Name: Second Sundays: June 2021
Start: 2021-06-13
End: 2021-06-13
Location: Pioneer Works

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PW Closure 10/25-10/26

Pioneer Works's galleries and garden are closed to the public on Friday, October 25th and Saturday, October 26th for the United Sounds NYC Festival 2024. 

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Own the Archive Sale

This week only, we’re heavily discounting our #PWPress publications to make way for new projects. Find artist-created books for $5, $10, & $15—sales raised from the PW Store are reinvested into funding new, ambitious projects by emerging and underrepresented artists and writers.

Gift Guide

From November 28 through December 14, take 20% off products in the Gift Guide with code: ULTRAFESTIVE. 

Ragas 

Pioneer Works will be closed for normal gallery hours this October 14 & 15 for Ragas Live Festival 2023, learn more 

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Please note, Pioneer Works will be closed for daily admissions until July 7th. We 

open for ticketed programs, view our calendar 

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Celebrate 10 years of Pioneer Works by shopping the PW Press Archive Sale! Through October 31, take 10% off Pioneer Works Press items with code 

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Building Closures Due to Flash Floods

Due to weather conditions, Pioneer Works is suspending open gallery hours for Friday, September 29. MHYSA's performance has been rescheduled for Sunday, October 1, with all tickets being transferred to the new date.

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Shop the PW Store Spring Sale!

 for the entire month of April and receive an automatic 20% off books, records, apparel, and more. Members save 35%—learn more about membership 

Aura Closure 5/27

Please note:

 will close early at 5pm on Saturday, May 27. Learn more and plan your visit 

CEO Announcement

Just Announced: Pioneer Works Names Mara Manus Chief Executive Officer

The Board of Directors of Pioneer Works is pleased to announce that Mara Manus, former Executive Director for New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), has been appointed as the organization’s new Chief Executive Officer. 

We are grateful for your engagement and support of Pioneer Works over the last year. Now through December 31st, we’re fundraising to meet our end of year goal and close out 2024.

85% of our programming is free or accessibly-priced and we rely on our community of supporters to make that possible. Give now to ensure that we can continue nurturing artists and audiences through 2025.


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Let Pioneer Works come to you                                    

Our galleries and garden are closed to the public today for a United Sounds NYC Festival 2024. Learn more about the festival 

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We’re making Pioneer Works accessible to all! While our building is temporarily closed until this September, we are continuing to host offsite programming. See upcoming programs 

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We're pleased to announce the first major renovation of Pioneer Works! To accommodate the first phase of our construction, we're temporarily relocating to 133 Imlay Street opening in Spring 2022.

Early Closure 5/10/23

Due to programming, Pioneer Works will be closed to the public on Wednesday, May 10. We will be open from Thursday through Sunday for the remainder of the week. Learn more and plan your visit 

Winter Break Closure

Pioneer Works will be closed between December 16, 2024–January 24, 2025 for a winter break.

Second Sundays is a free event series that engages Pioneer Works disciplines through live music, food, artists’ virtual open studios, and programs. 

Food and Drinks provided by Fort Defiance.

. Mozilla recently announced funding for Black artists who use art to spotlight how AI can reinforce—or disrupt—systems of oppression. One of the eight winning projects was 

 by Alumni Resident Johann Diedrick. Thanks to the support of Mozilla, learn about Diedrick's 

 project through the Speculative Design & Black Speech Workshop, the Bias in AI Roundtable, and a screening of 

This month we are partnering with NEW INC for their Creative Science Popup, Biophilic Cities @ Second Sundays! Explore how artists within NEW INC’s Science Sandbox supported-Creative Science track are finding new language, visual imagery, and design interventions to cultivate multispecies environments within our cities and daily lives.

Pioneer Works continues to follow and enforce all Covid-19 safety guidelines. Face coverings are mandatory for staff and visitors while onsite, as is maintaining social distancing of a minimum of 6 feet. For the safety of staff and attendees, even with your RSVP, there may be a wait time for entrance to Second Sundays, as we continue to operate with a strictly limited capacity due to Covid-19. Thank you so much for your cooperation in keeping Pioneer Works safe!

Please note, some programming will be held on the second and third floors of Pioneer Works. At this time, we do not have an elevator. Please email 

 for any questions or concerns regarding accessibility.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

. Each artist has produced a new, site-specific installation that combines video, sculpture, and architecture, and comprises natural, industrial, and found materials. DeVille has created a 20-foot domed version of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. housing a network of video portals depicting varied landscapes, and Simmons constructed a 15-foot tall sculptural installation, crafted from organic materials, that features a video representing two polarities—sensual (carnal) and historical (analytical). Uddoh presents 

 an immersive video and sound installation that reenvisions Agatha Christie’s 

 from a Black perspective. Together, these works offer varied experiential environments that viscerally engage history, memory, place, pop culture, spirituality, and desire. 

