From June through August 2023, artist collective CFGNY takes up residence in SculptureCenter’s lower level galleries. In addition to creating a new body of work, CFGNY will further draw out the contours of the “vaguely Asian” by hosting visitors, collaborators, and friends with programming that expands the collective’s ongoing and foundational dialogue. By inviting the expanded community of CFGNY into SculptureCenter, the collective looks to emphasize the sides of their practice that are un-exhibitable and relational. CFGNY’s residency is anchored by four two-person exhibitions in SculptureCenter’s lower-level “bar” space (Creative Friend Group New York Bar), as well as an event in collaboration with X-TRA.SERVICES founder and Basement resident LYDO.
CFGNY’s residency also includes the Concept Foreign Garments New York Shop where garments from the collective’s fourth collection, FASHION MAX 2, can be purchased.
Concept Foreign Garments New York Shop
Weekends, Jun 3–Jul 30, 12–6pm
Shop CFGNY’s latest collection FASHION MAX 2 at SculptureCenter every Saturday and Sunday, 12–6pm.
Summer Openings at SculptureCenter hosted by CFGNY
Thu, Jun 29, 6–8pm
Creative Friend Group New York Bar
On view during SculptureCenter public hours
#1 – Jun 4–Jun 12
Umico Niwa, Priscilla Jeong
#2 – Jun 16–Jun 26
KAYA, Margaret Lee
#3 – Jun 30–Jul 10
Deborah Joyce Holman, Lotus Laurie Kang
#4 – Jul 14–Jul 31
Avena Gallagher, Patia Borja
LYDO x CFGNY
Fri, Aug 4–Mon, Aug 7
12–6pm
LYDO and CFGNY present a sonic event to close out CFGNY’s summer residency at Sculpture Center. A site-specific sound installation, Nervous System explores the interplay between sound, hormonal transitions, and corporeal sensations. An underlying drone flows like a river throughout its duration, at times twisting between an ambient hum and an overwhelming roar. While the drone ebbs and flows, staccato chatter unfolds in the shape of flickering metallic rattles, creating points of contact or sharpness against the drone’s mesmerizing liquid continuity. Created with the architecture of Sculpture Center in mind, the installation triggers a psychosomatic dialogue, fostering a sense of safety, introspection, and transformation within the long basement level tunnel: a secondary body enclosing the visitor’s own.
LYDO is an interdisciplinary artist based in New York City. As a resident DJ of BASEMENT NY, their distinctive sets explode the parameters of techno, deftly cutting across genres while retaining a highly personal emotional resonance. Lydo also runs X-TRA GEAR.SERVICES, crafting highly sought-after practical objects and gear for the rave. Before becoming a seasonal resident party at BASEMENT, X-TRA.SERVICES had a cult following as a regularly sold-out underground party. A non-binary trans artist themselves, Lydo launched X-TRA.SERVICES to serve and create space for queer, trans, and nonbinary people of color.
CFGNY
Founded in 2016 as an ongoing dialogue on the intersection of art, fashion, and identity, artist collective CFGNY continually returns to the term "vaguely Asian": an understanding of racial identity as a specific cultural experience combined with the experience of being perceived as other. In addition to using fashion as a readymade, CFGNY’s practice spans mediums such as video, performance, architectural installation, and sculpture, researching the ways in which material assemblage and reproduction play a part in the formation and racialization of such “vaguely Asian” identities. CFGNY does not wish to represent what it means to be “Asian” in the singular; instead, it encourages the visualization of the countless ways one is able to be in the plural. CFGNY is composed of Daniel Chew, Ten Izu, Kirsten Kilponen, and Tin Nguyen.
