ISCP Talk
October 13, 2020, 4–5pm

Artists at Work with Nezaket Ekici: Transmission on Instagram Live

In this live online performance titled Transmission, residence Nezaket Ekici will create a connection between the real world and the virtual world using the pattern of a QR Code, a formative image for the Internet age. The QR Code was developed in 1994 by Masahiro Hara in Japan for the purpose of allowing quick access to content on the Internet – be it text, photos, movies or music – via a URL.

Ekici will broadcast herself over Instagram Live manipulating various black sculptural objects, which she’ll arrange on a white platform. The result will be a large floor installation of an oversized QR Code. By treating the graphic forms like three-dimensional sculptural elements, the Internet world will be drawn into reality. 

Viewers will be able to scan the finished QR Code with their cell phone cameras to follow the link, which will grant access to a video. In doing so, the artist wishes to release the audience back into the virtual world at the end of her performance. 

Tune in through this link, here.

This event is made possible with the financial support of the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany New York.

This program is also supported by Senate Department for Culture and Europe in Berlin; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; New York City Council District 34; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; NYC COVID-19 Response and Impact Fund in The New York Community Trust; Hartfield Foundation; Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation; Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF); and VIA Art Fund.

4–5pm

Participating Residents

Exhibition
September 22–December 11, 2020

The Earth Is Blue Like an Orange

The International Studio & Curatorial Program announces the opening of The Earth Is Blue Like an Orange, a group exhibition featuring the work of eight artists in residence in ISCP’s Ground Floor Program. 

The Earth Is Blue Like an Orange, a title derived from poetry by French surrealist Paul Éluard (1895-1952), evokes the collective memory of 2020 through eight artists’ differing viewpoints. In an unparalleled period characterized by the COVID-19 pandemic, and a heightened collective awareness of widespread racial injustice, the individual works reflect a range of concepts and emotions. Largely comprised of newly created works, the exhibition presents Alison Nguyen’s speculative fiction telling the story of a simulacral subaltern who has been conceived by an algorithm and raised in isolation by the Internet; a cyanotype work by Bundith Phunsombatlert addressing the subject of border crossings, using national flags; Carlos Franco’s compilation of media landscapes without specific geolocation, showing divergent populations at odds with their habitats; an ongoing painting by Wieteke Heldens that catalogues colors based on personal experience; Svetlana Bailey’s visual representation of what are now everyday questions about human connection (e.g., how do we love without touch?); an account of a woman’s personal story mirroring communal experiences of suffering, violence, and memory in Civan Özkanoğlu’s installation project; Habby Osk’s sculpture highlighting the precarity between stability and tension; and a cinematic installation by Moko Fukuyama in which framing, illumination and other variables serve as metaphors alluding to the many responsibilities of the storyteller.

These artists in residence are all part of a program that offers subsidized workspace and professional development for New York City-based artists. Launched in 2015, Ground Floor at ISCP takes place on the first floor of the institution, in tandem with ISCP’s International Residency program, forming an integral part of a dynamic community of artists and curators from all over the world.

Artists in the exhibition: Svetlana Bailey, Carlos Franco, Moko Fukuyama, Wieteke Heldens, Alison Nguyen, Habby Osk, Civan Özkanoğlu, and Bundith Phunsombatlert. 

The number of visitors to ISCP galleries will be limited, with timed viewing. Visitor protocols are in the Visit section of the website here.

The Earth Is Blue Like an Orange is organized by Alexandra Sloan Friedman, Programs Associate, ISCP.

About the Artists: 

Svetlana Bailey (born Russia) often uses fruit to explore the flesh and gender of human embodiment throughout her work with installation, drawing and in-camera collage. Svetlana Bailey has exhibited work at Elizabeth Houston Gallery, New York; Blue Sky Gallery, Portland; and Artereal Gallery, Sydney; among others. 

Carlos Franco’s (born Puerto Rico) work is an exercise in cultural cross pollination. He has exhibited work at Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco; Nikolaj Kunsthallen, Copenhagen; and The Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art (BICA), among others.

Moko Fukuyama’s (born Japan) work is driven by storytelling and narratives. Through film and sculpture, she questions how place can shape lived experiences and the intimate lives of her subjects. She has exhibited at The Shed, RECESS and SOHO20 Gallery, all New York, among other spaces.