, is inspired by the name of an acid jazz and funk group formed in 1985 in Ealing West London. Acid jazz is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, soul, funk, and disco that originated in London clubs. Deux Femmes Noires chose this title for its apt connection to the artists represented, who could all be considered “New Heavies” in the artworld. Each artist in 

 has a distinct ability to utilize disparate sources, materials, and media to create multi-layered narratives that offer a more complex understanding of our relationship to history, identity, politics, and place. Engaging in multifaceted explorations of the self, DeVille, Simmons, and Uddoh examine these ideas closely, then render them on a colossal scale. 

 is Chevremont and Thomas’s second curatorial project together; the first, 

 featured young, rising talent and premiered at the Volta New York Art Fair. For this exhibition, Deux Femmes Noires wanted to work with three ambitious artists—DeVille, Simmons, and Uddoh—who were selected for their distinct visionary practices, individual ability to tackle monumental scales (both conceptual and physical), and their rigorous investigation into the politics around the Black body. Deux Femme Noires knew these artists would embrace the opportunity Pioneer Works offers as a community-engaged, artist-focused institution with a distinct physical space.

 is best-known for her large-scale sculptural installations that engage the history of violence against marginalized people and places. For 

 a monumental installation composed of steel trussing, chicken wire, and charred wood that takes aim at Washington, D.C.’s Capitol Building. A scaled-down version of the Capitol dome, 

 will house a complex network of miniature video portals that combine still photography, video shorts, home videos, and archival footage of significant historical sites, including the Historic Stagville Plantation in North Carolina, Sullivan Island in South Carolina, and the Combahee River. Above the 20-foot structure, charred liberty poles hang inverted and suspended from the ceiling. This reversal of a common symbol of freedom (dating back to the colonization of the Americas) suggests an alternative history to the one commonly perpetuated, and the videos inside the dome similarly construct a parallel account of those who have been fighting for freedom since the 16th century.


 is known for work that encompasses photography, performance, video, sound, sculpture, and installation. Rooted in experience, memory, abstraction, and history, her practice is fundamentally concerned with the complex relationship between language, landscape, and subjectivity. For 

, Simmons will construct a new, immersive sculptural work, 

Even in the variations, the division of pleasures help situate us to advocate for,

 that is grounded in the physical, visceral, and earthly. Comprised of molded, earth-based spheres stacked one atop another in a concentric formation, Simmons’s installation projects physicality and sensual tactility. The towering sculpture contains a video that presents two binaries: that of intimacy and eroticism, and what the artist describes as the more banal “matter of fact” data and statistics found within American political discourse. The environment synthesizes and simultaneously engages the “classical” and the modern, creating a balance between human lust and desire and intellectual information-based research.

Combining performance, ceramics, video, and sound, 

 explores the infatuation with places, objects, and celebrities that pervades British popular culture and the resulting/lasting effect it has on self-formation. For 

, Uddoh will present a new multimedia environment that features 

 a video and sound installation. A play on Agatha Christie’s crime novel 

 (1934) and its protagonist Hercule Poirot, the 20-minute video is a “recasting” of the novel. The work follows a script narrated by the artist that investigates a forgotten crime aboard the fictional Oriental-Other Express. Uddoh combines archival footage with visually sparse scenes as an anti-colonial gesture that prioritizes the auditory experience over pure visual seduction. Uddoh will also present videos from her three-part 

 series, which explores the labor of performance by Black and Brown women.

by Rosa-Johan Uddoh, suitable for a deaf and hard of hearing audience, is also available at the front desk of Pioneer Works.

This exhibition is also supported in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Brand New Heavies

Brand New Heavies, an exhibition curated by Racquel Chevremont and Mickalene Thomas—collectively known as Deux Femmes Noires, brings together monumental work by Abigail DeVille, Xaviera Simmons, and Rosa-Johan Uddoh. Each artist has produced a new, site-specific installation that combines video, sculpture, and architecture, and comprises natural, industrial, and found materials. DeVille has created a 20-foot domed version of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. housing a network of video portals depicting varied landscapes, and Simmons constructed a 15-foot tall sculptural installation, crafted from organic materials, that features a video representing two polarities—sensual (carnal) and historical (analytical). Uddoh presents Black Poirot, an immersive video and sound installation that reenvisions Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express from a Black perspective. Together, these works offer varied experiential environments that viscerally engage history, memory, place, pop culture, spirituality, and desire. 
The title, Brand New Heavies, is inspired by the name of an acid jazz and funk group formed in 1985 in Ealing West London. Acid jazz is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, soul, funk, and disco that originated in London clubs. Deux Femmes Noires chose this title for its apt connection to the artists represented, who could all be considered “New Heavies” in the artworld. Each artist in Brand New Heavies has a distinct ability to utilize disparate sources, materials, and media to create multi-layered narratives that offer a more complex understanding of our relationship to history, identity, politics, and place. Engaging in multifaceted explorations of the self, DeVille, Simmons, and Uddoh examine these ideas closely, then render them on a colossal scale. 
Brand New Heavies is Chevremont and Thomas’s second curatorial project together; the first, The Aesthetics of Matter, featured young, rising talent and premiered at the Volta New York Art Fair. For this exhibition, Deux Femmes Noires wanted to work with three ambitious artists—DeVille, Simmons, and Uddoh—who were selected for their distinct visionary practices, individual ability to tackle monumental scales (both conceptual and physical), and their rigorous investigation into the politics around the Black body. Deux Femme Noires knew these artists would embrace the opportunity Pioneer Works offers as a community-engaged, artist-focused institution with a distinct physical space. 
About the Artists
Abigail DeVille is best-known for her large-scale sculptural installations that engage the history of violence against marginalized people and places. For Brand New Heavies, DeVille has created The Observatory, a monumental installation composed of steel trussing, chicken wire, and charred wood that takes aim at Washington, D.C.&#8217;s Capitol Building. A scaled-down version of the Capitol dome, The Observatory will house a complex network of miniature video portals that combine still photography, video shorts, home videos, and archival footage of significant historical sites, including the Historic Stagville Plantation in North Carolina, Sullivan Island in South Carolina, and the Combahee River. Above the 20-foot structure, charred liberty poles hang inverted and suspended from the ceiling. This reversal of a common symbol of freedom (dating back to the colonization of the Americas) suggests an alternative history to the one commonly perpetuated, and the videos inside the dome similarly construct a parallel account of those who have been fighting for freedom since the 16th century. 

