"BARRI-O-RAMA" Exhibition
Taller Boricua
This event has ended.
Taller Boricua is proud to present "BARRI-O-RAMA", a group exhibition. Incorporating interactive, site-specific multimedia projects, the show both celebrates East Harlem and its community and addresses the different perspectives and challenging issues of the neighborhood.
Nayda Collazo-Llorens' interactive, multi-channel video installation, Reverberation PS72/107, constructs a spatial narrative that explores the phenomenology of architecture. Through an examination of the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center's building, history and context, she investigates the elasticity and transient nature of public spaces: fragmented, complex places that echo and embody our memories and negotiate our past, present and future. The work incorporates a series of videos focusing on the building's original architecture that reverberates in the gallery through video feedback and projections. The viewer's body is also captured upon entering the space, altering the projections in the room as well as reverberating on the walls. Resounding within this in-flux of spacio-temporal experiences is an audio component that integrates the voices of long-time East Harlem residents. Layered within the gallery are oral histories of El Barrio-ites whose relationship and memories to the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center span the early history of the building as students of the grammar school up until today as a Latino cultural center where they now come for arts and cultural events. Reverberation PS72/107 builds a complex audio-visual topoanalysis-one that permeates the physical and psychological boundaries between interior and exterior spaces.
Responding to the growing issue of gentrification and displacement in East Harlem, Rosalinda González combines two individual yet integrated bodies of work: The Red Lipstick Tour and 10029: Diversity is Development. The Red Lipstick Tour is an ongoing psycho-geographic art project that investigates the art, culture and social space in New York City. This progressive series of multimedia and performative works explore the challenges and opportunities around our changing socioeconomic and cultural climate. For "BARRI-O-RAMA", The Red Lipstick Tour is partnering with Taller Boricua, local East Harlem residents, artists and students to produce the site-specific installation 10029: Diversity is Development, an evolving program in the spirit of "social sculpture" in which the individual is self-empowered to build and redefine existing socio-political structures within their community. Incorporating text/print workshops, live streaming video events and "news reports," González creates an interactive forum for the community to express El Barrio's vibrant culture, exchange ideas, build solidarity and voice opinions on the challenges they face.
In the tradition of Harlem photographers such as Rudy Castilla and James Van Der Zee, Johnny Ramos transforms one of Taller Boricua's galleries into his own temporary East Harlem Portrait Studio. Throughout the course of the exhibition he will be photographing East Harlem residents in the classic manner of "sittings." For example, families and individuals are encouraged to dress up and to bring "props." such as objects that hold personal meaning and importance to them for the photo session. Ramos captures and celebrates our community's diverse history and the generations of individuals that make East Harlem such a culturally rich and unique place. Interested El Barrio-ites are invited to come to the gallery and make an appointment during the show dates. At the end of the exhibition there will be a closing reception to view Ramos' portraits.
For "BARRI-O-RAMA," Hatuey Ramos Fermín, has created EAsT Harlem. a collaborative multimedia, curatorial-art-project that investigates alternative solutions to the on-going problem of fresh food access in East Harlem. One of the main issues in healthy eating is accessibility - knowing where to find alternatives and having choices and options. In response to this challenge, Ramos Fermín has constructed a multi-faceted exhibition and participatory action-work space. The main component being a map of all the available healthy food and fresh produce options in East Harlem with a concentration on bodegas, delis, farmers' markets, green carts, local gardens, supermarkets and community-supported agriculture. The EAsT Harlem map is available in an online-mobile version as well as in the gallery for free in paper format. On the night of the opening the map will also be printed on shopping tote bags during a silk screening workshop in collaboration with The Laundromat Project and artist Shani Peters.
Another aspect of the project includes researching and collaborating with non-profits and community-based organizations in El Barrio and beyond that offer innovative solutions for fresh food access and related issues. All information and support materials collected are incorporated into EAsT Harlem and associated "BARRI-O-RAMA" programming. These include Union Settlement, Urban Layers (www.urbanlayers.net), Concrete Safaris, the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), MAPP International Productions/The People's Potlucks, East Harlem Community Supported Agriculture and Kitchens (CSA / CSK), Go Green! Initiative, Freegans, Young Farmers and East Harlem's The People's Kitchen/The Kitchen Table. The gallery space will also be used as an on-going repository for Ramos Fermín's investigations as well as documenting the process of the project throughout the exhibition.
EAsT Harlem also incorporates individual artist collaborators Emcee C.M., Master of None and Marna Chester as part of the project. Emcee C.M., Master of None is participating through his MOBILIZE: The Portable Pantry project, offering a "foraging tour" throughout El Barrio that focuses on identifying and gathering edible plants in local parks. He has also constructed an interactive EAsT Harlem Seed and Recipe Library both in the gallery and outside of the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center. Marna Chester has created a take-away woodcut print poster for visitors that encourages and promotes healthy choices.
Nayda Collazo-Llorens is a multidisciplinary artist whose work includes drawings, prints, video and installation. She received an MFA from New York University and a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art.
Rosalinda González is a multidisciplinary, new media performance artist and writer. She has a BA in Spanish from University of Houston, a BBA, CT in business from the Bauer College of Business / University of Houston and an MFA in Digital Media from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Johnny Ramos is a multimedia artist, filmmaker, photographer and arts educator. He has a BFA in film production from Wright State University (Ohio).
Hatuey Ramos Fermín is an educator and multidisciplinary artist whose work focuses on investigations of issues related to urban space. He has a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Puerto Rico and an MFA in Photography from St. Joost Art and Design Academy (Breda, The Netherlands).
Emcee C.M., Master of None is a multidisciplinary artist, writer and organizer. He is also a Bicycle Mechanic and Cargo Bike and Boat Builder, Wood/Metal Shop Technician, Curriculum Developer, Domain Leader, Gardener, Radio Dramatist, Frame and Finish Carpenter, Furniture Builder, Installer, Superintendent and Construction Engineer, Design Shop Technician, Foraging and Cooking Instructor, Sauna Engineer, Participatory Public Work Organizer, Woodworker and Fabricator, Russian Translator and Tax Preparer as well as a Goatherd and Cheese Maker. He has a BA from Brandeis University (Waltham, MA) in Linguistics, Russian and Sculpture and an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Connecticut.
Marna Chester is a multidisciplinary artist and educator. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Alfred University and Masters of Professional Studies in Arts and Cultural Management from Pratt Institute.
[Image: Nayda Collazo-Llorens "Reverberation PS72/107" detail Multimedia installation (2011)]
Media
Schedule
from June 03, 2011 to July 16, 2011
Closing Reception on 2011-07-16 from 17:00 to 20:00
Reception will include recent photographs from Johnny Ramos' "East Harlem Portrait Studio"