Open Studios
November 10–November 11, 2023

2023 Fall Open Studios

Opening Reception: Friday, November 10, 6–9pm
Open Hours: Saturday, November 11, 1–7pm
Performances by Suzanne Kite and Haydeé Jiménez: Saturday, November 11, starting at 5:30pm

The International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) Fall Open Studios is a presentation of international contemporary art organized by the 35 artists and curators from 27 countries currently in residence. Guest speaker Jean Shin, will make remarks at 7pm during the opening reception in ISCP’s second floor lounge.

This event is free and open to the public.

Twice a year, ISCP offers the public access to private artists’ and curators’ studios to view artwork and share one-on-one conversations. This fall, ISCP invites the public to engage in dialogue around contemporary art with arts professionals from across the globe. Concentrated in a three-story postindustrial loft building on the edge of Bushwick, ISCP supports the creative advancement of residents, with a robust program of individual workspaces and professional benefits.

Alchemyverse: Messa in Luce, an installation of work developed in and about Chile’s Atacama Desert by resident collaborative artist duo Ground Floor residents Alchemyverse, will be on view in the first floor project space. Curated by Jess Wilcox, the exhibition’s centerpiece is a cascade of hanging ceramic tiles produced from wild clay sourced, shaped and pit-fired during a 2022 research trip. Alchemyverse probes the region’s reputation as the driest, sunniest place on Earth and host to large-scale scientific and technological infrastructure such as astronomical observatories and solar energy farms. True to the title’s meaning, Messa in Luce, brings to light what is typically beyond sight. With this immersive scale-shifting installation, Alchemyverse amplifies the universe’s “background noise” to promote an understanding of the Earth as an accumulation of particulate matter in a state of constant flux. 

In addition, WAVE PHENOMENA: contemporary strategies of sonic agency, a group exhibition curated by ISCP’s 2023-24 institution-in-residence Atomic Culture, will be on view in the second floor gallery. Recognizing the potential of sound as a catalyst for personal, political, and environmental considerations, WAVE PHENOMENA engages with artists working within or around sound, investigates their practices, and creates a discourse around sonic agency. The exhibition will explore the listening experience and the opportunities it creates for sympathetic resonance and sonic imagination and will serve as a resource for guests to learn from and have the opportunity to sit with or engage with resource materials, media, and related works of art. 

On Saturday, November 11 at 5:30pm, exhibiting artists Suzanne Kite and Haydeé Jiménez will present performances in ISCP’s second floor gallery.

Open Studios participating artists and curators:

Alchemyverse (Bicheng Liang and Yixuan Shao) (China/United States); Ebtisam Alsaffar (Qatar); James Beckett (South Africa/The Netherlands/United States); Laura Bernstein (United States); Pascale Birchler (Switzerland); Ella den Elzen (Canada); Sol Enae Lee (South Korea); Caroline Garcia (Australia); Alicia Grullón (United States); Jojo Gronostay (Germany/Ghana/Austria); Okka-Esther Hungerbühler (Germany/Switzerland); Hanni Kamaly (Sweden); Miatta Kawinzi (United States); Tali Keren (United States, Israel/Palestine); Helena Keskküla (Estonia); Eva L’Hoest (Belgium); Håkon Lillegraven (Norway); Joiri Minaya (United States/Dominican Republic); Sandra Mujinga (Norway); Aileen Murphy (Ireland); Azita Moradkhani (Iran/United States); Suzy Park (South Korea); Tamen Pérez (Costa Rica/United States); Carlos Quijon, Jr. (Philippines); Hulda Rós Gudnadóttir (Iceland/Germany); Nika Schmitt (Luxembourg/The Netherlands); Christian Schwarzwald (Austria); Nikita Shokhov (United States); Oriane Stender (United States); Sofia Stevi (Greece); Hanna Stiegeler (Germany); Ginta Tinte Vasermane (The Netherlands/Latvia) ; Coralie Vogelaar (The Netherlands); Esben Weile Kjær (Denmark); and Elias Wessel (Germany/United States)

ISCP thanks the following residency sponsors:

