June 2018
Created by the collective Infinite Archive, this interactive project invites Starlight Park visitors to re-enact the open air dances once hosted in the park. Using native plants to physically demarcate the perimeter of the dance floor and as conceptual framing, this installation utilizes stone to mimic the parquetry of a central medallion often found in grand ballrooms at the turn of the 20th century. Memory and history are intertwined through a fragmentary reconstruction, referencing what once was and what has been forgotten. Additionally, the use of native plants pays homage to indigenous societies and contemporary issues related to ecological concerns.
Infinite Archive aims to enliven civic engagement, promote sociability and encourage experiential participation through this public installation. Additional extensions to this project will include planned events, such as dances, music and theatre. Digital QR codes are embedded in discrete signage along the perimeter of the outdoor ballroom. The QR codes detail the history of the park itself, information about the plantings, samples of popular music from the 1900’s through the 1930’s and the evolution of American dance culture.
The art collective, Infinite Archive, curated this exhibition to include artists working across a wide spectrum of media. The pieces range from paintings, prints, photography, assemblage as well as wood, metal and ceramic sculpture in response to fiction, non-fiction, periodicals, and prints in the NYPL’s collection. The breadth of artwork reflects the broad nature of the Library’s holdings.
Responding directly to literary works, each artwork presents a complex dialogue between the artist and the selected text. Housed within a vintage card catalog, visitors are encouraged to discover varied artworks as they open each drawer. Many artworks include interactive elements, such as solving a puzzle, exploring a maze or unfolding an abstract painting.
Artists in the exhibition include; Anna Alfredson, Jose Manuel Arguelles, Ken Augushi, Erica Bailey, Rick Bleier, Sarah Bouchard, Louise Braverman, Tegan Brozyna, Heather Chontos, Susanne Claussen, Carol Collicutt, Lionel Cruet, Vanezza Cruz, Andrea Cukier, Peter Hamlin, Carrie Hawks, Samantha Holmes, Aya Kakeda, Rohin Khemani, Stephanie Lindquist, Stephanie Mulvihill, Maja Padrov, Patrick Perry, Henry Portillo, Mary Preston, Randy Regier, Sarah Rowe, Shelley Stefan, Rachel Sydlowski, and Natalie Collette Wood.
Responding to the unique history, archives and architecture of Morris-Jumel Mansion three artists have reinterpreted archival objects into a site-specific installation. Ceramic objects, jewelry and artists’ books present a visual interpretation based on different areas of research by each artist. This shifting focus addresses how histories drift over time and how certain historical narratives become prominent while others recede into obscurity.
This collection of artist’s books explores issues in architecture, identity and history relating to the Morris-Jumel Mansion. In her book focusing on portraiture and pattern, Rachel Sydlowski prints historical portraits of women and remnants of wallpaper over maps of New York City from the 18th century. Gold Napoleon bees are inserted and sewn between the folds of the accordion construction. The portraits and maps are inverted in the second half of the book alluding to Eliza Jumel’s lifelong reversals of fortune and crafty reinventions. Sarah Rowe melds and associates components related to mansion’s garden from blueprints, planting plans and botanical prints related to mansion’s garden. Rowe is interested in the historical and contemporary significance of the plants in the garden as well as the exquisite design of the garden house and sundial. Patrick Perry’s book holds a collection of six cyanotype postcards referencing the architecture of the Morris-Jumel Mansion and personal letters exchanged between Stephen and Eliza Jumel. Blueprints from the archive serve as a point of visual reference and draw attention to the architectural structure as a living document.
A series of ceramic ginger jars constructed by Rachel Sydlowski address how decorative objects are used to establish and assert social position and power in a domestic setting. Portraits of society women on the surface of the jars are appropriated from the National Portrait Gallery Archive. Their likeness has been removed and replaced with wallpaper patterns from various periods of the mansion’s history, alluding to Eliza’s shapeshifting identities. Gold luster bees swarm the jars, reflecting Eliza’s fascination with collecting imperial objects belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte, possibly a manifestation of her steadfast conviction of achieving financial security and social status. While ginger jars were initially used to store and transport spices, they have been used chiefly as decorative objects since the 19th century. The dialogue between utilitarian object, the shipping of luxury items and decorative objects are reflective of her first husband’s mercantile background and Eliza’s unusual deliverance from destitution.
A series of heavily etched wearable objects constructed of sterling silver and copper created by Patrick Perry are a direct response to the handwritten letters between Eliza and her husband Stephen Jumel. The archival letters reveal an accretion of private exchanges, ranging from the quotidian to the intimate. Perry has chosen to pay homage to these intimate written exchanges by etching fragments of the letters directly onto copper plates. The material shift from pen and ink to metal raises questions about impermanence and indelibility and public and private lives.
In her porcelain relief tiles, Sarah Rowe amalgamates architectural elements from the Morris-Jumel Mansion using direct impressions, cut-outs and screenprints from existing and unrealized architectural details from the Morris-Jumel Mansion. These tiles are specifically concerned with the subtle, intimate nuances of the mansion that are often overlooked by the casual visitor but would have been readily apparent to members of the Jumel and Morris families. Rowe highlights friezes, architectural motifs, and soffits using both intaglio and relief techniques. The tiles also consider how architecture changes or decays over time and index subtle changes in the the Morris-Jumel mansion’s facade.
photo credits: Max Yawney
In a constant state of flux, Harlem’s architecture is the subject of this ephemeral exhibition on the Acropolis in Marcus Garvey Park. The word toquassen refers to a signal sounded on a bell and directly references the bell that is housed in The Mount Morris Fire Watchtower, a structure dating from 1812. Originally located in Marcus Garvey Park atop the Acropolis, the watchtower is now being restored off-site.
Toquassen is a slideshow of imagery related to changes in Harlem’s architecture. Depicted in the slides are details of buildings: geometric edges of iron latticework, intricate details of a classical ornament and impressions of window frames. Translucent polymer clay and photographs of these details are layered to create composite images held within the compact space of a slide. The translucent clay has been pressed against buildings’ facades to create miniature architectural artifacts. Together these images are layered to explore subtle architectural details that often go unnoticed.
Accompanied by a musical composition inspired by the percussive sounds of the watchtower bell the carousel slideshow signals viewers to examine architectural details which are often overlooked. Participants will be invited to create their own permanent ceramic record of the Acropolis by pressing clay against a texture, form, fissure or other details.
CAROUSEL is an exhibition experiment. It is a venue on a turntable. It is a nomad. It is an anachronism. Surpassing its time and usefulness, CAROUSEL is cheap, familiar, a little stubborn, and begging for reinterpretation. Regular one-night-only ”openings” will showcase an artist and their use of a mechanical slide projector. CAROUSEL is organized by artists Gabriela Salazar and Mary Choueiter. Contact at info@carouselproject.com. Locations TBA.
Special thanks to theRema Hort Mann Foundationfor support through their ACE Community Grant.
