Scrawlspace, September 19 - December 7, 2024

Curated by Emily Alesandrini and Lucia Olubunmi R. Momoh, Scrawlspace brings together work by artists of the African diaspora who conceptually mine and aesthetically manipulate text, writing, and language. Artists include Sadie Barnette, Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo, Sonya Clark, Tony Cokes, Renee Gladman, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Steffani Jemison, Glenn Ligon, Adam Pendleton, Jamilah Sabur, Gary Simmons, and Shinique Smith.

To read more about the exhibition, please navigate here.

Narrative Obsession in the Post-Colonial Psyche, May 16 - July 13, 2024

This new group exhibition will explore post-colonialism from the perspective of artists addressing the harmful global histories and present-day legacies of imperial subjugation, featuring works by Firelei Báez, Gerard & Kelly, Brian Jungen, Hew Locke, Joiri Minaiya, Frida Orupabo, Keith Piper, Umar Rashid, Yinka Shonibare CBE, Elisa Sighicelli, and Kara Walker.

To read more about the exhibition, please navigate here.

Announcing Emily Alesandrini and Lucia Olubunmi R. Momoh as Recipients of 2024 Curatorial Open Call

Alesandrini and Momoh will curate a thematic group exhibition at The 8th Floor in the fall of this year, exploring the in/ability of language to encapsulate Black experiences.

To read a full press release, please navigate here.

Musée Magazine review of Reality Reframed, 3.25.24

Trip Avis writes: “Gray’s rich narrative collages defy standard conceptions of photography. By taking what could otherwise be a pleasing image, like a French garden or a tropical jungle, and blending or overlaying them with striking portraiture, Todd Gray illuminates a phantom conversation previously unseen but always there, waiting to be given its due.”

Continue reading here.

Wallpaper* review of Reality Reframed, 3.4.24

Osman Can Yerebakan writes: “The artist’s intricately constructed collages of pictures that he takes in various parts of the world – from the wetlands of Ghana to the Palais de Versailles – are akin to poetic verses. Like a carefully chosen word, each image joins a constellation of a few, and together, they reveal uncharted meanings beyond the seen. Through framing cut-out portions from his own archive, the artist frees the image from a singular narrative.”

Continue reading here.

Reality Reframed: Recent Works by Todd Gray, February 22 – April 13, 2024

This new solo exhibition at The 8th Floor features recent photo assemblages constructed from Gray’s extensive archive of photography from the last forty years.

To read more about the exhibition, please navigate here.

FAD Magazine features The House Edge in “NYC Gallery Shows to Heal Any Ailment,” 10.10.23

Vittoria Benzine writes: “The show’s about beating the odds. Its power alludes that you need people and, yes, a requisite measure of razzle dazzle.”

Read the full review here.

The House Edge, September 28, 2023 – January 13, 2024

The exhibition features the work of sixteen artists who consider the economic dimensions of Indigenous sovereignty. Though capitalism seeks to define relations between subjects and places, the artists demonstrate how notions of land ownership, property, and consumerism are contested and rewritten through diverse Indigenous practices.

To learn more about the exhibition, please navigate here.

ArtAsiaPacific review of Land of Tenderness, 7.4.23

Tanner Tafelski writes: “Han’s art not only underlined some of the noxious documents of the Trump era in particular and the history of the US government in general, but it also transformed them, integrating them into mixed media meant for open communication, care, and compassion.”

Read the full review here. Han’s exhibition at The 8th Floor closed on June 24 but continues to be accessible through our virtual presentation here.

The New York Times features Land of Tenderness in “What to See in N.Y.C. Galleries,” 6.16.23

Jillian Steinhauer writes: “Like many of us, Han knows that official, austere words can and do have personal, intimate effects. Her work demonstrates how malleable and unstable language can be, without denying its all-too-real force.”

Read the full review here.

Artforum Critics’ Pick: Bang Geul Han’s Land of Tenderness, 4.28.23

Wendy Vogel writes that the exhibition “addresses how language can be both embodied and obfuscating—an abstract tool of power that, nonetheless, struggles to encompass the full weight and breadth of personal experience.”

Read the full review here.

