Panel Discussion: Swoon @ Brooklyn Museum

In April, 2014, I was invited to participate in a panel discussion at Brooklyn Museum to coincide with the exhibition “Swoon: Submerged Motherlands.” Speaking in the museum’s Cantor Auditorium, I was joined by Swoon, Katherine Lorimer, Steven P. Harrington, Jaime Rojo, and Sharon Matt Atkins (Managing Curator of Exhibitions at Brooklyn Museum).

 

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Posted: November 17th, 2014
Categories: Art Indoors
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Project: FABLES – National Endowment for the Arts

During the Spring of 2014 I directed “FABLES,” a public art series produced by Fourth Arts Block to explore the Lower East Side’s living cultural heritage, rich historical legacies, and current issues in public storytelling through visual art. “FABLES” was supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts/ Art Works and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in participation with The City Council. “FABLES” was presented in celebration of LES History month, the inaugural celebration of the rich and diverse history of the LES, which will now take place each year during the month of May.

Artists: Lexi Bella, Tamara Gayer, Theresa Loong & Laura Nova, Levan Mindiashvili, Miguel Trelles & Juan Fernando Morales-Nazario.

Artists were selected by a jury comprised of Legacy Russell, Ethan Vogt, John Bowman, and Molly Garfinkel.

Project Director: Keith Schweitzer (Director of Public Art, Fourth Arts Block)

Posted: November 17th, 2014
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Exhibit: “No City is an Island” @ The Lodge Gallery, NYC

April 10th, 2014 – May 11th, 2014

non-curated by Keith Schweitzer & Jason Patrick Voegele with the following artists:
John AhearnCharlie AhearnJody CulkinJane DicksonStefan EinsPeter FendColeen FitzgibbonBobby GMike GlierBecky HowlandLisa KahaneChristof KohlhoferJusten LaddaJoe LewisAnn MessnerRichard MillerTom OtternessCara PerlmanJudy Rifka,Walter RobinsonChristy RuppTeri SlotkinKiki Smith, Seton Smith

 

John Ahearn "Shelter Kid" 1999

 

On Dec 31st, 1979, a group of artists in downtown Manhattan mounted a now historic exhibition, “The Real Estate Show,” in response to grim economic conditions facing tenants in New York. It was a confrontational and illegal exhibition, held without permission in a vacant city-owned building, with aggressive political messages that ignited controversy and galvanized city officials, news media and artists alike.

This group, Collaborative Projects Inc (Colab), focused on theme-centered exhibitions with a spirit of openness, experimentation, and minimal curatorial interference. Within this context, “No City is an Island” asked former members of Colab to respond to the exhibition’s title as a theme around which to contribute work. Dialogues were rekindled and themes were revisited or reinterpreted. As each artist has evolved over time, so has the city itself. With a range of works transversing 35 years, “No City is an Island” revisits the zeitgeist of a New York City long bygone, compares and contrasts the artists and urban realities of then with now, and honors one of the most influential art organizations in New York City’s history.

The exhibition is part of a multi-venue celebration of Colab and revisitation of “The Real Estate Show” with “The Real Estate Show, Was Then: 1980″ at James Fuentes Gallery (April 4 – 27), “RESx” at ABC No Rio (April 9 – May 8), “No City Is An Island” at The Lodge Gallery (April 10 – May 11), and “The Real Estate Show, What Next: 2014″ at Cuchifritos Gallery (April 19 – May 18). It is also a component of May 2014’s inaugural Lower East Side History Month, which will now be observed each May with over 60 Lower East Side organizations currently participating.

Posted: April 20th, 2014
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Outdoors: Amanda Browder “Good Morning!”

