January 24 – February 23, 2019
Opening Reception: January 24, 5-7pm

HERE
145 Sixth Ave, New York


Participating Artists: Bryan Rodriguez Cambana, Vanessa Teran Collantes, Workers Art Coalition, Álvaro Franco, Noé Gaytán, Floor Grootenhuis, Melissa Liu

Artists working to inspire social change engage in-depth processes often unseen by the public. Engaging Artists: New Works in Practice is an entry point into the practices of emerging artists who participated in More Art’s 2017-18 Engaging Artists Fellowship. The artists in this show enter their work not from the studio, but through other disciplines and occupations: skilled trades, medicine, arts administrative work and community organizing—demonstrating the expanded role of artistic production in everyday contexts. This exhibition is a collaboration between More Art and HERE. While More Art is a visual arts organization, and HERE is a theatrical space, these two cultural institutions both facilitate the creation of socially engaged art.

Download the zine to learn more about the exhibiting artists.

accessibility.
HERE’s spaces are wheelchair accessible, and fully compliant with ADA requirements. A HERE staff member is always available on site to assist, but if you’d like to let us know your particular access needs in advance please email tickets@here.org before coming, so we can better prepare for your arrival.

the artists.

BRYAN RODRIGUEZ CAMBANA
Brooklyn, New York
Born in Callao, Peru, Bryan Rodriguez Cambana is an interdisciplinary artist, curator and educator living and working in New York City. He is co-founder of Sweety’s, a curatorial initiative catered to artists of color.

VANESSA TERAN COLLANTES
Brooklyn, New York; Ecuador
Vanessa is a multimedia artist from Ecuador. At 19 she began to experiment with photography. In 2012, Vanessa was awarded with the IECE Excellence Scholarship to do a BFA in Photography & Video at the SVA in NYC, which she recently finished. She is interested in notions of belonging, racial identity and territorial conflicts. She uses installation and participatory art to explore past and ongoing history of colonization.

WORKERS ART COALITION
New York City
The formation of the workers as artists collective was catalyzed through a combination of events and organizations. The beginnings of the Workers Art Coalition was fueled by a unique membership that includes tradespeople, former HVAC students, artists, and educators. The group engages in a variety of movement building which developed a worker’s art practice in which the artisan practices are re-elevated.

ALVARO FRANCO
Bronx, New York
A native New Yorker, Álvaro Franco‘s interest in film led him to participate in the Ghetto Film School, and enroll in the Film/Video program at the City College of New York, where he earned his B.F.A. degree. Currently he resides in the Bronx, where he is raising awareness of income-based discrimination.

NOE GAYTAN
Brooklyn, New York
Noé Gaytán is an artist, writer, and educator. He born and raised in Southern California and is now based in Brooklyn. He holds a BA in Studio Art and a Minor in Art History from the University of California, Irvine and an MFA in Public Practice from Otis College of Art and Design. As an artist, Noé is a member of the art collective Michelada Think Tank. MTT is interested in facilitating conversations and creating community around issues faced by people of color while promoting action beyond the discussion. Previous projects include Race, Art, and Survival at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions and Strength in Numbers: Equity & Cross- Racial Solidarity at the CUE Foundation. As an arts administrator, Noé has worked with the Skirball Cultural Center and Armory Center for the Arts in Los Angeles.

FLOOR GROOTENHUIS
Queens, New York
Floor Grootenhuis is a Dutch/Kenyan artist whose contemporary art practice is conceptual and socially engaged, collaborative and gives new value to the ‘everyday’. Floor makes subtle critiques of the society’s structures at the micro and macro levels using different mediums in a variety of materials and sizes, ranging from sculptures, installations, found objects, everyday recyclable materials and performance. Her work points to divisive forces of consumerism, institutionalization, global corruption and chronic violence against humanity. These themes come from her experience growing up in East Africa and her work in the humanitarian and development fields. Her art is inspired by the places in which she has worked and lived, ranging from Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and Afghanistan to Barcelona, Jakarta and now New York City.

MELISSA LIU
New York City
Melissa Liu is a Chinese American cultural worker, activist, as well as emerging oral historian and social sculptor. Her artistic practice explores the intersection of culture, cuisine, identity, and place in the Asian Diaspora through cooking, written and spoken language, and artmaking. Melissa has worked across the world with many cultural institutions and organizations such as The Laundromat Project, Columbia University School of the Arts, Hammer Museum, Fowler Museum at UCLA, Terra Foundation for American Art, and The Getty Foundation. She has organized and facilitated workshops
for Arts/Admin, College Art Association, and Kelly Street Garden Bronx, and was part of Arts & Labor and its Alternative Economies working group. She has also contributed to the working board of Museum Hue.

past public programs.

The following programs took place at HERE Art Center | 145 Sixth Ave, New York

Friday, 2/8, 4:00-6:00 pm, cafe

Open Cellfie Studio Lab by Floor Grootenhuis
What is the color of your blood? Visit the Cellfie Studio Lab to make your own microscopic blood photograph and contribute to Grootenhuis’ growing archive of Cellfies.
Walk-ins Welcome! Share + let us know you are coming on Facebook | Visit the archive on Instagram: @whatisthecolorofyourblood

 

Tuesday, 2/12, 4:00-5:00 pm, theater, 5:00-6:00 pm, cafe

Labor on Film Class for Union Electricians

Workers Art Coalition invites the public and Andrew Tilson’s Labor on Film seminar for union electricians to hold a class session at HERE. The course usually takes place at the Van Arsdale Center for Labor Studies. Special guests will contribute to the discussion of blue collar experience and storytelling.

 

Thursday, 2/14, 4:00-6:00 pm, cafe

Open Cellfie Studio Lab by Floor Grootenhuis
Walk-ins Welcome! Share + let us know you are coming on Facebook | Visit the archive on Instagram: @whatisthecolorofyourblood

 

Tuesday, 2/21, 4:00-5:00 pm, theater and 5:00-6:00 pm, cafe

Workers’ Art Coalition will lead a reading from their developing zine Blue Collar, and discussion/ talk back.

 

Friday, 2/22, 4:00-6:00 pm, cafe

Open Cellfie Studio Lab by Floor Grootenhuis
Walk-ins Welcome! Share + let us know you are coming on Facebook | Visit the archive on Instagram: @whatisthecolorofyourblood

off-site programs.

The following event took place at CUE Art Foundation

Saturday, 2/16, 2:00-4:00pm at CUE Art Foundation, 137 W 25th St, New York

Get Paid: Wage and Benefits Negotiation for Cultural Workers with Noé Gaytán and Michelada Think Tank

 

Join Michelada Think Tank for a workshop exploring strategies for wage and benefits negotiation.

Are you tired of feeling underpaid and undervalued? Ready to ask for a raise but not sure how? Looking for other ways to avoid burnout? This workshop will discuss steps to take toward thriving and give participants time and space to reflect on their current situation and strategize an approach that works for their context. Learn how others approach labor issues, both individually and through collective organizing. Come early and join us for refreshments and mingling with other cultural workers.

Micheladas served at 2pm, workshop starts at 2:30pm.

This event is hosted by CUE and supported in part by More Art’s Engaging Artists Fellowship. This event was organized by Engaging Artists Fellow Noé Gaytán in conjunction with Engaging Artists: New Works in Practice — on view at HERE Art Center.

accessibility.
The CUE Art Foundation gallery is wheelchair accessible. There is an all-gender, ADA compliant, single stall bathroom in the gallery. The space is not scent-free, but we do request that visitors come low-scent. The closest wheelchair accessible MTA subway stations are Penn Station and Herald Square Station.