Artnet News: Valuations, 4.13.23

Artnet interviews our Executive Director Anjuli Nanda Diamond about the things she values most in art and life.

Read the full interview here.

4Columns review of Land of Tenderness, 4.7.23

Elvia Wilk writes: “Han makes the supremely impersonal feel painfully personal.”

Read the full review here.

The Amp review of Land of Tenderness, 4.3.23

Jenny Wu writes: “By figuring the gap between physical and virtual touch, Han draws attention to the aching chasm between origin and destination, between a superficial invitation and a true state of inclusion.”

Read the full review here.

Announcing Caitlin Chaisson as Recipient of 2023 Curatorial Open Call

Chaisson will curate a thematic group exhibition at The 8th Floor in the fall of this year, providing a multi-dimensional lens to understand the complex relationship between gaming and Indigenous sovereignty.

To read a full press release, please navigate here.

Bang Geul Han: Land of Tenderness, March 16 – June 24, 2023

This solo exhibition by NYC-based South Korean artist Bang Geul Han presents part one of Terre de Tendre, a new VR work and accompanying video installation. The work is loosely based on the Carte du Tendre: a map created by a group of women in 17th century France that charts the path towards true love. Land of Tenderness also features recent works across media.

To read more about the exhibition, please navigate here.

The New York Times features El Corazón Aúlla in “What to See in N.Y.C. Galleries Right Now,” 1.4.23

Jillian Steinhauer writes: "The artists take different approaches — performing in public and private, alone or with others — but are united by their unflinching vulnerability. They put their bodies on the line."

Read the full review here.

El Corazón Aúlla (Heart Howls): Latin American Feminist Performance in Revolt, September 29, 2022 – January 21, 2023

Curated by Alexis Heller and Tatiana Muñoz-Brenes, recipients of our inaugural curatorial open call, the exhibition examines gender-based violence in Latin America, through the eyes of artists and activists who bear its daily burden.

To read more about the exhibition, please navigate here.

Cultured Magazine, “How Do You Hold Six Years of Art and Activism in One Slipcase?” An interview with Artistic Director Anjuli Nanda Diamond on editing our new publication, An Incomplete Archive of Activist Art, which is now on stands.

“Part of the impetus and drive of this book is that it is a collective effort. It's not the Foundation celebrating their interactions with all of these seemingly disparate parts but how they all overlap and support each other.”

Please continue to read the full article here.

Articulating Activism: Works from the Shelley and Donald Rubin Private Collection, March 3 – June 18, 2022

Predominantly drawn from their Art and Social Justice Collection, which began in 2015, the formation of this branch of the collection celebrates the prescience and power of art at this particular location and moment in history. The exhibition will also encompass work from…

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An Incomplete Archive of Activist Art

Published by the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation

Available now

Reflecting on the Rubin Foundation’s art and social justice initiatives over the last six years, An Incomplete Archive of Activist Art includes thematic essays, roundtable discussions, newly commissioned artworks and documentation of visual art exhibitions organized by the Foundation.

Consisting of two volumes, the publication highlights the emergence of a cultural shift…

To read more about the publication click here.

The Guardian, “From genetics to allyship: how queer culture changed the family portrait,” a Feature on Kindred Solidarities: Queer Community and Chosen Families by Julianne McShane, 10.27.21

In a two-minute video produced by the artist Jamie Diamond in 2008, four women and one man gather to pose for what looks like a family portrait. They stand in front of a marble fireplace, in a room adorned with crystal chandeliers. Three of the women shift positions and adjust their hair before settling into smiling poses behind the man and the fourth woman, who are seated…

Please continue to read the full article here.

Kindred Solidarities: Queer Community and Chosen Families, October 21, 2021 – January 22, 2022

The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation is pleased to present Kindred Solidarities: Queer Community and Chosen Families, a group exhibition reflecting on chosen familial structures in the context of queer culture, expanding beyond the notion of a heteronormative, nuclear, or government mandated framework. Kindred Solidarities features works by Jamie Diamond, Andrea Geyer, Nan Goldin, Larry Krone, Kalup Linzy, Carlos Motta with Julio Salgado, Parallel Lines…

To read more about the exhibition, please click here.