Opening Reception for Xaviera Simmons: Convene
Wed, May 23, 2018, 6–8pm
SculptureCenter is pleased to announce Xaviera Simmons: Convene, the third temporary public art project commissioned through our art education program Public Process. Convene is a sculptural installation of aluminum canoes painted with designs that evoke national flags symbolic of the diverse historical and contemporary demographic makeup of Astoria and Long Island City. The work will be installed on land along the East River in Hunter's Point South Park in Long Island City from May 23 - August 19, 2018.
Convene addresses population data and its visual representation while engaging the canoe's symbolic narratives of historical shift and reliance on personal vessels to move navigators, people, and goods to their desired destinations, often via bodies of water that span or bisect local, national, and international territories. Simmons's work references the conditions and forms of migration, political and leisure travel, transport, and refuge, as well as the practices of documenting and representing the location and movement of people.
For more information about the exhibition, please visit the exhibition page.
The project is curated by SculptureCenter Executive Director and Chief Curator Mary Ceruti.
About Public Process
Public Process is a three week summer program for high school students that explores public art, urban planning, and architecture. At the conclusion, the students collectively select a proposal for a temporary public artwork to be commissioned and presented by SculptureCenter. Past Public Process classes have commissioned Mika Tajima: Meridian (Gold) and Alejandro Cesarco: Words Like Love: Alphaville, First Scenes.
About NYC Parks Art in the Parks
NYC Parks's Art in the Parks program has consistently fostered the creation and installation of temporary public art in parks throughout the five boroughs. Since 1967, collaborations with arts organizations and artists have produced hundreds of public art projects in New York City parks.
Sponsors
The Opening Reception for Xaviera Simmons: Convene is sponsored by COFFEED.