ACC – Asian Cultural Council; Alice and Lawrence Weiner; Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK); ARTWORKS; Atelier Flex – Kanton Zug; Brigitte Vosse; Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso; Creative Australia; Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec; Danish Arts Foundation; Danna and Ed Ruscha; Doosan Art Center; Edward Steichen Award Luxembourg; Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center; Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport of Austria; Fire Station – Qatar Museums; Gallery Gudmundsdottir; Hartfield Foundation; Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; IASPIS – The Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s International Programme for Visual Artists; Icelandic Visual Arts Fund; ipureland; Jerome Foundation; KdFS Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen; Mondriaan Fund; National Endowment for the Arts; New York City Council Member for the 34th District; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; OCA – Office for Contemporary Art Norway; Prince Bernhard Culture Fund; Pro Helvetia; SpallArt Collection; Senate Department for Culture and Europe, Berlin; Stichting Stokroos; Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, Dublin; The Association of Icelandic Visual Artists (SÍM); The Dr. K. David G. Edwards & Margery Edwards Charitable Giving Fund; The Icelandic Visual Artists Copyright Association; Toby Devan Lewis; Vision Fund. 

This program is also generously supported, in part, by Austrian Cultural Forum New York; Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso; Consulate General of Denmark in New York; Consulate General of Luxembourg in New York; Consulate General of Sweden in New York; Consulate General of Switzerland in New York; Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York; Evelyn Toll Family Foundation; Google; Grimm Artisanal Ales; Hartfield Foundation; Materials for the Arts; James Rosenquist Foundation; Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation; New York City Council Member for the 34th District; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; Royal Norwegian Consulate General in New York; and William Talbott Hillman Foundation.

In addition to the many individuals who support ISCP, the members of Director’s Circle are also thanked for their largesse: Anne Altchek, Barbara van Beuren, Samar Maziad, and Laurie Sprayregen.
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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 vsanchez@iscp-nyc.org to request a parking space and/or freight elevator usage. 

ISCP Talk
November 1, 2023, 6–7pm

Messa in Luce Exhibition Talk with Alchemyverse and Jess Wilcox

In conjunction with the exhibition Alchemyverse: Messa in Luce on view at ISCP through November 17, artistic duo Bicheng Liang and Yixuan Shao will discuss their project-related research and field work with exhibition curator Jess Wilcox. The time-sensitive subjects of environmental catastrophe and planetary apocalypse drives their practice, which combines science, native knowledge, and ancient craft through field work and experimentation. 

Alchemyverse was founded in 2020 by artists Bicheng Liang and Yixuan Shao in New York while they were enrolled in  the MFA program at Columbia University. Liang received his BFA from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, China. Shao received her BA from University of California, San Diego. Recent exhibitions include International Studio & Curatorial Program, New York; Praise Shadows Gallery, Massachusetts; Asia Art Archive in America, New York; The Bishop Museum, Hawai’i; and Lenfest Center for the Arts, Columbia University, New York; among others. Currently, they are in residence at ISCP.   

Jess Wilcox is an independent curator focusing on ecocritical, socially engaged and public art. From 2016 to 2022, she was Curator and Director of Exhibitions at Socrates Sculpture Park. From 2011 to 2015, she worked at the Brooklyn Museum’s Center for Feminist Art. She has a BA from Barnard College and Master’s degree from Bard’s Center for Curatorial Studies.

This program is supported by Alice and Lawrence Weiner; Danna and Ed Ruscha; Hartfield Foundation; Horace W. Goldsmith 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 the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; James Rosenquist 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

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 akuo@iscp-nyc.org to request a parking space and/or freight elevator usage.

6–7pm

Participating Residents

Event
October 24, 2023, 6–8pm

Curators at Work: Curating Beyond Institutional Walls

For this Curators at Work ISCP curators-in-residence Ida Schyum and Håkon Lillegraven will be joined by Alison Burstein, Curator, The Kitchen, New York; Prerana Reddy, Arts & Community Fellow, Recess Art, New York; and Ian Wallace, Curatorial Assistant, New Museum, New York. They will discuss the potential of curating and programming beyond institutional walls and dedicated exhibition spaces, exchanging perspectives on how curating beyond institutional boundaries engages new audiences and encourages a more varied art environment. They will address how these practices lead to important ethical considerations about where, for whom, and how art institutions should operate today.