As Director of Public Art for Fourth Arts Block, and curator for SUSTAIN (Steering Urban Sustainability Through Action, Innovation & Networks), I worked on a variety of projects that aimed to harness and focus the talents of artists, architects, engineers, residents, small businesses, and activists towards development and implementation of creative solutions to the challenges of urban sustainability for one city block — E. 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery in Manhattan’s East Village. SUSTAIN was a two-year program made possible by a generous award from the Rockefeller Foundation Cultural Innovation Fund and was in partnership with Cooper Union’s Institute for Sustainable Design.

In September of 2013, we unveiled a large-scale fabric installation over the facade of a building on East 4th Street by artist Amanda Browder. The fabric used in the artwork, titled “Good Morning!”, was donated by people from the neighborhood with support from Materials for the Arts. Browder held a months long series of Public Sewing Days that invited the local community to contribute towards the production of the piece, with participation by youth groups and senior citizens alike.

 

amanda-browder-good-morning-fabnyc-2

 

amanda-browder-good-morning-fabnyc

Posted: April 19th, 2014
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EXHIBIT: “FOR WHICH IT STANDS” @ The Lodge Gallery, NYC

June 28 through August 18, 2013
Curated by Keith Schweitzer and Jason Patrick Voegele

For Which it Stands is a show about America. With 17 artists in the exhibition, and 13 different nations represented, one may wonder how this show speaks about America. My answer to this is that we cannot speak about America without speaking about people from other places in the world. We’ve all arrived here from somewhere else, either directly or at some other point in our family lineage. We’re a nation of immigrants, and our national culture is dynamic, always in flux, influenced by the cultures that are brought here. America is a remix, an experiment held together by systems and rules that give us order but also generous latitude to be who we are as individuals.

For Which It Stands is also a show about influences. We, as a nation, are as influenced by those who come here as they are influenced by coming here themselves. This is very observable in New York, where it seems to happen right before your eyes in real time, particularly on the Lower East Side. Then these combinations, unified under one flag, influence externally and project outward to nations outside of our own. It’s a feedback loop, an array of intercontinental Möbius strips, and it’s beautiful. The artists and artworks in the show help to tell this story.”
– Keith Schweitzer

Artists: Orlando Arocena, Raul Ayala, Chong Gon Byun, Liset Castillo, Alexis Duque, Alessandra Expósito, Kira Nam Greene, Kent Henricksen, Jung S. Kim, Fay Ku, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Esperanza Mayobre, Levan Mindiashvili, Sirikul Pattachote, Shahpour M. Pouyan, Saya Woolfalk and Siebren Versteeg

 

Posted: June 28th, 2013
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Dennis McNett Workshop @ Sara D. Roosevelt Park, NYC

Dennis McNett Workshop, The Pit at Broome Street, NYC

 

 

“WOLFBAT WAVE”
Art & Skateboards with artist Dennis McNett 

in The Pit @ Sara D. Roosevelt Park (at Broome St., NYC)
Saturday, June 22nd, 2013

workshop at sara d roosevelt parkI organized an outdoor afternoon of art, skateboards & songs on the Lower East Side where kids 17 and under were invited to “trick out” blank skateboard decks through an art workshop led by Dennis McNett. The event included live music, outdoor exhibitions and guest appearances by professional skateboarders Andrew Allen, Julien Stanger & Tony Trujillo. Following the outdoor event, an indoor reception and exhibition of Dennis McNett’s artwork took place at The Lodge Gallery

 

Posted: June 22nd, 2013
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TERRY SMITH @ DRAWING CENTER / NEW MUSEUM / FABnyc

In May, 2013, I co-organized Terry Smith’s “Capital Revisited.” The large-scale project was exhibited along 5 outdoor locations within my public art program with Fourth Arts Block. Jason Patrick Voegele, my partner in Republic Worldwide, led as Project Manager during the multi-site installation.

“Capital Revisited was commissioned by The Drawing Center in collaboration with the New Museum during IDEAS CITY 2013. The project was initiated by David Thorp. In 1995 I made a work at the British Museum called “Capital.” In New York 2013, for IDEAS CITY I revisited this work in a series of fragments focused on buildings in the East Village, just off the Bowery.

