Exhibition
December 12, 2023–April 26, 2024

Ahmad Fuad Osman: Archipelagic Alchemy

The International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) presents Ahmad Fuad Osman: Archipelagic Alchemy, an exhibition that addresses the history of the empire by looking at relationships between seas and islands. Presenting an installation titled Run for Manhattan, by Ahmad Fuad Osman, this exhibition is curated by Carlos Quijon, Jr. for ISCP’s first floor project space. The installation gathers archival clippings, popular culture materials, and a newly commissioned speculative video. All pertain to an episode of colonial history involving an exchange of islands in the seventeenth century between two colonial powers. The English traded Pulau Run, one of the Spice Islands, present-day Moluccas, in exchange for New Amsterdam, present-day Manhattan, traded by the Dutch.

The exhibition’s focal point will be an expansive image of the signing of a treaty in 1667 that ended the Second Anglo-Dutch War, and included a provision about the exchange of these two islands. Osman’s work shows a moment in colonial history, European exceptionalism and its postcolonial implications.

Ahmad Fuad Osman has presented work internationally at venues including the Vargas Museum in Manila, Philippines; Kunsthal Rotterdam, Netherlands; Sharjah Biennale; Singapore Biennale; The Singapore Art Museum; Silverlens Gallery, Makati, Philippines; and Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan, among others. 

Carlos Quijon, Jr. is an art historian, critic, and curator based in Manila who is currently a curator in residence at ISCP, and curator of the Philippines national pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale. He was a fellow of the research platform Modern Art Histories in and across Africa, South and Southeast Asia (MAHASSA). He writes for Artforum and CNN Philippines; his essays are included in SEA: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia and Writing Presently; and his exhibitions include Courses of Action, Para Site and Goethe-Institut, Hong Kong; Minor Infelicities, Post Territory Ujeongguk, Seoul; and In Our Best Interests, NTU ADM Gallery, Singapore. Carlos Quijon, Jr. is currently a curator-in- residence at ISCP. 

This exhibition is supported by Asian Cultural Council; Hartfield Foundation; Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; New York State Council on the Arts and the New York State Legislature; James Rosenquist Foundation; van Beuren Charitable Foundation; and William Talbott Hillman Foundation.
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Accessibility information: Please note that the entrance to ISCP has seven steps and a ramp, which is ADA compliant. There are seven artist studios and one exhibition space which can be accessed on the first floor of ISCP. There is an accessible bathroom on the first floor at the end of the hallway, up one step, where the artist studios are located. To access the second floor there is a staircase with a grab bar installed on the right side with 22 steps. The second floor has 22 artist and curator studios, one exhibition space, and a lounge where remarks by our guest speaker will take place. To access the third floor there is a staircase with a grab bar installed on the right side with 24 steps. The third floor has five artist and curator studios. ISCP  can access a freight elevator to bring visitors between the first and second floors on request.

ISCP can offer two reserved parking spaces on request for people with disabilities. Please email Veronica Sanchez at vsanchez@iscp-nyc.org to request a parking space and/or freight elevator usage.

Open Hours: 10:30am–5:30pm
Download Press Release (PDF)

Participating Residents

ISCP Talk
December 11, 2023, 6:30–7:30pm

Artists at Work: Aesthetics of Conflict–Elias Wessel with Matt Saunders

For this Artists at Work, ISCP artist-in-residence Elias Wessel will be joined by artist Matt Saunders, Professor of Art, Film and Visual Studies at Harvard University, who wrote an essay on Wessel’s work in the recent book, Elias Wessel: Aesthetics of Conflict (Kettler Verlag, 2023). They will discuss Wessel’s abstract “paintings,” which are made up of photographs and digital material, the intersection between photography and painting, and the impact of new technologies on art and society.

Elias Wessel is an artist who employs photography to create images and multidisciplinary projects that reflect contemporary societal discourses. He has exhibited works at 1014, New York; Palais Beauharnais, Paris; Kunstsammlung im Willy-Brandt-Haus, Berlin; Goethe Institute, Frankfurt am Main; NRW-Forum, Dusseldorf; Art Basel, Basel; Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, among many others. Wessel is an artist in residence at ISCP from Germany, who has been based in New York City since 2008.

