We’re very excited to announce a special project by Pablo Helguera, Untitled (Comedy Show), a 3-night off-broadway performance February 1st, 3rd & 4th. The performance takes the form of a late-night talk show. Each show will feature performances by actress and off-Broadway singer Pheonix Vaughn, sidekickery by artist Gabriela Galván, a smattering of guest interviews with art world luminaries, audience games, and musical performances that honor the (off-)Broadway tradition.
For this unique project, More Art has commissioned a limited edition collectible plate featuring a new Artoon—Pablo Helguera’s iconic series of cartoons about the art world.
Limited edition plates will be available for sale and included in a special Collector Ticket. More details coming soon!
Known as an instigator, polymath, and multi-disciplinary practitioner, over more than two decades Pablo Helguera has used social observation to reflect on core issues around artmaking, presenting them in a range of media which include drawing, writing, performance, installation, and socially engaged art.
Gates, Borders, Barriers: george emilio sanchez and Patty Ortiz
Join us on Wednesday, October 12th for unlocking the cages of captivity while sitting on a park bench—a performance and site-specific installation created by performance artist george emilio sanchez and visual artist Patty Ortiz. The piece explores the intersection and interplay between our dreams and the realities of our existence. This piece is intended as a companion work to Fred Wilson’s Mind Forged Manacles/Manacle Forged Minds, on public display in Columbus Park, located near Borough Hall, Brooklyn. unlocking the cages of captivity while sitting on a park bench will be performed in a 2-hour cycle between 5pm and 7 pm on Wednesday, October 12, in recognition of Indigenous Peoples Day.
The performance acknowledges the geographic location of the public space of Columbus Plaza, and the ancestral homelands of which they lie upon/over. sanchez will spend 2 hours stationed on a park bench in the plaza at Columbus Park, at times silent and observing passers-by, other times seemingly sleeping. During active moments he will address each of the three historic figures acknowledged by the park: Christopher Columbus, Henry Ward Beecher, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He will speak directly to the monuments regarding the history and legacy of each historic figure, as a counterpoint to Fred Wilson’s sculpture work, and draw parallels and contradictions between the legacies and realities of these figures, against that of underrepresented people and cultures who are more likely to experience the cages of captivity on view in Fred Wilson’s artwork on public display.
This event is part of Gates, Borders, Barriers, a series of public programs in connection with Fred Wilson’s year-long installation Mind Forged Manacles/Manacle Forged Minds. This program is presented in partnership with Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, the Dumbo Business Improvement District, DTBK + Dumbo Art Fund, New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative, VIA Art Fund, and Pace Gallery.
george emilio sanchez
Image: george emilio sanchez; image by Maria Baranova.
george emilio sanchez is a writer, performance artist and social justice activist. He was born in Los Angeles, raised in Orange County, California, and became a New York transplant in 1978. He began making original pieces in 1992 and has continued making performance work and social justice projects to this day. He is currently in the process of crafting a new performance series titled “Performing the Constitution.” The first installment of the series, titled XIV, premiered at Dixon Place in 2019. This work melds autobiography and history in a performance that gives narrative to the injustices racialized communities face as they fight for “equal protection of the laws.” The second performance in the series, titled In the Court of the Conqueror, confronts the over 200 year-old history of U.S. Supreme Court rulings that have diluted the Tribal Sovereignty of Native Nations. This second installment premiered at Abrons Arts Center in the spring of 2022. As the Abrons Social Practice AIR he works with youth groups on the Lower East Side to use the arts as a restorative tool while addressing the reality and trauma of gun violence. For the past two years, he organized and facilitated BANG BANG GUN AMOK, a 24-hour performance filibuster on gun culture. George has been collaborating with More Art and the Center for Court Innovation/Brooklyn Justice Initiatives on a series of workshops and performances for participants in CCI’s/BJI’s alternative to incarceration program.
Patty Ortiz
Images clockwise from top left: Kal Ferretti, Jasper Grigsby-Schulte, Jackson Trout.