Operating as a curator at the nomadic Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark, Ida Schyum will present the museum’s considerations behind moving out of its traditional building in order to engage new audience groups and care for art practices situated beyond the white cube. Håkon Lillegraven will speak about his experience as a curator of interdisciplinary public programs as both an independent curator and for institutions, public space, and nomadic and digital platforms. Alison Burstein and Ian Wallace will talk about the challenges and promises of working outside their institutional facilities, while Prerana Reddy will discuss alternative forms of public engagement in nontraditional viewing conditions.

Ida Schyum is a Danish curator specialized in curating exhibitions that reflect on and challenge our current moment while engaging new audiences. Schyum is currently a curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Roskilde, a nomadic museum with no fixed institutional building which displays exhibitions and their collection of hybrid and ephemeral art forms beyond the classical exhibition space. Schyum has curated exhibitions as curator at the Overgaden Institute of Contemporary Art as well as independently at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, ARoS, and the Alt_Cph20 Biennial – all in Denmark. She has also curated outreach programs for the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art and the Nivaagaard Painting Collection, both in Denmark. 

Håkon Lillegraven is a curator, art mediator, and writer based in Oslo. He is currently Curator and Head of Mediation and Communication at Fotogalleriet, the first institution dedicated to photography as a critical artistic practice in the Nordic region. His curatorial interests are in the intersections of queer, temporal, performance-based, and moving image-based work, collaboration, community-building, and the curatorial strategies and ethics surrounding these. He is also a founding member of two nomadic curatorial initiatives focused on queer, feminist and communal practices, Ergi and Geiten. Formerly, he has held positions as co-curator of the exhibition and public programme PARADE for the Vigeland Museum,Oslo, and Curatorial Assistant of the first Oslo Biennial. In 2021 he was a participant in the course Curatorial practice+public space, organized by KORO – Public Art Norway, and has previously been the recipient of professional development support from Art Fund UK and Whitechapel Gallery, British Council, and Institute of Contemporary Arts,London.

Alison Burstein is a Curator at The Kitchen in New York, where she organizes exhibitions, artist residencies, archival research initiatives, and digital programming and publications. She previously served as Program Director at the nonprofit art space Recess and as a member of the education departments at MoMA, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Brooklyn Museum, all in New York. She has organized programs and exhibitions for institutions including Tenthaus, Oslo; The Luminary, St. Louis; Knockdown Center, New York; Mana Contemporary, New Jersey; Museum of Jurassic Technology, Los Angeles; and NURTUREart, New York. Her writing has appeared in artist monographs and in publications including Tate Etc.

Ian Wallace is an art historian, curator, and writer based in New York. He received his PhD from the CUNY Graduate Center in 2021. His writing has appeared in BOMB, Art in America, The Brooklyn Rail, whitehot magazine, and artforum, among others. He has contributed to exhibitions at the Fondazione Prada, Venice; MoMA, New York; the Museum of Jurassic Technology, Los Angeles; and the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, among other institutions. He was Assistant to the Curator of the 59th Venice Biennale and is currently Curatorial Assistant at the New Museum.

Prerana Reddy is Artist & Community Fellow at Recess, an abolitionist arts organization in Brooklyn NY, overseeing Session, their artists project space, and their Critical Writing Program. She did consulting work with Amy Kaufman Cultural Planning, and was a Think Tank Member at both Creative Time and the Creatives Rebuild New York initiative. Previously, she was Director of Programs at A Blade of Grass, New York; and Director of Public Events at the Queens Museum of Art, New York. Reddy co-curated Fatal Love: South Asian American Art Now, and commissioned two editions of Corona Plaza: Center of Everywhere, Queens Museum’s socially-interactive public art projects. She is currently on the board of Alwan for the Arts, an Arab and Middle Eastern cultural organization based in lower Manhattan. 

This program is supported, in part, by Danish Arts Foundation; OCA – Office for Contemporary Art Norway; The Consulate General of Denmark in New York & The Danish Ministry for Culture; Royal Norwegian Consulate General; The Museum of Contemporary Art in Denmark; 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; and William Talbott Hillman Foundation.

6–8pm

Participating Residents