Laurel at Greenpoint

Artists: Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili, Greet Billet, Aline Bouvy, Alisa Baremboym, LaKela Brown, Olivia Drusin, Raque Ford, Sophie Giraux, Agata Ingarden, Kiki Kogelnik, Tatiana Kronberg, Hannah Levy, Larissa Lockshin, Wangechi Mutu, GaHee Park, Magali Reus, Carolee Schneemann, Alina Tenser, Viola Yeşiltaç

Exhibition title: Laurel

Curated by: Laurence Dujardyn, Rosie Motley, Tatiana Kronberg

Venue: Greenpoint, New York, US

Date: February 18 – March 5, 2017

Photography: Riley Duncan, all images copyright and courtesy of the artists

We are beginning to understand trauma as heritable- directly passed down through generations of experience that alter the epigenetic expression of genes in the brain. You can physically feel collective anxiety because you literally carry it around in your body, molecular scars leftover from our ancestors. Years of experience dilute brain chemistry- synapses firing with no dopamine receptors to greet them, neurotransmitters shooting into silence, the dark labyrinth of a despondent mind. Often, the body functions as a space to store and communicate the same pain that our brains try to escape. How do you take back control of a body that’s no longer yours?

Technology provides a crutch for the inconveniences of biological decline. A new bionic lung “breathes” air directly into the bloodstream, short-circuiting the body’s own natural respiratory system. Humans do not have to remember to breath.

Most female robots qualify as such because they are given specific bodily signifiers, programmed to perform in certain ways we categorize as “feminine”. Why assign a robot a gender? Maybe it is only possible to obtain a purity of identity by transcending the body- shedding the skin, porous and penetrable, for something impermeable – silicon as skin, or a screen dotted with pixels instead of freckles, powered by batteries rather than oxygen.

Chemically, they are all the same – the batteries of bionics, in your TV remote, vibrator, or lung. You can picture them eroding in some landfill – the dermis of the earth- disparate in origin, size and brand but reduced down to the same elements at this stage of life; melting into mercury and nickel, lithium and electrolytes, seeping back into the water supply. You can imagine the taste of battery acid, sharp and metallic, like a dirty penny or the blood of machines. The fragility of human experience is revealed through simple gestures, tiny nuanced moments: a puff of smoke, not so much blown as released out of one’s lungs, things gliding on water. Existing physically. Staring at the ceiling thinking Open the earth to enclose me, or change my form, which has brought me into this danger! Attempting to reconcile a body that both humanizes and imperils you. Choosing to be laurel.

Raque Ford, Will allways be a loving fan, 2015, Acrylic, chain, fake hair, Approx 48 x 30 x 35 inches

Alisa Baremboym, Grapeshot, 2015, Ceramic, resin, gelled emollient, archival inkjet on silk, liquid vinyl, 19.5 x 11.5 x 11.5 inches (49.53 x 29.21 x 29.21 cm)

Agata Ingarden, Sticky surveillance (1-3), 2017, steel, copper wire, caramel, Variable dimensions

Hannah Levy, Untitled, 2016, Steel, epoxy clay, adhesive, sand, 66 x 10 inches (167,6 x 25.4 cm)

Viola Yeşiltaç, Interior, Exterior, Signage, 2009-2011, Xerox black and white handmade book (ca. 200-300 pages)

Aline Bouvy, La Vie Intense (Emeline), 2016, Resin, pigments and PVC mirror, 15 x 11 x 2 inches (38 x 28 x 5 cm)

Wangechi Mutu, Girl Specimen IX, 2013, Ink, latex paint, glitter, pearls, collage and contact paper on linoleum, 18 1/4 x 21 3/8 inches (46.4 x 54.3 cm), 20 7/8 x 24 x 2 7/8 inches (53 x 61 x 7.3 cm) framed

Viola Yeşiltaç, Gaukler, 2010, Faux leather/vinyl, 74 x 12 inches (188 x 30.5 cm)

Olivia Drusin, Knees (Hellscape), 2017, Oil and enamel on linen, 18 x 16 inches (45,7 x 40,6 cm)

Sophie Giraux, Highlight, 2017, Bamboo, light hardware, light bulb, cast urethane, enamel, wood, acrylic paint, steel

Magali Reus, Leaves (Dawn Gloaming, January), 2015, Milled and sprayed model board, aluminium tube, polyurethane rubber, powder coated, zinc plated, anodised, phosphated and blackened, aluminium and steel, brass, perspex, 15 11/16 x 4 7/8 x 20 5/8 inches (40 x 12,5 x 52,5 cm)

Kiki Kogelnik, Untitled (Wet, Dark and Beautiful), c. 1970, Color pencil, enamel and ink on paper, 14 x 11 inches (36 x 28 cm)

Aline Bouvy, Social Impulse I, 2017, Jesmonite, pigment, fiberglass, natural wax, 16 X 12 x 2 inches (40,6 x 30,4 x 5 cm)

GaHee Park, Butt and cat, 2016, Oil on canvas, 28 x 32 inches (71 x 81 cm)

Hannah Levy, Untitled, 2014-2015, iPad in mdf frame, 2:00 min video on loop, 7 x 9.25 x 1.25 inches (17.5 x 23,5 x 3.1 cm)

Carolee Schneemann, Fresh Blood – A Dream Morphology, 1981-86, Gelatin silver print, 10 x 8 inches (25.4 x 20.32 cm)

Ketuta Alexi-Meskhishvili, Lesley (after Mapplethorpe 2), 2015, Archival pigment print, 29,3 x 36,4 x 3 cm

Larissa Lockshin, Eyelashes, 2017, Dye on silk chiffon, velvet ribbon, thread, wood and lacquer, 10 x 15 x 1 inches each (25.4 x 38 x 2.5 cm)

Larissa Lockshin, Poison Apple, 2016, Blown glass, velvet, rosettes, chiffon, satin, basket and various textiles, 30 x 40 x 12 inches (76,2 x 101,6 x 30,4 cm)