Xaviera Simmons is known for work that encompasses photography, performance, video, sound, sculpture, and installation. Rooted in experience, memory, abstraction, and history, her practice is fundamentally concerned with the complex relationship between language, landscape, and subjectivity. For Brand New Heavies, Simmons will construct a new, immersive sculptural work, Even in the variations, the division of pleasures help situate us to advocate for, that is grounded in the physical, visceral, and earthly. Comprised of molded, earth-based spheres stacked one atop another in a concentric formation, Simmons’s installation projects physicality and sensual tactility. The towering sculpture contains a video that presents two binaries: that of intimacy and eroticism, and what the artist describes as the more banal &#8220;matter of fact&#8221; data and statistics found within American political discourse. The environment synthesizes and simultaneously engages the “classical” and the modern, creating a balance between human lust and desire and intellectual information-based research.
Combining performance, ceramics, video, and sound, Rosa-Johan Uddoh explores the infatuation with places, objects, and celebrities that pervades British popular culture and the resulting/lasting effect it has on self-formation. For Brand New Heavies, Uddoh will present a new multimedia environment that features Black Poirot, a video and sound installation. A play on Agatha Christie&#8217;s crime novel Murder on the Orient Express (1934) and its protagonist Hercule Poirot, the 20-minute video is a “recasting” of the novel. The work follows a script narrated by the artist that investigates a forgotten crime aboard the fictional Oriental-Other Express. Uddoh combines archival footage with visually sparse scenes as an anti-colonial gesture that prioritizes the auditory experience over pure visual seduction. Uddoh will also present videos from her three-part Performing Whiteness series, which explores the labor of performance by Black and Brown women.
An accessible version of Black Poirot by Rosa-Johan Uddoh, suitable for a deaf and hard of hearing audience, is also available at the front desk of Pioneer Works.
The Major Sponsors for Brand New Heavies are the Ford Foundation and Gucci.
<img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-13759" src="https://sunset.pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/F_F_Logo_Black_large.png" alt="" width="368" height="45" srcset="https://sunset.pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/F_F_Logo_Black_large.png 1500w, https://sunset.pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/F_F_Logo_Black_large-300x37.png 300w, https://sunset.pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/F_F_Logo_Black_large-1024x125.png 1024w, https://sunset.pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/F_F_Logo_Black_large-768x94.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 368px) 100vw, 368px" />            <img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-13760" src="https://sunset.pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/GUCCI_logo_BLACK100mm-2.png" alt="" width="155" height="25" srcset="https://sunset.pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/GUCCI_logo_BLACK100mm-2.png 788w, https://sunset.pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/GUCCI_logo_BLACK100mm-2-300x48.png 300w, https://sunset.pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/GUCCI_logo_BLACK100mm-2-768x124.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 155px) 100vw, 155px" />
This exhibition is also supported in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
<img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-12813 size-full" src="https://sunset.pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/dclaLogo_color_2-9-e1613145470866.png" alt="" width="150" height="27" />            <img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-12802 size-full" src="https://sunset.pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/NYSCA-Logo-Black-e1613145524617.png" alt="" width="150" height="35" />

BNH_spinning_210308

Brand New Heavies, an exhibition curated by Racquel Chevremont and Mickalene Thomas—collectively known as Deux Femmes Noires, brings together monumental work by Abigail DeVille, Xaviera Simmons, and Rosa-Johan Uddoh. Each artist has produced a new, site-specific installation that combines video, sculpture, and architecture, and comprises natural, industrial, and found materials. DeVille has created a 20-foot domed version of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. housing a network of video portals depicting varied landscapes, and Simmons constructed a 15-foot tall sculptural installation, crafted from organic materials, that features a video representing two polarities—sensual (carnal) and historical (analytical). Uddoh presents Black Poirot, an immersive video and sound installation that reenvisions Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express from a Black perspective. Together, these works offer varied experiential environments that viscerally engage history, memory, place, pop culture, spirituality, and desire. 
The title, Brand New Heavies, is inspired by the name of an acid jazz and funk group formed in 1985 in Ealing West London. Acid jazz is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, soul, funk, and disco that originated in London clubs. Deux Femmes Noires chose this title for its apt connection to the artists represented, who could all be considered “New Heavies” in the artworld. Each artist in Brand New Heavies has a distinct ability to utilize disparate sources, materials, and media to create multi-layered narratives that offer a more complex understanding of our relationship to history, identity, politics, and place. Engaging in multifaceted explorations of the self, DeVille, Simmons, and Uddoh examine these ideas closely, then render them on a colossal scale. 
Brand New Heavies is Chevremont and Thomas’s second curatorial project together; the first, The Aesthetics of Matter, featured young, rising talent and premiered at the Volta New York Art Fair. For this exhibition, Deux Femmes Noires wanted to work with three ambitious artists—DeVille, Simmons, and Uddoh—who were selected for their distinct visionary practices, individual ability to tackle monumental scales (both conceptual and physical), and their rigorous investigation into the politics around the Black body. Deux Femme Noires knew these artists would embrace the opportunity Pioneer Works offers as a community-engaged, artist-focused institution with a distinct physical space. 
About the Artists
Abigail DeVille is best-known for her large-scale sculptural installations that engage the history of violence against marginalized people and places. For Brand New Heavies, DeVille has created The Observatory, a monumental installation composed of steel trussing, chicken wire, and charred wood that takes aim at Washington, D.C.&#8217;s Capitol Building. A scaled-down version of the Capitol dome, The Observatory will house a complex network of miniature video portals that combine still photography, video shorts, home videos, and archival footage of significant historical sites, including the Historic Stagville Plantation in North Carolina, Sullivan Island in South Carolina, and the Combahee River. Above the 20-foot structure, charred liberty poles hang inverted and suspended from the ceiling. This reversal of a common symbol of freedom (dating back to the colonization of the Americas) suggests an alternative history to the one commonly perpetuated, and the videos inside the dome similarly construct a parallel account of those who have been fighting for freedom since the 16th century. 

