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, Egypt 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.
INSTALLATION VIEWS
Installation view from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view June 12 through August 14, 2021 at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view showing work by the artist Lara Baladi from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view showing works by the artists Lara Baladi and Hank Willis Thomas from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view showing work by the artist Hank Willis Thomas from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view showing work by the artist Hank Willis Thomas from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view showing work by the artist Sreshta Rit Premnath from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view showing work by the artist Rachael Haynes from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view showing work by the artist Josué Rivas from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view showing work by the artist Josué Rivas from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view showing work by the artist Eugenia Vargas Pereira from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view showing work by the artist Sreshta Rit Premnath from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view June 12 through August 14, 2021 at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view showing works by the artists Chow Chun Fai and Khalid Albaih from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view showing work by the artist Khalid Albaih from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view showing work by the artist Oliver Ressler from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view showing work by the artist Sharon Chin from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view showing works by the artists Sreshta Rit Premnath and Sharon Chin from the exhibition “The Protest and The Recuperation” on view at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
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.
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
EXHIBITION DATES
JUNE 12–AUGUST 14, 2021
RELATED PUBLICATION
RELATED PROGRAMMING
EXHIBITION PREVIEW: FEBRUARY 10 - APRIL 4 | MORE INFO
This special presentation is installed in windows located at 125th Street and Broadway and is presented by the Wallach Art Gallery and The Forum, Columbia University. The preview includes an artist's video, a sculpture, and nine reproductions of works in the exhibition.
IN THE NEWS
The New York Times, July 29, 2021: The Protest and The Recuperation is named one of "5 art gallery shows to see right now."