
Please let us know asap, and stay away from goblins and other such last-minute curators…
PS as for the framework below, most of it is pending funding. Hey, who knows.
“Our reference ground for this exhibition has been Joseph
Cornell and what we feel is a fundamental part of his art and his life:
how he was not confined by limitations. The entire gallery should be
viewed as its own “Cornell Box” deconstructed. Each section of the show
highlights different characteristics of Cornell’s
oeuvre: poetics (literal and visual), collage, assemblage, cataloging,
and dance. Additionally, we hope to incorporate Cornell’s role as a
caregiver to his brother, and the profound impact this had on their
lives. To that end, we are hoping to dedicate a part of the installation
to how Hurricane Maria was particularly destructive for people with
disabilities and their caregivers.
The contemporary artwork in the exhibition will be divided into two parts:
- The
“Introspective” side of the gallery will display existing works that
share common characteristics with Cornell’s oeuvre. Given the foyer
location of the gallery, we don’t want to expose unprotected artworks to
foot traffic. Instead, we propose to show a wall collage of
letterpress-printed broadsides from The Center for Book Arts Broadside
Reading Series. This Series pairs a visual artist with a poem 12 times a
year and has been in production for over 18 years, so we have hundreds
of options to cull from.
- The “Collective” aspect of the show will consist of:
- Work produced as a result of a Paste Paper workshop for New York City Public Schools teens, where the participants will be exposed to the history of assemblage while collaboratively creating content for one or more boxes, which will be put on display;
- A maximum of 20 wooden shadow boxes of set dimensions (12x12x3 1/2”), for which artists will be invited to fill with content inspired by climate change and the Hurricane Maria disaster. The scope of this concept is intentionally broad, ranging from environment and ecology to mass migrations and political disfranchisement. The boxes would be displayed mounted on a grid of 2×4’s that reproduce the installation Cornell did in 1949 for his show Aviary, at the Egan Gallery.
- Work produced as a result of a Paste Paper workshop for New York City Public Schools teens, where the participants will be exposed to the history of assemblage while collaboratively creating content for one or more boxes, which will be put on display;
Aside from the “Introspective” (poetry broadside collage) and “Collective” (shadow boxes) aspects of the show, the exhibition would also feature:
- A bilingual wall of text highlighting the experiences of people with disabilities and their caregivers during Hurricane Maria and its aftereffects. This would be paired with a passage of text that talks about Joseph and Robert Cornell’s experience of surviving a hurricane on Long Island
- A projection of dance footage, hopefully from a Puerto Rican or Latina dancer
- A substantial wall-text to guide the viewer through all these elements while offering historical context (also bilingual)
- And as a related program, a panel discussion”