Xaviera Simmons is known for work that encompasses photography, performance, video, sound, sculpture, and installation. Rooted in experience, memory, abstraction, and history, her practice is fundamentally concerned with the complex relationship between language, landscape, and subjectivity. For Brand New Heavies, Simmons will construct a new, immersive sculptural work, Even in the variations, the division of pleasures help situate us to advocate for, that is grounded in the physical, visceral, and earthly. Comprised of molded, earth-based spheres stacked one atop another in a concentric formation, Simmons’s installation projects physicality and sensual tactility. The towering sculpture contains a video that presents two binaries: that of intimacy and eroticism, and what the artist describes as the more banal &#8220;matter of fact&#8221; data and statistics found within American political discourse. The environment synthesizes and simultaneously engages the “classical” and the modern, creating a balance between human lust and desire and intellectual information-based research.
Combining performance, ceramics, video, and sound, Rosa-Johan Uddoh explores the infatuation with places, objects, and celebrities that pervades British popular culture and the resulting/lasting effect it has on self-formation. For Brand New Heavies, Uddoh will present a new multimedia environment that features Black Poirot, a video and sound installation. A play on Agatha Christie&#8217;s crime novel Murder on the Orient Express (1934) and its protagonist Hercule Poirot, the 20-minute video is a “recasting” of the novel. The work follows a script narrated by the artist that investigates a forgotten crime aboard the fictional Oriental-Other Express. Uddoh combines archival footage with visually sparse scenes as an anti-colonial gesture that prioritizes the auditory experience over pure visual seduction. Uddoh will also present videos from her three-part Performing Whiteness series, which explores the labor of performance by Black and Brown women.
An accessible version of Black Poirot by Rosa-Johan Uddoh, suitable for a deaf and hard of hearing audience, is also available at the front desk of Pioneer Works.
The Major Sponsors for Brand New Heavies are the Ford Foundation and Gucci.
<img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-13759" src="https://pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/F_F_Logo_Black_large.png" alt="" width="368" height="45" srcset="https://pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/F_F_Logo_Black_large.png 1500w, https://pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/F_F_Logo_Black_large-300x37.png 300w, https://pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/F_F_Logo_Black_large-1024x125.png 1024w, https://pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/F_F_Logo_Black_large-768x94.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 368px) 100vw, 368px" />            <img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-13760" src="https://pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/GUCCI_logo_BLACK100mm-2.png" alt="" width="155" height="25" srcset="https://pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/GUCCI_logo_BLACK100mm-2.png 788w, https://pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/GUCCI_logo_BLACK100mm-2-300x48.png 300w, https://pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/GUCCI_logo_BLACK100mm-2-768x124.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 155px) 100vw, 155px" />
This exhibition is also supported in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
<img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-12813 size-full" src="https://pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/dclaLogo_color_2-9-e1613145470866.png" alt="" width="150" height="27" />            <img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-12802 size-full" src="https://pioneerworks.org/wp-content/uploads/NYSCA-Logo-Black-e1613145524617.png" alt="" width="150" height="35" />

Alex Harsley has cast New York City’s unique medley of characters and neighborhoods as the subject of his work, throughout a career that has spanned nearly seven decades. Harsley first purchased a 35mm camera while in his 20s, and taught himself the inner workings of a darkroom as an employee of the district attorney office during the 1950s, where he became the first Black photographer to be hired. This became a formative period for the artist, as it provided an opportunity to spend his days traversing the urban landscape to document moments that defined daily life in a turbulent city. Of his work at that time, Harsley says, “I took pictures of people who would never have had their pictures taken.”

