dating the Civil War, and serving as a center for social justice and abolition organizing in the 19th century. Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights later became predominantly African-American neighborhoods with a rich cultural legacy from the jazz era of the 1930s to the thriving hip hop and underground performing arts scene of today. The exhibit at Weeksville is reflection of this history through contemporary artists who live and work in the neighborhood.
Participating artists at the Weeksville Heritage Center include: Chloe Bass | The Black Lunch Table | Adrian Coleman | Adama Delphine Fawundu | Russell Frederick | Duron Jackson | Olalekan Jeyifous | Mckendree Key | Baseera Khan | Stan Squirewell | sol'sax
ASSOCIATED PUBLIC PROGRAMS
In conjunction with the exhibition, these public programs are free and open to the public.
The Black Lunch Table Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
Led by BRIC Biennial artists Heather Hart and Jina Valentine this genre-specific Wikipedia edit-a-thon will create, update, and improve Wikipedia articles focused on the lives and works of black artists who are local to the Bed-Stuy/Crown Heights community. Open to all!
Sat, Dec 10 at 1pm at BRIC House
The Black Lunch Table Recording Session at Weeksville
This project provides food and a space to hold conversations about the intersection of aesthetics and politics while working as artists of color within the contemporary art world. This recording session will be added to an ongoing archive that addresses the silences within the canon of art history and criticism about the lived experience and production of artists from the African diaspora.
Sat , Nov 12
12pm | #Blacklivesmatter Roundtable — open to all.
4pm | Open to artists, educators, and art and art history students of the African Diaspora, to discuss issues directly affecting their community.
Hammer of Witches, Pears of Anguish: Discussion and Workshops at BRIC House
Artist Macon Reed and guests explore the persecution of witches throughout history and their relation to the rise of capitalism and our bodies and imaginations.
Wed, Dec 7 | 7pm
Mugwort Magic: Plant medicine for healing in and out of time, with Sabina Ibarrola.
Sat, Dec 17 | 3pm
Embodying Healing: A workshop of participatory movement and dance.
Bodies in Motion: An Afternoon of Dance and Performance Art at BRIC House
Sat, Dec 17 | 1 — 5pm
Performances by Jonathan Allen and Maria Hupfield.
In Flux Performances
November 11 — December 10; Fridays and Saturdays at 7pm
A series of performances including dance, theater, puppetry, spoken word and music.
Closing Reception for Maelstrom at FiveMyles
Sun, Dec 11 from 4-7pm
Celebrate Jonathan Allen's exhibition of paintings.
The Book of Everyday Instruction, Chapter Five: Protect and Preserve at Weeksville Heritage Center
A lecture-performance by Chloë Bass describing experiences of safety in St. Louis during the summer of 2016, compiled from interviews with approximately 20 diverse St. Louis residents, and material from the artist's personal life. Includes a visual presentation of images of people in safe spaces in St. Louis, shot by the artist, in contrast with iconic images from the Civil Rights Movement and Black Lives Matter.
Fri, Dec 2 | 7pm
