After checking in this week on new art in Mexico City and California, we now cruise over to New York, where independent curator Sarvia Jasso (co-creator of "Brooklyn is Burning") and artist and writer Kathryn Garcia are opening up creative space in their Brooklyn apartment based on a powerful concept.
Their Second Floor project debuted this month with a sexy group show titled "Can't Rape the Willing," ongoing through June 14. For a virtual tour, check out the installation images by Danielle Levitt. The organizers explain:
In part fueled by the economic crisis, we want to challenge the "white cube" mentality, plus challenge artists to work outside of the "normal" exhibiting structure, i.e works made specifically for a domestic setting, works that engage the space both conceptually and thematically. On a side note, working with galleries can be exhausting, loan forms, editions, percentages, pressure to sell, we thought of this as a way to forego all the "market" b.s. So we opened up a space to interesting young artists as a way to let them "Do whatever the fuck they want" and to have that feeling of "I'm doing this because I want to show work, period."
The idea of an artist community in a place like New York can be met with jaded responses, perhaps even thought of as outdated, so we were also hoping to bring back some of that excitement that inevitably results when you are surrounded by such talented and inspiring peers. Not only do we feel that this exhibition is extremely relevant in this time, but also that opening up our apartment is one of the most powerful and subversive gestures in the art world right now.
Thinking about this, it's time to retire the prevailing idea that in cultural terms some cities are "dead" (which is often said of New York) and some cities are up-and-coming (which is being said this year of ... Washington, D.C.?)
In the flattening global community, there are pockets of exciting energy anywhere and everywhere. The trick is to be an active cultural detective, at all times. So ... Istanbul, anyone?
* In image above, from left to right: Small yellow image, Danielle Levitt; large wall paper, Michael Sharkey; framed drawing, Michael Bilsborough.