Matt Saunders is an artist whose work moves between painting, photography, printmaking, and multi-screen installations with animated film. He has had solo exhibitions at Tate Liverpool, St. Louis Art Museum and the Renaissance Society, and  group exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum, the Whitney, MassMOCA, Sharjah Biennial, and SF MoMA among many others. His work is represented by Marian Goodman Gallery and Blum & Poe. He splits his time between New York, Berlin and Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he is Professor of Art, Film and Visual Studies at Harvard University.

This event is supported by Brigitte Vosse; Hartfield Foundation; Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; New York State Council on the Arts and the New York State Legislature; SpallArt Collection; James Rosenquist Foundation; van Beuren Charitable Foundation; and William Talbott Hillman Foundation.
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Accessibility information: Please note that the entrance to ISCP has seven steps and a ramp, which is ADA compliant. There are seven artist studios and one exhibition space which can be accessed on the first floor of ISCP. There is an accessible bathroom on the first floor at the end of the hallway, up one step, where the artist studios are located. To access the second floor there is a staircase with a grab bar installed on the right side with 22 steps. The second floor has 22 artist and curator studios, one exhibition space, and a lounge where remarks by our guest speaker will take place. To access the third floor there is a staircase with a grab bar installed on the right side with 24 steps. The third floor has five artist and curator studios. ISCP  can access a freight elevator to bring visitors between the first and second floors on request.

ISCP can offer two reserved parking spaces on request for people with disabilities. Please email Veronica Sanchez at vsanchez@iscp-nyc.org to request a parking space and/or freight elevator usage.

6:30–7:30pm

Participating Residents

ISCP Talk
November 28, 2023, 6–8pm

Artists at Work: Miatta Kawinzi and Alicia Grullón

For this Artists at Work, ISCP Vision Fund artists-in-residence Miatta Kawinzi and Alicia Grullón will give presentations on their respective artistic practices and engage each other and the audience in a conversation.

Kawinzi will start by discussing their work, which engages interior and exterior landscapes to illuminate themes of inter-connectivity, hybridity, diaspora, and queered temporalities. Kawinzi’s practice is informed by embodied research and an investment in the language of gesture as an expressive tool. Next, Grullón will talk about her practice, which involves performance and self-portraiture, among other approaches. She argues for the inclusion of underrepresented communities in political and social spheres and uses social practice to explore how people relate to land. Their presentations will be followed by a Q&A.

Miatta Kawinzi is a Kenyan-Liberian-American multidisciplinary artist working with sculptural installation, still and moving images, the voice and body, gesture, language, objects, space and sound. Their work has been exhibited at PS122 Gallery; The Africa Center; and CUE Art Foundation, all in New York, among others.

Alicia Grullón is a Bronx-based artist and organizer. She is a Moore College of Art and Design Walentas Fellow for 2020-2022, and teaches at Queens College. Grullón has exhibited work at Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University; Bronx Museum of the Arts; and BRIC Arts Media House, all in New York, among others.

This program is supported, in part, by Vision Fund; Hartfield Foundation; Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso; New York City Council District 34; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; James Rosenquist Foundation; van Beuren Charitable Foundation; and William Talbott Hillman Foundation.
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Accessibility information: Please note that the entrance to ISCP has seven steps and a ramp, which is ADA compliant. There are seven artist studios and one exhibition space which can be accessed on the first floor of ISCP. There is an accessible bathroom on the first floor at the end of the hallway, up one step, where the artist studios are located. To access the second floor there is a staircase with a grab bar installed on the right side with 22 steps. The second floor has 22 artist and curator studios, one exhibition space, and a lounge where remarks by our guest speaker will take place. To access the third floor there is a staircase with a grab bar installed on the right side with 24 steps. The third floor has five artist and curator studios. ISCP  can access a freight elevator to bring visitors between the first and second floors on request.

ISCP can offer two reserved parking spaces on request for people with disabilities. Please email Veronica Sanchez at vsanchez@iscp-nyc.org to request a parking space and/or freight elevator usage.

6–8pm

Participating Residents