After he left the district attorney office in 1961, the artist continued to create tender portraits of the people, streets, and social upheavals that he came across. He amassed thousands of images—some vibrant and playful, others shadowy and laden with meaning—throughout the decades, up until the present day. In the 1970s, Harsley’s artistic practice became intertwined with a community-oriented role of his own creation. By then a resident of the Lower East Side, he started a non-profit organization called Minority Photographers, Inc. in 1971 to provide professional mentorship to others who were marginalized, which included fellow Black artists alongside a host of others that crossed racial and generational lines. Two years later, he moved into a dusty storefront space in the East Village and opened the 4th Street Photo Gallery, which hosted experimental exhibitions and quickly became an incubator for creative exchange within a community that included to-be heavyweights such as Dawoud Bey, Robert Frank, David Hammons, Cynthia MacAdams and Eli Reed. Remarkably, the gallery has resisted the tides of gentrification, and remains a lively space where Harsley works every day.

—co-curated by Harsley’s daughter Kendra Krueger and coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Minority Photographers, Inc.—pairs a wide-ranging selection of the octogenarian’s photographs with a roving video work titled 

 (2000–2020), an experimental endeavor which has culminated from a laborious process of shooting, layering, and editing over the past twenty years. A complex montage of flickering images and symbols set to a cacophonous score, the video takes viewers on a nonlinear journey across parallel dimensions, and metaphorically alludes to the cosmological origins of time and energy. These works will also be accompanied by historical materials culled from Minority Photographers, Inc. and the 4th Street Photo Gallery’s archives, to further contextualize Harsley’s lifelong dedication to his artistic and physical surroundings. As a whole, the exhibition pays tribute to an unsung hero within the creative landscape of New York City.

 (b. 1938 in Newport, South Carolina; lives and works in New York City, New York) is a self-taught, conceptual artist who explores dimensions of reality and entanglement, through the mediums of film and video. His reportage style of photography began in 1958, when he became employed as the first Black photographer for the New York District Attorney’s Office. In 1971 and 1973, he founded, respectively, Minority Photographers, Inc. and The 4th Street Photo Gallery, as refuges for artists of color. In addition to his own practice of documenting the personalities and intimate moments that have shaped the urban landscape, Harsley has collaborated with artists such as Candida Alvarez, Dawoud Bey and David Hammons. His work is included in the collections of the Ford Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. 

 is made possible by the Affirmation Arts Fund of the William Talbott Hillman Foundation.

This exhibition is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

The First Light from Darkness

Alex Harsley has cast New York City’s unique medley of characters and neighborhoods as the subject of his work, throughout a career that has spanned nearly seven decades. Harsley first purchased a 35mm camera while in his 20s, and taught himself the inner workings of a darkroom as an employee of the district attorney office during the 1950s, where he became the first Black photographer to be hired. This became a formative period for the artist, as it provided an opportunity to spend his days traversing the urban landscape to document moments that defined daily life in a turbulent city. Of his work at that time, Harsley says, “I took pictures of people who would never have had their pictures taken.”
After he left the district attorney office in 1961, the artist continued to create tender portraits of the people, streets, and social upheavals that he came across. He amassed thousands of images—some vibrant and playful, others shadowy and laden with meaning—throughout the decades, up until the present day. In the 1970s, Harsley’s artistic practice became intertwined with a community-oriented role of his own creation. By then a resident of the Lower East Side, he started a non-profit organization called Minority Photographers, Inc. in 1971 to provide professional mentorship to others who were marginalized, which included fellow Black artists alongside a host of others that crossed racial and generational lines. Two years later, he moved into a dusty storefront space in the East Village and opened the 4th Street Photo Gallery, which hosted experimental exhibitions and quickly became an incubator for creative exchange within a community that included to-be heavyweights such as Dawoud Bey, Robert Frank, David Hammons, Cynthia MacAdams and Eli Reed. Remarkably, the gallery has resisted the tides of gentrification, and remains a lively space where Harsley works every day. 
The First Light from Darkness—co-curated by Harsley’s daughter Kendra Krueger and coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Minority Photographers, Inc.—pairs a wide-ranging selection of the octogenarian’s photographs with a roving video work titled The First Light (2000–2020), an experimental endeavor which has culminated from a laborious process of shooting, layering, and editing over the past twenty years. A complex montage of flickering images and symbols set to a cacophonous score, the video takes viewers on a nonlinear journey across parallel dimensions, and metaphorically alludes to the cosmological origins of time and energy. These works will also be accompanied by historical materials culled from Minority Photographers, Inc. and the 4th Street Photo Gallery’s archives, to further contextualize Harsley’s lifelong dedication to his artistic and physical surroundings. As a whole, the exhibition pays tribute to an unsung hero within the creative landscape of New York City. 
About the Artist
Alex Harsley (b. 1938 in Newport, South Carolina; lives and works in New York City, New York) is a self-taught, conceptual artist who explores dimensions of reality and entanglement, through the mediums of film and video. His reportage style of photography began in 1958, when he became employed as the first Black photographer for the New York District Attorney’s Office. In 1971 and 1973, he founded, respectively, Minority Photographers, Inc. and The 4th Street Photo Gallery, as refuges for artists of color. In addition to his own practice of documenting the personalities and intimate moments that have shaped the urban landscape, Harsley has collaborated with artists such as Candida Alvarez, Dawoud Bey and David Hammons. His work is included in the collections of the Ford Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. 
This exhibition is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
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Black and white image of two figures on the street at night

Alex Harsley

Vivian Chui

Kendra Krueger

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Alex Harsley: The First Light From Darkness

