21 Jul 2011

The Abrons Arts Center presents the group show 'Image Wars' and solo shows by Chelsea Knight and Deb Sokolow

The Abrons Arts Center is a multi-disciplinary venue located in Manhattan's Lower East Side that brings innovative artistic excellence to this distinctive part of New York City through diverse, cutting-edge performances, exhibitions, and residencies. The Abrons Arts Center is proud to present the group show 'Image Wars' and solo shows by Chelsea Knight and Deb Sokolow. These exhibitions occupy the entirety of the galleries and are curated by Miguel Amado, culminating his year-long association with the Abrons Arts Center as its first curator-in-residence. After solo shows by Tania Candiani, Yonamine, and Miguel Martin, as well as the group show 'The Days of This Society Are Numbered,' he is now proposing a group of exhibitions that reflect on the condition of the political in an age of global crisis— one that is economic, but also civilizational.

'Image Wars' is an exhibition that addresses the representation of conflict in visual culture through works by Yevgeniy Fiks, Rinat Kotler, Michael Mandiberg, Carlos Noronha Feio, Mary Temple, and Kai-Oi Jay Yung. Mixing archival documentation and fiction, as well as research and personal reaction to daily events, these artists comment on the articulation of geopolitics and the media in the spectacularization of warfare. The works on view examine the picturing of zones of conflict, from armed conflicts between countries trough dissent across national borders; the charismatic character of world leaders and unknown soldiers; and manifestations of both control and powerlessness in news and individual narratives. The project's organizing principle is that the proliferation of a war-derived iconography has become the quintessential sign of present times.

Chelsea Knight examines social control in general and the ideologies of authority in particular. Informed by theatricality (among other aspects, stage design, improvisational acting techniques, and spoken word) and language as a cognitive and emotional apparatus, she creates narrative-based videos, photographs and participatory performances that focus on the current state of democracy—its principles, values, and aspirations. She is premiering 'Frame,' a work in which a group of male construction workers assemble several wood pieces in order to create the basic skeleton of a house while speaking from feminist theory texts. Knight analyses the connection between a traditional male form of labor, representations of the body as understood by feminism, and socially defined gender roles, bringing to light the structures of patriarchy that permeate contemporary society.

Deb Sokolow addresses the historical, psychological and mythological dimension of conspiracy theory, a fundamental cultural phenomenon with regard to the perception of the powers that be. She scripts intricate, non-linear narratives based on mystifying, enigmatic pieces of information that feature mysterious characters who uncover sinister plots. These stories unfold in the form of charts comprising drawings, other pictorial components, and written elements. She is unveiling 'Notes on Denver International Airport and the New World Order,' a series of works on paper informed by a fictionalized investigation into whether or not the New World Order headquarters bunker exists underneath the Denver International Airport. The display consists of overlapping, pinned-up materials collected by 'You,' a nameless, unreliable armchair detective. Sokolow explores the relationship between the ideological state apparatus, mass media, and the public mind.