The project lasted twenty three days and began with an intensive period of drawing in my temporary studio in the basement of LaMaMa.

The work is a 54 ft x 38 ft drawing made in mixed media, broken and assembled in sections and relocated in five locations around the Bowery area of New York using wooden fences, outside walls and windows…

Capital Revisited was made possible through the help, support, expertise and good humour of Jason Patrick Voegele and Keith Schweitzer of Republic Worldwide.” – Terry Smith

Terry Smith Capital Revisited

Terry Smith Capital Revisited - Drawing Center

Posted: May 4th, 2013
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Exhibit: “Die Wunderkammer” @ The Lodge Gallery, NYC

March 21st through April 28th, 2013, our inaugural exhibition of The Lodge Gallery deconstructed and reimagined the traditional Wunderkammer through works by over a dozen New York based contemporary artists.

Curated by Keith Schweitzer and Jason Patrick Voegele.

Die Wunderkammer Lodge Gallery

Artists: Paul Brainard, Kate Clark, Lori Field, Aaron Johnson, Melora Kuhn, Hayley McCulloch, Dennis McNett, Pop Mortem, Lucia Pedi, Mac Premo, Graham Preston, Christy Rupp, Julia Samuels, Tom Sanford, Sigrid Sarda, Madeline Von Foerster

Posted: April 6th, 2013
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Rafael Lozano-Hemmer & Rahzel @ Bitforms Gallery

On Sept 6th, 2012, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer opened his exhibition at Bitforms Gallery featuring the United States premiere of two projects: “Voice Array”, and “Last Breath.”

The exhibition’s opening featured a performance by legendary vocal percussionist Rahzel who explored Lozano-Hemmer’s “Voice Array” within the musical context of human beatboxing. I co-produced this collaboration with Laura Blereau, Director of Bitforms Gallery.

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Voice Array

Rahzel Battles Rafael Lozano-Hemmer Voice Array

VIDEO: Curatorial Production: Laura Blereau and Keith Schweitzer, Audio Engineer: Gideon May, Video Production: Paul DiNatale of SmackBox
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Posted: September 6th, 2012
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Mural: “The Weight of Air” FAITH47, East 2nd St., NYC

I curated and organized an outdoor mural with South African artist FAITH47, titled “The Weight of Air”, on a building exterior located at 22 East 2nd Street slightly west of 2nd Avenue. This was a component of Fourth Arts Block’s outdoor visual art program around the Cultural District in Manhattan’s Lower East Side (in partnership with MaNY Project). Location: Ideal Glass

 

Faith47 The Weight of Air in NYC

Posted: August 1st, 2012
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Exhibit: “Saints of the Lower East Side” NYC

In June of 2012 I curated “Saints of the Lower East Side” by artist Tom Sanford. The outdoor exhibition features seven painted portraits mounted 14 feet above street level on a scaffolding bridge located at 70 East 4th Street. The array of large gilded paintings are intended as an homage to cultural icons who lived and worked on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. In the artist words, “These seven individuals [Martin Wong, Joey Ramone, Miguel Piñero, Ellen Stewart, Charlie Parker, Arthur Fellig and Allen Ginsberg], along with hundreds more, make the Lower East Side the crucible of the American avant-­‐garde and a neighborhood that captivates my imagination as a New York artist.”

This exhibit is part of a series of temporary art installations in atypical locations in the Lower East Side produced through FABnyc’s public art program, of which I am Director. Many thanks to Jason Patrick Voegele of Republic Worldwide, for managing the installation and project overall, and to Graham Preston for working closely with Tom on the paintings. Produced in collaboration with MaNY Project. Photo by Udom Surangsophon

Tom Sanford Saints of the Lower East Side NYC

Posted: June 21st, 2012
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Exhibit: “Our Ladies of Infamy and Grandeur” NYC