THE PROTEST AND THE RECUPERATION
The Protest and The Recuperation is a survey of artistic perspectives and responses on the global phenomenon of mass protest, as well as recuperative strategies of resistance. In these times, contemporary art has the capacity to focus our attention differently to what we learn from various media sources, or even our own experiences in protest. This exhibition presents a focused selection of works that register the power of mass protest from a deeply human perspective. It highlights the individual-to-individual connection in the collective spaces of the mass protest, recovery and care.
Over the past several years we have seen a marked increase in the globalization of mass protests, which oftentimes organically arose from local political conditions exacerbated by the growing gap in economic opportunities. The populace, or what Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt call “the multitudes,” have been expressing their deep dissatisfaction through street protests about issues ranging from women’s rights to citizenship to climate change activism. From Washington D.C. and Standing Rock, South Dakota to Cairo, Eygpt and Hong Kong to hundreds of small towns across India, people from large swaths of demographic sectors have been literally taking to the streets to voice their concern and outrage.
This exhibition—featuring 10 contemporary artists from around the globe from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Santiago, Chile—is in dialogue with a larger history than it is able to represent. From the Arab Spring in 2011 through 2020 we have seen a constant ebb and flow of uprisings, with a renewed surge in the United States after President Trump took office, as seen in the stunning 2017 Women’s March. In 2019 we saw a significant percentage of Hong Kongers come together to fight against China’s “big hand,” the Friday protests in Algiers and the protests against government corruption in Baghdad that fueled sectarian divides within Iraq. In 2020, in spite of the COVID-19 virus pandemic we saw a swell of anti-racism protests against police brutality and the rising up of citizens against election corruption in Belarus.
The Protest and the Recuperation | Representative Works
Khalid Albaih. Fall of the State Media, 2020. Courtesy the artist.
The Protest and the Recuperation | Representative Works
Lara Baladi. From Vox Populi, Archiving a Revolution in the Digital Age, 2011 - ongoing. Courtesy the artist.
The Protest and the Recuperation | Representative Works
Sharon Chin. From the event Mandi Bunga, 2013. Courtesy the artist.
The Protest and the Recuperation | Representative Works
Chow Chun Fai. Arrest, from the series Portraits from Behind, 2020. Courtesy the artist
The Protest and the Recuperation | Representative Works
Rachel Haynes. From the series Protest Scores, 2018 - ongoing. Courtesy the artist.
The Protest and the Recuperation | Representative Works
Sreshta Rit Premnath. The Pot Calls the Kettle Black 1, 2020. Courtesy the artist.
The Protest and the Recuperation | Representative Works
Josué Rivas. From the series Standing Strong, 2017. Courtesy the artist.
The Protest and the Recuperation | Representative Works
Hank Willis Thomas. Strike, 2018. Courtesy the artist and Jack Shaiman Gallery, New York.
The Protest and the Recuperation | Representative Works
Eugenia Vargas Peirera. Two images from the series Photographs of feminist protestors, 2019. Courtesy the artist.
The Protest and The Recuperation also focuses on work addressing spaces of comfort and care, places for recuperation, whether private or public, to regroup and reboot for the next round of resistance, the next act of defiance against corruption, oligarchy greed, and “feet dragging” on critical measures to curb, for example, dramatic climate change events, white supremacy or ethnic cleansing. It includes works within the galleries, participatory event-based projects, intellectual programming, a film screening series, as well as education programs.
In conjunction with The Protest and The Recuperation the Gallery will issue a richly illustrated publication co-edited by Betti-Sue Hertz and Sreshta Rit Premnath.
Date
June - August 2021
Curated By
Betti-Sue Hertz, Director and Chief Curator
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PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Khalid Albaih
Lara Baladi
Sharon Chin
Chow Chun Fai
Rachael Haynes
Sreshta Rit Premnath
Oliver Ressler
Josué Rivas
Hank Willis Thomas
Eugenia Vargas-Pereira