ISCP Talk
November 15, 2012

Talk: ZOO-TOPIA: Zoo Architecture as Taxonomies of Representation

London-based curator and writer Eszter Steierhoffer will give a talk on ZOO-TOPIA, a new publication that features 2010 ISCP alum Szabolcs KissPál. Amorous Architecture, a new work by Kisspál will be screened before the talk; it is a docu-fiction exploring the architecture of the Budapest Zoo in order to shed light on its wider ideological and cultural implications and the ways national and ethnic identities are constructed. ZOO-TOPIA’S starting point is display histories and architectural settings within zoos, and the spatial articulation of a cultural history of Modern times. A selection of essays and artists’ contributions survey the zoo as a showcase of modernist architecture and experimentation; as museum; as site of national representation; as prison; as animal society; as a city and world-image, or as a psycho-geographical space, and an escape in the city.

The ZOO-TOPIA publication was conceived as an exhibition in a book format, and includes works by Anca Benera, Yona Friedman, Bahbak Hashemi-Nezhad, Candida Höfer, Szabolcs KissPál, Wesley Meuris, Ahmet Ögüt and Société Réaliste (Ferenc Gróf & Jean-Baptiste Naudy), and texts by John Berger, Zoltan Kekesi and Andreas Spiegl. ZOO-TOPIA is conceived and edited by Eszter Steierhoffer, designed by STSQ and commissioned by the Balassi Institute in London in partnership with the Royal College of Art and the ZSL London Zoo.

ISCP Talk
November 13, 2012

Salon: Astra Howard and Constanza Levine

Astra Howard will present a series of Action Research/Performance projects undertaken over recent months on the streets of New York. These public space interventions build on previous experimental investigations of the city made in such diverse locations as: Delhi, Beijing, Hanoi, Paris, Coventry, New York and various sites across Australia. On the sidewalks of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Peekskill, participatory booth/vehicles are used as surveillance devices with a narrative intent. Developing live scripts act as catalysts for discussion with local communities, creating opportunities to debate topical issues and generate new tales of the city.

Constanza Levine will discuss the different facets of her work which cover a broad spectrum from painting to work that is more sculptural. The emphasis will be on commonalities of technique, materials, and shared geometric criterion.

Participating Residents

Open Studios
November 9–November 11, 2012

Fall Open Studios 2012

Friday, November 9th
7pm Clark House Iniative, Bombay presents
YAY-ZEQ: Two Burmese Artists Meet Again

Imagine Death: A performance by Anastasia Ax

Saturday, November 10th
5pm Drawings on the Forest Floor: Htein Lin and Sitt Nyein Aye in conversation

Sunday, November 11th
3pm Living Monument: A performance by Htein Lin and Chaw Ei Thein

The International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) Fall Open Studios is a three-day exhibition of international contemporary art. The 36 artists, art collectives and curators from 24 countries currently in residence present work in their studios. The studio is a generative space – part production site, office, laboratory and situation – and it can be argued that it is more significant today for artistic process than ever before. Open Studios invites the public to 36 “studio visits” to experience art in its place of origin and to share conversations with artists and curators from all over the world.

Alongside Open Studios, ISCP’s 2012 institution-in-residence Clark House Initiative, Bombay brings a program to New York that illuminates the philosophical and cultural strategies that have served to withstand or conjure tectonic social and political shifts of upheaval or change. The exhibition Yay-Zeq: Two Burmese Artists Meet Again tells the story of how artist Sitt Nyein Aye taught Htein Lin to draw on the forest floor in an enclosed refugee camp in Manipur in 1988 after fleeing Burma during the 8888 Uprising. Also, on November 10, the first public meeting since 1988 between the two artists will take place at ISCP.

Participating ISCP artists and curators

A Kassen (Denmark), Ambie Abaño (Philippines), Michael Arcega (United States), Benjamin Armstrong (Australia), Lauri Astala (Finland), Anastasia Ax (Sweden), Tonje Bøe Birkeland (Sweden), Nanna Debois Buhl (Denmark), Wan-Jen Chen (Taiwan), Quynh Dong (Switzerland), Erlend Hammer (Norway), Camille Henrot (France), Ann Cathrin November Høibo (Norway), Astra Howard (Australia), Moussa Kone (Austria), Constanza Levine (Chile), Maria Loboda (Luxembourg), Mads Lynnerup (United States), Kaeko Mizukoshi (Japan), Nuria Montiel (Mexico), Francisco Montoya Cázarez (Germany), Kellie O’Dempsey (Australia), Claudia Passeri (Luxembourg), Marie Perrault (Canada), Mario Pfeifer (Germany), Nicolas Provost (Belgium), Andres Ramirez Gaviria (Dominican Republic), Maaike Schoorel (The Netherlands), Mono Schwarz-Kogelnik (United States), Karen Spencer (Canada), Dita Stepanova (Czech Republic), Slobodan Stosic (Serbia), Jennifer Tee (The Netherlands), Wojtek Ulrich (Poland), Chang-Jung Wu (Taiwan), Velimir Zernovski (Macedonia)

ISCP thanks the following contributors for their generous support

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, NY; Brooklyn Arts Council, NY; Brooklyn Brewery, NY; Consulate General of the Netherlands, NY; Consulate General of Sweden, NY; Czech Center, NY; Embassy of Australia, Washington, DC; Flanders House, NY; The Greenwich Collection, NY; Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Inc., NY; National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, NY; Polish Cultural Institute, NY; Royal Norwegian Consulate General, NY; Taipei Cultural Center, NY; Tom Cat Bakery, NJ

Opening Reception: Nov 09, 2012, 7-9pm
Download Open Studios Newspaper