Patty Ortiz lives and works in San Antonio, Texas and Brooklyn, New York. Ortiz holds both a BFA and an MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally including in Mexico City, Valdivia, Chile, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The series Work Won’t Kill You (2018-15) has been presented at such venues as SALT Quarters, Syracuse, NY; Art Produce, San Diego, CA; Terminal Gallery, San Antonio, TX; Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, CO; and at Emmanuel College, Boston, MA. Collaborations with Dreamers—DACA recipients—include Citizenship Parade (2020) with MCA DENVER; I AM HERE, Luminaria Festival, San Antonio, TX and I EXIST, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, CO. Recent collaborations and video projects with New York based performance artist george emilio sanchez includes the traveling performance project In the Court of the Conqueror (2022) and the durational performance unlocking the cages of captivity while sitting on a park bench (2022), Columbus Park Brooklyn, NY. Ortiz’s work has been recognized by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts Inter-Arts Program and the Colorado Council on the Arts. She has been an artist-in-residence at Ucross, Wyoming, Art Produce, San Diego, CA, and the Santa Fe Art Institute, NM. Public Art Commissions include The Jeppeson Corporation in Frankfort, Germany, the City of Boulder, CO and the Denver International Airport, CO.
Image: Mind Forged Manacles/Manacle Forged Minds, image by Kris Graves.
location.
The sculpture site is located in the plaza inside of Columbus Park, in Downtown Brooklyn, which is situated close to the Borough Hall subway station and near the Kings County Supreme Court. You can enter the plaza from the North at Johnson Street and Cadman Plaza, or from the south at Court St and Montague Street. It is close to where the Brooklyn Borough Hall Greenmarket is held.
By Subway: Take the 4/5 or the 2/3 to Borough Hall, or the A/C/F to Jay St, MetroTech.
By Bus: Take the B38, B41, B25, B52, B26 to Cadman Plaza West/Montague St.
accessibility.
The closest accessible subway station is the 4/5 2/3 Borough Hall Subway Station (Manhattan and Bronx-bound only).
The Jay St-MetroTech Subway Station is also an accessible station, however, it is a 7-minute walk away.
The sculpture site and plaza is paved and single-level with bench seating nearby.
Accessible public restrooms are available until 6pm on Wednesday evenings at the Brooklyn Heights branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, located one block away at 286 Cadman Plaza W, Brooklyn, NY 11201. For hours, visit the BPL website.
Please contact info@moreart.org with any accessibility needs or inquiries.
Gates, Borders, Barriers: Julian Louis Phillips and Musicians from The New School
On Tuesday, September 20th, artist Julian Louis Phillips will be presenting “if they started the rhythm, how do we keep the beat?“—a site-specific performance at Fred Wilson’s Mind Forged Manacles/Manacle Forged Minds. Opening Julian’s performance will be a live instrumental jazz ensemble featuring students from the New School of Performing Arts with Kal Ferretti on trumpet, Jackson Trout on percussion, and Jasper Grigsby-Shulte on upright bass.
The performance is a loosely scripted work that combines speeches from African and Black revolutionaries and the laws and policies that excluded Black people from land and property throughout American history. This performance will take the point of view of someone who is aware of the omnipotent eye of neo-colonialism and who is struggling to escape it. Phillips will recite these passages while moving around the sculpture evoking “ring shouts,” which is a collective transcendent dance performed throughout the African Diaspora.
This event is part of Gates, Borders, Barriers, a series of public programs in connection with Fred Wilson’s year-long installation Mind Forged Manacles/Manacle Forged Minds. This program is presented in partnership with Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, the Dumbo Business Improvement District, DTBK + Dumbo Art Fund, New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative, VIA Art Fund, and Pace Gallery.
Julian Louis Phillips
Image: Julian Louis Phillips; image by Sean Pressley.
Julian Louis Phillips (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist working with performance, sculpture, video, and participatory practices. He is a graduate of Social Practice Queens at CUNY Queens College. Phillips is interested in socio-psychological dissonance and how it manifests in various forms of popular media. Mythologies around sport, national identity, and the police are where he finds material to explore the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance as a problem of perception. Phillips has been the recipient of the More Art Engaging Artist Fellowship, the Queens Museum Artist in Residency, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning Artist in Residency Fellowship, and NARS Foundation Residency. He has exhibited and performed throughout the region, including the Southeast Queens Biennial at York College and Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JCAL), Jamaica, NY and New York Live Arts, New York, NY.
Musicians from The New School College of Performing Arts: Kal Ferretti, Jasper Grigsby-Schulte, and Jackson Trout
Images clockwise from top left: Kal Ferretti, Jasper Grigsby-Schulte, Jackson Trout.
Kal Ferretti is a jazz trumpet player based in New York City, currently studying at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. She has studied under esteemed faculty such as Bruce Harris, Jimmy Owens, and currently, Alex Norris. She has performed at venues such as Birdland, Dizzy’s Club, and the Bimhuis in Amsterdam during the Keep an Eye collegiate competition. She also appears on the Grace Fox Big Band debut record “Eleven O’ Seven.” She has been part of various honor bands including the JALC Youth Orchestra, New York Youth Symphony, and is an alum of the prestigious LaGuardia High School.