Alex Harsley has cast New York City’s unique medley of characters and neighborhoods as the subject of his work, throughout a career that has spanned nearly seven decades. Harsley first purchased a 35mm camera while in his 20s, and taught himself the inner workings of a darkroom as an employee of the district attorney office during the 1950s, where he became the first Black photographer to be hired. This became a formative period for the artist, as it provided an opportunity to spend his days traversing the urban landscape to document moments that defined daily life in a turbulent city. Of his work at that time, Harsley says, “I took pictures of people who would never have had their pictures taken.”
After he left the district attorney office in 1961, the artist continued to create tender portraits of the people, streets, and social upheavals that he came across. He amassed thousands of images—some vibrant and playful, others shadowy and laden with meaning—throughout the decades, up until the present day. In the 1970s, Harsley’s artistic practice became intertwined with a community-oriented role of his own creation. By then a resident of the Lower East Side, he started a non-profit organization called Minority Photographers, Inc. in 1971 to provide professional mentorship to others who were marginalized, which included fellow Black artists alongside a host of others that crossed racial and generational lines. Two years later, he moved into a dusty storefront space in the East Village and opened the 4th Street Photo Gallery, which hosted experimental exhibitions and quickly became an incubator for creative exchange within a community that included to-be heavyweights such as Dawoud Bey, Robert Frank, David Hammons, Cynthia MacAdams and Eli Reed. Remarkably, the gallery has resisted the tides of gentrification, and remains a lively space where Harsley works every day. 
The First Light from Darkness—co-curated by Harsley’s daughter Kendra Krueger and coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Minority Photographers, Inc.—pairs a wide-ranging selection of the octogenarian’s photographs with a roving video work titled The First Light (2000–2020), an experimental endeavor which has culminated from a laborious process of shooting, layering, and editing over the past twenty years. A complex montage of flickering images and symbols set to a cacophonous score, the video takes viewers on a nonlinear journey across parallel dimensions, and metaphorically alludes to the cosmological origins of time and energy. These works will also be accompanied by historical materials culled from Minority Photographers, Inc. and the 4th Street Photo Gallery’s archives, to further contextualize Harsley’s lifelong dedication to his artistic and physical surroundings. As a whole, the exhibition pays tribute to an unsung hero within the creative landscape of New York City. 
About the Artist
Alex Harsley (b. 1938 in Newport, South Carolina; lives and works in New York City, New York) is a self-taught, conceptual artist who explores dimensions of reality and entanglement, through the mediums of film and video. His reportage style of photography began in 1958, when he became employed as the first Black photographer for the New York District Attorney’s Office. In 1971 and 1973, he founded, respectively, Minority Photographers, Inc. and The 4th Street Photo Gallery, as refuges for artists of color. In addition to his own practice of documenting the personalities and intimate moments that have shaped the urban landscape, Harsley has collaborated with artists such as Candida Alvarez, Dawoud Bey and David Hammons. His work is included in the collections of the Ford Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. 
This exhibition is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
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Alexandra Bell (b. 1983, Chicago, IL) is a multidisciplinary artist who investigates the complexities of narrative, information consumption, and perception. Utilizing various media, she deconstructs language and imagery to explore the tension between marginal experiences and dominant histories. Through investigative research, she considers the ways media frameworks construct memory and inform discursive practices around race, politics, and culture. Her work has been exhibited at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, MoMA PS1, and the Whitney Museum of Art. She received the 2018 International Center of Photography Infinity Award in the applied category. She is a 2019 CatchLight Fellow.

Alexandra Bell (b. 1983, Chicago, IL) is a multidisciplinary artist who investigates the complexities of narrative, information consumption, and perception. Utilizing various media, she deconstructs language and imagery to explore the tension between marginal experiences and dominant histories. Through investigative research, she considers the ways media frameworks construct memory and inform discursive practices around race, politics, and culture. Her work has been exhibited at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, MoMA PS1, and the Whitney Museum of Art. She received the 2018 International Center of Photography Infinity Award in the applied category. She is a 2019 CatchLight Fellow.

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Bell_Alexandra_A Teenager With Promise_2017

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Bell_Alexandra_Charlottesville_2017

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Bell_Alexandra_Olympic Threat_2017

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Bell_Alexandra_No Humans Involved02_2019

Bell_Alexandra_A Teenager With Promise Annotated_2017

Alexandra Bell

Caroline Garcia is a culturally promiscuous, interdisciplinary artist working across live performance and video. Garcia’s recent works include 

, developed at EMPAC’s 2016/17 residency program, and performances at the Manila Biennale, Art Central Hong Kong, and the Vera List Center in 2018. That same year, she was one of the eight artists selected nationwide for 

 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. In 2019, she presented at Spring/Break Art Fair, Movement Research at Judson Church, Smack Mellon, Creative Time SummitX, and was a resident at The Studios at MASS MoCA. Garcia is a 2020 resident at ISCP and an OPEN CALL 2021 artist at The Shed.

Caroline Garcia is a culturally promiscuous, interdisciplinary artist working across live performance and video. Garcia’s recent works include Flygirl, developed at EMPAC’s 2016/17 residency program, and performances at the Manila Biennale, Art Central Hong Kong, and the Vera List Center in 2018. That same year, she was one of the eight artists selected nationwide for Primavera: Young Australian Artists at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. In 2019, she presented at Spring/Break Art Fair, Movement Research at Judson Church, Smack Mellon, Creative Time SummitX, and was a resident at The Studios at MASS MoCA. Garcia is a 2020 resident at ISCP and an OPEN CALL 2021 artist at The Shed.

