Voices and Visions: Re-Imagining America Media Exhibition

Voices and Visions: Re-Imagining America Media Exhibition.

This is part of  Imagining America National Conference, October 5-7 2012 

721 Broadway, Lower Level, Rooms 010 & 014 

Organized by Bill Aguado, former executive director, Bronx Council on the Arts.
Curated by independent NYC artists Kanene Holder, Elizabeth Hamby, and Hatuey Ramos-Fermin.

The Voices and Visions Media Exhibition presents the work of artists and artist collectives whose practices articulate the mission of Imagining America by thriving in and contributing to community-based action and revitalization. The program is divided between two screening rooms, focusing on the strategy and practice of community-based art work. “Visions,” (Room 010) presents documentation of tactics used to engage with a variety of publics to initiate dialogue and catalyze meaningful change. Featuring the work of Ghana Think Tank, The Laundromat Project, The Tax Dodgers, Kanene Holder, and Housing is a Human Right, this program looks at the strategies that a diverse group of artists use to collaborate with different communities, instigating broad conversations about history, culture, and politics. “Voices,” (Room 014) presents the work of MetaLocal Collaborative, Rockafella, La Bruja, Michael Paul Britto, and Zachary Fabri, showcasing the product of community-based artistic practices. The works presented in this program emerge from long-standing relationships between artists and their communities, and demonstrate the power of large-scale collaboration in production, performance, and design.

In addition, monitors in the atrium of the screening rooms will feature the work of youth from the Global Action Project, and the artist Shani Peters. All of the artists and artist collectives whose work is presented in the Voices and Visions Media Exhibition occupy a complex place between the art world, activism, and social practice. Their work presents actionable strategies to achieve Imagining America’s ambitious vision of an enriched civic life, facilitated by publicly engaged artists, designers, scholars, and other community members working with institutions of higher education.