Jasper Grigsby-Schulte is an upright bassist based out of Brooklyn, NY. Originally from Portland Oregon, Jasper moved to New York to pursue a degree in Jazz Performance at The New School, where he is entering his senior year. During his time in New York, Jasper has studied with some of the most notable jazz and improvised music artists involved with the scene today, including Nicole Glover, Reid Anderson, and Or Bareket.
Since 2020, Jasper has performed with notable world-class musicians George Colligan, Matt Wilson, Steve Cardenas, and Rob Scheps, as well as represented The New School at the Berne Jazz festival in Berne, Sweden.
Jackson Trout is from Lancaster PA, currently living in Greenwich Village, New York, and studying performance at The New School. He has studied with teachers Amir Ziv, Kenny Washington, Pablo Rieppi, Jonathan Haas, Greg Gianiscolli, Leigh Howard Stevens, John Riley, and has performed in ensembles under the direction of Cheryl Moore (2011-2012), The Juilliard Pre-College Percussion Ensemble (2013 – 2015), The Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra (2013 – 2015), Bill Cunliffe Combo and Jimmy Greene Combo (SUNY Purchase Jazz intensive Summer 2016), Nicole Glover Improv. Ensemble (The New School Fall 2021 – Spring 2022), Laurence Hobgood Improv. Ensemble (The New School Fall 2021), Gene Perla Improv. Ensemble (The New School Fall 2022), Andy McKee (The New School Charles Mingus Ensemble Fall 2022). Both formally and informally, Trout has been acquainted in the styles of pit percussion, rock and roll, psychedelic rock, classical, contemporary, jazz, funk, RnB, hiphop, fusion, jam band, singer songwriter, and more. He is currently exploring the NYC jazz scene, and working as a freelance musician in New York and Pennsylvania.
Image: Mind Forged Manacles/Manacle Forged Minds, image by Kris Graves.
location.
The sculpture site is located in the plaza inside of Columbus Park, in Downtown Brooklyn, which is situated close to the Borough Hall subway station and near the Kings County Supreme Court. You can enter the plaza from the North at Johnson Street and Cadman Plaza, or from the south at Court St and Montague Street. It is close to where the Brooklyn Borough Hall Greenmarket is held.
By Subway: Take the 4/5 or the 2/3 to Borough Hall, or the A/C/F to Jay St, MetroTech.
By Bus: Take the B38, B41, B25, B52, B26 to Cadman Plaza West/Montague St.
accessibility.
The closest accessible subway station is the 4/5 2/3 Borough Hall Subway Station (Manhattan and Bronx-bound only).
The Jay St-MetroTech Subway Station is also an accessible station, however it is a 7-minute walk away.
The sculpture site and plaza is paved and single-level with bench seating nearby.
Accessible public restrooms are available until 8pm on Tuesday evenings at the Prospect Heights branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, located one block away at 286 Cadman Plaza W, Brooklyn, NY 11201. For hours, visit the BPL website.
Please contact info@moreart.org with any accessibility needs or inquiries.
This afternoon event marks a significant date in the history of freedom as the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech (1963), the murder of Emmett Till (1955), and the signing of the Slavery Abolition Act (1833) in the UK. The program will explore issues of equality, incarceration, and social and racial justice in a powerful and compelling series of vocal and spoken word performances.
This event is part of “Gates, Borders, Barriers,” a series of public programs in connection with Fred Wilson’s year-long installation Mind Forged Manacles/Manacle Forged Minds. This program is presented in partnership with Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, the Dumbo Business Improvement District, DTBK + Dumbo Art Fund, New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative, VIA Art Fund, and Pace Gallery.
Resistance Revival Chorus
Image: Resistance Revival Chorus; image by Erin Patrice O’Brien.
The Resistance Revival Chorus (RRC) is a collective of more than 60 women and non-binary singers who join together to breathe joy and song into the resistance, and to uplift and center women’s voices. Chorus members are touring musicians, film and television actors, Broadway performers, solo recording artists, gospel singers, political activists, educators, filmmakers, artists, and more, representing a multitude of identities, professions, creative backgrounds, and activist causes. The RRC centers women in music, and addresses how historically marginalized women have been in the music industry.
