Presented by More Art in Collaboration
with the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation
More Art in the Public Eye: A Book Launch, Reading and Performances
Wednesday, October 2
from 6 to 8pm
Pablo Helguera with composer and violinist Carlo Nicolau, singer Eleanor Dubinsky, and guitarist Sebastian Cruz, El Club de Protesta (The Protest Club), 2011. [Image Description: Artist Pablo Helguera, on the left, holds a guitar and sings into a microphone with a music stand in front of him, wearing black shoes, black pants, and a white buttoned shirt. In the middle, guitarist Sebastian Cruz, wearing white pants, a white shirt, and a gray tshirt with black sandals, plays the guitar while looking over at Helguera. A music stand is in front Cruz and a cello lays besides him. Singer Eleanor Dubinsky raises her right hand as she sings, staring at Helguera. She is wearing an off-pink colored dress with brown heeled sandals. A music stand is in front of her and on her left are other microphones and music stands plus performance attendees sitting in chairs. Behind the artists are three glass window panes, from which red-brick buildings can be seen.]
More Art in The Public Eye catalogs fifteen years of More Art’s endeavors and offers critical insight into the ever-growing field of socially engaged public art, raising the stakes for how art can meaningfully impact our collective futures. The event began with remarks from the publication’s editors, Jeff Kasper, Micaela Martegani, and Emma Drew, and featured performances by artists Ofri Cnaani and Pablo Helguera. Cnaani’s interactive Reading You Remotely weaved together the practices of online psychic readings, live chat virtual assistants, and remote library reference services, to engage with participants about local concerns and provide them with recommended texts. Helguera reunited with musicians Sebastian Cruz and Alejandro Florez for a new performance of El Club De Protesta (The Protest Club), which began with More Art in 2011. El Club de Protesta repurposes traditional protest songs from Latin America and the United States, adapting the lyrics to engage current political situations. As October 2nd marks the 51st anniversary of the Tlatelolco Massacre in Mexico City, in commemoration of that event, the group performed songs connected to the Student Movement of 1968.
Bios
Ofri Cnaani is a transdisciplinary artist and educator. Her exhibitions and performances include Tate Britain, England; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Inhotim Institute, Brazil; Israel Museum; Kiasma, Helsinki; and MoMA PS1, New York, among many others. Her project Moon Guardians was presented by More Art in 2013. Cnaani is currently researching and teaching at the Visual Cultures Department, Goldsmiths, University of London.
Pablo Helguera (Mexico City, 1971) is a visual artist living in New York. His work involves performance, drawing, installation, theater and other literary strategies. He is often considered a pioneering figure in the field of socially engaged art. His work has been featured at many international biennials including Manifesta, Havana and Liverpool Biennial, and Performa. He has received the Guggenheim and Creative Capital Fellowships as well as the first International Award of Participatory Art in Bologna, Italy. His project El Club de Protesta was presented by More Art in 2011. Recent projects include a two-person exhibition with artist Suzanne Lacy at the UC Santa Barbara Museum and The 8th Floor in NYC and a mid-career survey of his work at the Jumex Museum in Mexico City. He is the author of many books including Education for Socially Engaged Art (2011) and The Parable Conference (2014).
More Art is a New York City-based non-profit organization that supports collaborations between professional artists and communities to create public art and educational programs committed to social justice. For over 15 years, they have produced ambitious projects designed to disrupt the status quo and broaden the discourse around urgent political, social, and cultural issues. www.moreart.org
A not-for-profit scholarly publisher, Duke University Press is best known for publishing in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics. The Press publishes approximately 120 books annually and over 50 journals, as well as offering several electronic collections and open-access (OA) publishing initiatives.