Wieteke Heldens (born The Netherlands) works primarily with painting. She turns personal experiences and thoughts into abstract concepts, creating work according to a self-devised algorithm. Wieteke Heldens has exhibited work at Kunst Museum Den Haag, The Hague; Royal Palace Amsterdam; Borzo Gallery, Amsterdam, among others.

Alison Nguyen (born United States) explores the ways in which images are produced, disseminated, and consumed within the current media landscape, exposing the socio-political conditions from which they arise in video, installation, and new media works. She has presented work at Ann Arbor Film Festival; CROSSROADS, San Francisco Cinematheque and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Channels Festival International Biennial of Video Art, Melbourne; Microscope Gallery, New York and AC Gallery, Beijing, and OK Corral, Copenhagen, among others. 

Habby Osk’s (born Iceland) interests lie in basic physics: balance, movement, gravity, time and force. These factors play an important role as she creates works which test the limits of balance and stability and explore gravity’s influence over time using sculpture, photography and installation as her primary mediums. She has exhibited work at Gerðarsafn – Kópavogur Art Museum, Iceland; Akureyri Art Museum, Iceland; and Tina Kim Gallery, New York, among others.

Civan Özkanoğlu’s (born Turkey) interdisciplinary work traces seemingly mundane stories and daily absurdities, and their convergence in public space, mass media, the art world, politics and collective memory. He works with photography, sculptural and performative interventions that conceptually question  exhibition formats and artistic production. Civan Özkanoğlu has exhibited work at SALT, Istanbul; National Academy Museum & School, New York; and Istanbul Modern, among others.

Bundith Phunsombatlert (born Thailand) explores media archeology. His artworks examine how new and old media technology connect, and how their differing contexts subtly imbue everyday experiences with new layers of meaning. Bundith Phunsombatlert has exhibited work at Auckland Triennial Institution, New Zealand; Guangzhou Triennial, China; and Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Australia, among others.

This exhibition is supported by Alice and Lawrence Weiner; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; New York City Council District 34; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; NYC COVID-19 Response and Impact Fund in The New York Community Trust; William Talbott Hillman Foundation; Hartfield Foundation; Mondriaan Fund; Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation; Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF); and VIA Art Fund.

By visiting ISCP, you agree to abide by the following health and safety policies. Please make sure to plan ahead for your visit.
  • Four visitors are allowed in the galleries at a time, and appointments are required. Please write to info@iscp-nyc.org to schedule an appointment.
  • All visitors are required to maintain social distancing, keeping six feet from anyone not in their party.
  • Masks or face coverings are mandatory.
  • Hand sanitizer will be available for visitors.
  • If you have fever, chills, cough, muscle pains, headache, loss of taste or smell, or think you may have been exposed to COVID-19 prior to your visit, please contact us to reschedule.
  • An inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 and other infectious conditions exists in any public space where people are present. Those visiting the International Studio & Curatorial Program voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19, other infectious conditions, and other hazards that may be present in a public space.
Opening Reception: Sep 22, 2020, 4–7 PM
Open Hours: By appointment on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, from 12-5pm.
Download Press Release (PDF)

ISCP Talk
September 15, 2020, 4–5pm

Artists at Work with Caroline Garcia: Chroma-key Cannibalism on Instagram Live

In this Instagram Live, ISCP resident Caroline Garcia will speak about what she calls chroma-key cannibalism. Meeting via a live-streamed green screen video feed from the ISCP studios, Arts Residency Manager Alison Kuo will interview Garcia about her latest research and theories, which combine study of the indigenous practice of headhunting with new media to explore the complexities of loss, grief, and diasporic privilege. 

Caroline Garcia is an interdisciplinary artist working across live performance and video through a hybridized aesthetic of cross-cultural dance, ritual practice, and new media. Her work often comprises of performance and video installations that traverse a highly personalized aggregation of distinct systems that encompass live-green screening, botany, robotics, poetry, and virtual reality. Her most recent body of work serves to function as a reparative measure to contend with personal loss and the diasporic and post-colonial grief that accompanies it.

Tune in through this link, here.

This program is supported, in part, by Dr. K. David G. Edwards & Margery Edwards Charitable Giving Fund; Hartfield Foundation; 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 Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation; Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF); and VIA Art Fund.

4–5pm

Participating Residents