Pennants & Poets: The Fortune Society with Jenny Polak
Nestor “Panama” Eversley shares his poem with the Pennants as a backdrop on The 6 Foot Platform in DUMBO, Brooklyn on August 21, 2021.
The Fortune Society believes in the power of people to change. The New York City-based nonprofit helps individuals with justice involvement rebuild their lives, through innovative services and advocacy. Organized by artist Jenny Polak in collaboration with writers from The Fortune Society, Pennants & Poets is an installation and spoken word event. The Pennants, printed with poems and messages from people who have been directly impacted by incarceration, were created in collaboration with Writers from Fortune and Hour Children Working Women, as well as currently incarcerated writers, for the Offshore project at Socrates Sculpture Park in 2020. In 2021 Polak began making public art events in which the Writers perform their words with 50 flying pennants as a backdrop. The work has appeared in Dumbo Brooklyn, and PS1-MoMA in Queens where the artist also led a public pennant-making workshop. For this iteration of the installation, community members will share writing made in response to Fred Wilson’s work.
Writers and Readers from The Fortune Society will include:
Image: Mind Forged Manacles/Manacle Forged Minds, image by Kris Graves.
location.
The sculpture site is located in the plaza inside of Columbus Park, in Downtown Brooklyn, which is situated close to the Borough Hall subway station and near the Kings County Supreme Court. You can enter the plaza from the North at Johnson Street and Cadman Plaza, or from the south at Court St and Montague Street. It is close to where the Brooklyn Borough Hall Greenmarket is held.
By Subway: Take the 4/5 or the 2/3 to Borough Hall, or the A/C/F to Jay St, MetroTech.
By Bus: Take the B38, B41, B25, B52, B26 to Cadman Plaza West/Montague St.
accessibility.
The closest accessible subway station is the 4/5 2/3 Borough Hall Subway Station (Manhattan and Bronx-bound only).
The Jay St-MetroTech Subway Station is also an accessible station, however it is a 7-minute walk away.
The sculpture site and plaza is paved and single-level with bench seating nearby.
Accessible public restrooms are available until 5 pm on weekend days at the Prospect Heights branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, located one block away at 286 Cadman Plaza W, Brooklyn, NY 11201. For hours, visit the BPL website.
Please contact info@moreart.org with any accessibility needs or inquiries.
BEAM ENSEMBLE is a public art project by Sean Desiree that combines their understanding of timber frame construction and music production. The installation is an outdoor orchestra that creates a space intended for the public to establish a connection with the buried history of African American composers. The architecture of the piece resembles that of an orchestra with four distinct sections, each representing a different instrument originating from the African diaspora—wood blocks, an amadinda, percussion, a harp. The intention of BEAM ENSEMBLE is to give orchestral music back to the people by providing a resource for composition.
The installation will be on view beginning Friday, July 22nd through Sunday, August 28th at Basilica Hudson in Hudson, New York.
Click here to read more about this project! Both iterations of BEAM ENSEMBLE were commissioned by More Art: the first, in Crotona Park, Bronx, was commissioned through our 2021 Engaging Artists Residency Program, and the 2022 iteration is commissioned by More Art via the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
Join More Art’sTHE FUTURE x 10 campaign between June 2-12, and become part of a network of people who believe that art can empower all of us, and should be free, open, and accessible. Our goal is to raise $10,000 in 10 days through small donations of $10 and up to support More Art’s future as we kick-off and celebrate a major public art project with artist Fred Wilson, launch our new website and graphic identity, and help build support for our upcoming public art programs and Engaging Artist Fellowship and Residency.
About More Art: More Art collaborates with artists across their careers to catalyze social change by producing meaningful participatory public art for a broad audience.
More Art, More Agency, More Action
Art: More Art is known for its artistic integrity, for visually compelling work, and work that is socially engaged.
Agency: More Art supports self-determination within art. Our process is open, grounded, and flexible.
Action: More Art provides a platform for different people to experience art, this leads to action that paves the way toward transformation and change.
How to get involved:
Make a donation of $10 or more. All who donate will receive a special invite to the opening of our next public art project with Fred Wilson on June 21st.
Become a Team Leader by asking 10 people from your community to donate $10 each. We will provide you with a fundraising webpage and all the info you need.
Spread the word on social media.
Join the campaign today and be a part of the FUTUREof More Art.
With gratitude,
The More Art Team
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Check out some of our recent public programs:
WATCH:At The Table, More or Less: Notes to our Next Mayor, a panel discussion following the launch of our open letter to hold Mayor Adams and his administration accountable for ensuring access to basic needs for all New Yorkers.
