Bronx Times Reporter: October 28th, 2018
The Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture, Bronx Council on the Arts and the Bronx Arts Alliance present the exhibition titled Swing Forward While Swaying Back at the Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos. Curated by Amanda McDonald Crowley, six Bronx artists realize collaborative installations that provocatively and poetically challenge their audiences. Each project simultaneously draws on rich and varied art, activist, and cultural histories to search for something beyond itself - whether in relation to economies of generosity and exchange, practical information about immigration rights, or complex conversations about cultural history.
The exhibition, which runs Monday. October 3 to Wednes day, December 5, will open with a public reception on Wednesday, October 3, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos, 450 Grand Concourse at 149th Street, Room C-190. The Gallery is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 1 to 7 p.m. Admission is free and the gallery is easily accessible by wheelchair.
For more information, call (718) 518-6728.
"When I was drawing connections between the work by the artists in this exhibition, I was reflecting on Elaine Scarey's book On Beauty and Being Just," says curator, Amanda McDonald Crowley, "Scarey writes: ' is porous, open to air and light, swings forward while swaying back, scatters its stripes in all directions and delights to find itself beached beside something invented only that morning or instead standing beside an alter from three millennia ago.' It struck me that these Bronx artists all find beauty in their objective to make work that clearly positions itself with a goal to ensure a more just future, but they all also look to their varied pasts to draw connections and to stay grounded in the present.''
The artists in Swing Forward While Swaying Back collaborate with their audiences and with other artists to 'complete' their works. It is an exhibition that is about collaboration and invites participation.
Participating artists include Alicia Grullón, Blanka Amezkua, Fran Ilich, Francheska Alcantara, Walter Cruz and Yelaine Rodriguez.
Amanda McDonald Crowley is an independent cultural worker and curator. She develops platforms to generate dialogue, bringing together professionals and amateurs from varied disciplines, and creat ing space for audience engagement and social practice. She has recently developed exhibitions and public art programs with Kulturftireningen Triennal (southern Sweden), PointB (Brooklyn NY), New Media Scotland and the Edinburgh Science F.estival (Edinburgh), Pixelache and the Finnish Bioart Society (Helsinki), YMPJ (Bronx NY), and Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (Omaha). She is currently a curatorial collaborator on Mary Mattingly's Swale (NYC), and advisor to Di Mainstone's Human Harp (UK), Juanli Carrion's 088 Project (NYC), Shu Lea Cheang's CycleX (Paris/upstate NY) and Vibha Galhotra's S.O.U.L Foundation (Delhi, IN). She has held leadership and curatorial roles with Eyebeam art + technology center NYC, Australian Network for Art and Technology, ISEA2004 (International Symposium of Electronic Art) Finland, Adelaide Festival 2002 and has done curatorial residencies at Helsinki Inter national Artists Program (FI), Santa Fe Art Institute (US). Bogliasco Foundation (IT), Sarai New Media Institute (IN), and Banff Center for the Arts (CA). publicartaction.net
Funding for Swing Forward While Swaying Back comes from the Hostos Community College Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional support is provided by the Bronx Council on the Arts.
Bronx Council on the Arts is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Af fairs in partnership with the City Council; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; Arts Mid west and the National Endowment for the Arts; and City Council members Andrew Cohen and Mark Gjonaj. Also supported in part by the Booth Ferris Foundation, New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund, Hispanic Federation, the City of New York, and the Department of Youth and Community Development. Special thanks to Hostos Community College and the Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture for their support.
For the original article, click here bxtimes.com
The Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture, Bronx Council on the Arts and the Bronx Arts Alliance present the exhibition titled Swing Forward While Swaying Back at the Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos. Curated by Amanda McDonald Crowley, six Bronx artists realize collaborative installations that provocatively and poetically challenge their audiences. Each project simultaneously draws on rich and varied art, activist, and cultural histories to search for something beyond itself - whether in relation to economies of generosity and exchange, practical information about immigration rights, or complex conversations about cultural history.
The exhibition, which runs Monday. October 3 to Wednes day, December 5, will open with a public reception on Wednesday, October 3, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos, 450 Grand Concourse at 149th Street, Room C-190. The Gallery is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 1 to 7 p.m. Admission is free and the gallery is easily accessible by wheelchair.
For more information, call (718) 518-6728.
"When I was drawing connections between the work by the artists in this exhibition, I was reflecting on Elaine Scarey's book On Beauty and Being Just," says curator, Amanda McDonald Crowley, "Scarey writes: ' is porous, open to air and light, swings forward while swaying back, scatters its stripes in all directions and delights to find itself beached beside something invented only that morning or instead standing beside an alter from three millennia ago.' It struck me that these Bronx artists all find beauty in their objective to make work that clearly positions itself with a goal to ensure a more just future, but they all also look to their varied pasts to draw connections and to stay grounded in the present.''
The artists in Swing Forward While Swaying Back collaborate with their audiences and with other artists to 'complete' their works. It is an exhibition that is about collaboration and invites participation.
Participating artists include Alicia Grullón, Blanka Amezkua, Fran Ilich, Francheska Alcantara, Walter Cruz and Yelaine Rodriguez.
Amanda McDonald Crowley is an independent cultural worker and curator. She develops platforms to generate dialogue, bringing together professionals and amateurs from varied disciplines, and creat ing space for audience engagement and social practice. She has recently developed exhibitions and public art programs with Kulturftireningen Triennal (southern Sweden), PointB (Brooklyn NY), New Media Scotland and the Edinburgh Science F.estival (Edinburgh), Pixelache and the Finnish Bioart Society (Helsinki), YMPJ (Bronx NY), and Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (Omaha). She is currently a curatorial collaborator on Mary Mattingly's Swale (NYC), and advisor to Di Mainstone's Human Harp (UK), Juanli Carrion's 088 Project (NYC), Shu Lea Cheang's CycleX (Paris/upstate NY) and Vibha Galhotra's S.O.U.L Foundation (Delhi, IN). She has held leadership and curatorial roles with Eyebeam art + technology center NYC, Australian Network for Art and Technology, ISEA2004 (International Symposium of Electronic Art) Finland, Adelaide Festival 2002 and has done curatorial residencies at Helsinki Inter national Artists Program (FI), Santa Fe Art Institute (US). Bogliasco Foundation (IT), Sarai New Media Institute (IN), and Banff Center for the Arts (CA). publicartaction.net
Funding for Swing Forward While Swaying Back comes from the Hostos Community College Foundation, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional support is provided by the Bronx Council on the Arts.
Bronx Council on the Arts is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Af fairs in partnership with the City Council; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; Arts Mid west and the National Endowment for the Arts; and City Council members Andrew Cohen and Mark Gjonaj. Also supported in part by the Booth Ferris Foundation, New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund, Hispanic Federation, the City of New York, and the Department of Youth and Community Development. Special thanks to Hostos Community College and the Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture for their support.
For the original article, click here bxtimes.com
