November 2017
State of Emergency
State of Emergency is a curatorial project featuring the work of 60 artists and filmmakers that I’ve been working on with Nina Felshin since March 2017. Our collaborators have included Jessie English and Ruppert Bohle and most recently The Illuminator http://theilluminator.org/and Eamonn Farrell http://arts.princeton.edu/people/profiles/efarrell. Teasers for this project were screened at The Queens Museum in July 2017 http://www.queensmuseum.org/events/passport-thursdays-2017-ecuadorand projected onto a facade at the corner of Prince and Bowery on November 16th 2017.
- state of emergency a situation of national danger or disaster in which a government suspends normal constitutional procedures in order to regain control.
STATE OF EMERGENCY
A madman steps out of a television screen to become President of the United States. His abuse of power and disregard for civil and human rights has produced what feels to many like a state of emergency. Unlike his predecessors, who were able to lull the un-marginalized, the new regime has penetrated the comfort zones of the privileged as well. Could this seismic shift perhaps offer the potential for greater solidarity and community?
The outcome of this crisis is still unknown. We are turning to artists and filmmakers because so often they have provided a lens through which to understand the present and imagine the future. Rather than a single narrative we view this collective effort as a metaphor, not an illustration, of what is possible. To this end we are seeking one-minute clips from existing videos which envision an imagined future and poetically undermine the harsh reality of this moment.
For us, the curators, projection designer, and production manager, bringing these clips together in a creative, poetic, and resonant manner is an act of community and solidarity.