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Image 2 - Caroline Garcia

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Image 5 - Caroline Garcia

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2D_C.Garcia - Caroline Garcia

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garcia_imperialreminiscence_2018 - Caroline Garcia

Image 4 &#8211; Caroline Garcia

Caroline Garcia

Claudia Bitran (1986–) is a Brooklyn-based painting and video artist. Bitran holds an MFA from RISD and a BFA from the Universidad Catolica de Chile.

She has exhibited at Muhlenberg College, Practice Gallery, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Museo de Artes Visuales, and elsewhere. Bitran has held residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and more. Grants and awards include: The New York Trust Van Lier Fellowship, Hammersley Grant, Emergency Grant Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Jerome Foundation Grant for Emerging Filmmakers, 1st Prize Britney Spears Dance Challenge, 1st Prize UFO McDonald’s Painting Competition, 1st honorable mention at Bienal de Artes Mediales.

Claudia Bitran (1986–) is a Brooklyn-based painting and video artist. Bitran holds an MFA from RISD and a BFA from the Universidad Catolica de Chile.
She has exhibited at Muhlenberg College, Practice Gallery, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Museo de Artes Visuales, and elsewhere. Bitran has held residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and more. Grants and awards include: The New York Trust Van Lier Fellowship, Hammersley Grant, Emergency Grant Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Jerome Foundation Grant for Emerging Filmmakers, 1st Prize Britney Spears Dance Challenge, 1st Prize UFO McDonald’s Painting Competition, 1st honorable mention at Bienal de Artes Mediales.

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Claudia Bitran 2018_Filters_12 light boxes_Pencil on Plastic and wood

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Claudia Bitran_Fallen_2019_Video Animation Instalation TVs_ Cindy Rucker Gallery

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Claudia Bitran_Untitled_2019_Acrylic on MDF_ Site specific Install Miami

Claudia Bitran_White Shoes_2018_Acrilic and Latex on MDF_22 free standing paintings_Practice Gallery

Claudia Bitran

Gabrielle Herbst is a composer and vocalist. She’s received commissions from Roulette and the Jerome Foundation, the Nouveau Classical Project, Duo Noir, Experiments in Opera, Fresh Squeezed Opera and Prototype Festival. She’s been composer-in-residence at the Watermill Center, Exploring the Metropolis, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Avaloch Farms, and Roulette. Her compositions have been performed at venues including National Sawdust, The Stone, Issue Project Room, HERE Arts, MATA, and Lincoln Center Atrium. She released her album 

 on Software Recording Co. in 2015 and 

 on DDW in 2018. She studied composition with Martin Bresnick, Aaron Jay Kernis, and David Lang at the Yale School of Music.

Gabrielle Herbst is a composer and vocalist. She’s received commissions from Roulette and the Jerome Foundation, the Nouveau Classical Project, Duo Noir, Experiments in Opera, Fresh Squeezed Opera and Prototype Festival. She’s been composer-in-residence at the Watermill Center, Exploring the Metropolis, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Avaloch Farms, and Roulette. Her compositions have been performed at venues including National Sawdust, The Stone, Issue Project Room, HERE Arts, MATA, and Lincoln Center Atrium. She released her album Sympathy on Software Recording Co. in 2015 and Empty Me on DDW in 2018. She studied composition with Martin Bresnick, Aaron Jay Kernis, and David Lang at the Yale School of Music.

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IMG_2596 - Gabrielle Herbst

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FullSizeRender (1) - Gabrielle Herbst

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IMG_2597 - Gabrielle Herbst

GABI &#8211; Gabrielle Herbst

Gabrielle Herbst (GABI)

Jenson Leonard was born in Detroit, Michigan and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Initially a poet, he became interested in memes during his six-year tenure as a cook at a Belgian waffle kiosk. He found himself drawn to the immediacy and reach of instant publication on social media, the confluence of which exacerbate the arguably inherent power of the image for those who see. His early work used the canonical Twitter meme format, but developed into the more ornately parodic style that predominates in the left-leaning corners of Facebook. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Pratt Institute. His work has been featured in 

Jenson Leonard was born in Detroit, Michigan and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Initially a poet, he became interested in memes during his six-year tenure as a cook at a Belgian waffle kiosk. He found himself drawn to the immediacy and reach of instant publication on social media, the confluence of which exacerbate the arguably inherent power of the image for those who see. His early work used the canonical Twitter meme format, but developed into the more ornately parodic style that predominates in the left-leaning corners of Facebook. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Pratt Institute. His work has been featured in VICE Motherboard, Juxtapoz, AQNB, and Rhizome.
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managerial - knowtorious

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Jenson Leonard

Jordan Kisner is an essayist and cultural critic, and the author of the forthcoming, 

, which will be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in March 2020. Her work has appeared in 

, and others. Kisner is also the recipient of a Pushcart Prize. She is the former director of The Bellwether, teaches creative writing at Columbia University, and serves as a mentor-editor for the Op-Ed Project.

Jordan Kisner is an essayist and cultural critic, and the author of the forthcoming, Thin Places, which will be published by Farrar, Straus &amp; Giroux in March 2020. Her work has appeared in n+1, The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, The Believer, The Guardian, The American Scholar, California Sunday, The Best American Essays 2016, and others. Kisner is also the recipient of a Pushcart Prize. She is the former director of The Bellwether, teaches creative writing at Columbia University, and serves as a mentor-editor for the Op-Ed Project.

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Jordan Kisner

Kara Güt (b. 1989, Cleveland, Ohio, USA) is a multidisciplinary artist whose primary focus is image-based, digital media. Her work investigates the new shape of human intimacy formed by internet lifestyle, constructed detachment from reality, and the power dynamics of the virtual. Güt received an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2016. Solo shows include 

 at IRL Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio, and 

 at Open Space, Baltimore, Maryland. Recent group shows include 

 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit, and 

Kara Güt (b. 1989, Cleveland, Ohio, USA) is a multidisciplinary artist whose primary focus is image-based, digital media. Her work investigates the new shape of human intimacy formed by internet lifestyle, constructed detachment from reality, and the power dynamics of the virtual. Güt received an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2016. Solo shows include Presence at IRL Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Crystal Magic Weapon at Open Space, Baltimore, Maryland. Recent group shows include Daily Rush: Season 3 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit, and The Retreat at Arebyte Gallery, London, England.

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04_Kara_Gut - Kara Güt

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intimacy mod ii - Kara Güt

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thebasicbitchbath - Kara Güt

Kara Güt

Lizzi Bougatsos is an artist and performer. A singer for the band Gang Gang Dance and punk/noise outfit I.U.D. for over a decade, Bougatsos has performed at Kunsthalle Zurich, The Whitney Museum, The Sydney Opera House, The Museum of Modern Art, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and Bergen Kunsthall. Her work has been exhibited at Hauser & Wirth, Gladstone Gallery, Museo d’arte Contemporanea di Roma, Kunste Werke, MoMa PS1, Participant Inc., American Fine Arts Co., Reena Spaulings, and James Fuentes Gallery. Bougatsos is a recipient of the Rema Hort Mann Foundation grant, and her work is included in The Astrup Fearnley Museet for Moderne Kunst and The Dikeou Collection.

Lizzi Bougatsos is an artist and performer. A singer for the band Gang Gang Dance and punk/noise outfit I.U.D. for over a decade, Bougatsos has performed at Kunsthalle Zurich, The Whitney Museum, The Sydney Opera House, The Museum of Modern Art, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and Bergen Kunsthall.  Her work has been exhibited at Hauser &amp; Wirth, Gladstone Gallery, Museo d’arte Contemporanea di Roma, Kunste Werke, MoMa PS1, Participant Inc., American Fine Arts Co., Reena Spaulings, and James Fuentes Gallery. Bougatsos is a recipient of the Rema Hort Mann Foundation grant, and her work is included in The Astrup Fearnley Museet for Moderne Kunst and The Dikeou Collection.

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Lizzi Bougatsos, Meditations on a Flow Break Up, 2017

Lizzi Bougatsos, performance still with Kim Gordon_Penny Slinger, 2019

Lizzi Bougatsos

Mindy Seu is a New York-based designer and researcher. She holds an M.Des from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and B.A. in Design Media Arts from University of California, Los Angeles. Formerly, she was a fellow at Berkman Klein Center for the Internet and Society and Internet Archive, and a designer at 2×4 and Museum of Modern Art. Seu has given talks at Barbican, Princeton, CalArts, Parsons, Pratt, RISD, among others. Seu joined the faculty of Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts and Yale’s School of Art in 2019.

Mindy Seu is a New York-based designer and researcher. She holds an M.Des from Harvard&#8217;s Graduate School of Design and B.A. in Design Media Arts from University of California, Los Angeles. Formerly, she was a fellow at Berkman Klein Center for the Internet and Society and Internet Archive, and a designer at 2×4 and Museum of Modern Art. Seu has given talks at Barbican, Princeton, CalArts, Parsons, Pratt, RISD, among others. Seu joined the faculty of Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts and Yale’s School of Art in 2019.

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Mindy Seu - Cyberfeminism Catalog Stack - Mindy Seu

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Screen Shot 2020-10-17 at 12.44.42 PM - Mindy Seu

MindySeu-Lecture2-RadNetworks-by-Chris-Woebken &#8211; Mindy Seu

Mindy Seu

Suneil Sanzgiri is an artist, researcher, and filmmaker working to understand how systems of oppression are informed and reinforced by trauma, history, and memory. His work spans experimental film and video, animations, essays, and installations, and contends with questions of identity, heritage, culture, and diaspora. In 2017, Sanzgiri graduated from the Art, Culture and Technology program at MIT. His film 

 made its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in January 2020, and his follow up film 

recently premiered at the New York Film Festival. His work has been screened extensively at festivals and galleries nationally and internationally.

Suneil Sanzgiri is an artist, researcher, and filmmaker working to understand how systems of oppression are informed and reinforced by trauma, history, and memory. His work spans experimental film and video, animations, essays, and installations, and contends with questions of identity, heritage, culture, and diaspora. In 2017, Sanzgiri graduated from the Art, Culture and Technology program at MIT. His film At Home But Not At Home made its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in January 2020, and his follow up film Letter From Your Far-Off Country recently premiered at the New York Film Festival. His work has been screened extensively at festivals and galleries nationally and internationally.