Everywhere and Here
Artspace New Haven Considers Space and Time with EVERYWHERE AND HERE
Artspace New Haven is proud to announce the opening of EVERYWHERE AND HERE: Artists Respond to the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History Collection, a group exhibition of work by artists Martha Friedman, Anina Major, Brittany Nelson, Cauleen Smith, and Tuan Andrew Nguyen, curated by Lisa Dent.
Each artist was invited to search the Peabody database, working closely with collection managers to learn more about select objects in the collection. The exhibition includes newly commissioned work by each artist presented beside the masks, fabrics, household goods, and meteorites pulled from the collection. While the Peabody Museum is currently under renovation until 2024, the exhibition provides an opportunity for visitors to see the one-of-a-kind selections, hailing from the Pacific Isles, the Carribean, North Africa, and Mars.
Martha Friedman’s recent material experiments led to her interest in the historical process of mummification. The Peabody Museum’s Egyptian collection managers provided her with the access and information to recreate the detailed folding and overlapping of linen cloth over the facial area. The technique, combined with her use of glass and gold leaf, embody the delicate and valuable nature of the burial process. Anina Major’s carefully selected objects from the Carribean collection, specifically Barbados, provide the historical links to her ceramic sculptures. Inspired by the textures and strength of the natural materials, Major presents within a structure reminiscent of the spiritual and ecological landscape. Brittany Nelson’s series of photographs take inspiration from archives on earth and beyond. Images of meteorite dust clouds on Mars, taken by the Curiosity Mars Rover, are aligned with letters exchanged between science fiction writers James Tiptree Jr. (really Alice B. Sheldon) and Ursula Le Guin. Nelson uses histories of the future to imagine queer futurisms, explore ecofeminist possibilities, and understand the links between space, gender and sexuality. Tuan Andrew Nguyen’s videography project doubly challenges Modern European thought: its historically upheld subject-object dualism as well as its present-day capitalist repercussions. Utilizing animistic masks found in the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and elsewhere, and studying the history of makeshift masking in protest movements then and now, Nguyen’s mask videos trespass the boundaries between conscious subjectivity and unconscious objectification, essentialism and non-essentialism, the self and nature. Discovered in the first witnessed meteorite fall in North America, by the first North American science professor, Yale’s Benjamin Silliman, the 12.8 kg Weston meteorite takes center stage in Cauleen Smith’s installation.
In light of public health recommendations from the CDC, all visitors should wear cloth face coverings unless doing so would be contrary to their health or safety because of a medical condition. Any child under the age of 2 years, or an older child if the responsible adult is unable to place the cloth face covering over the child’s face, is not required to wear a cloth face covering. It is also important for everyone to practice social distancing (staying at least 6 feet away from other people) at all times. In order to minimize the number of visitors in the gallery at any given time, opening hours for the reception on Friday will be extended to 12 – 6pm. Orange Street will also be blocked to traffic so that guests can walk through the show and have an outdoor space available for socially distanced conversation.
About Artspace New Haven
Founded by artists in 1987 as part of the alternative space movement, Artspace is a non-profit organization providing exhibitions and commissioning programs that encourage experimentation and civic discourse while fostering an appreciation for the vital role artists play in improving our community. Artspace’s mission is to foster engagement with the visual arts by bringing artists and communities together to catalyze new ways of learning, thinking, and being.
We’ve mounted group shows and solo projects that spark dialogues, foster collaborations between artists and non-artists, defend radical expression, uplift teen voices, champion under-resourced voices, and encourage interdisciplinary exchange around some of the most urgent issues of our time.
Artspace is supported by state art funding from the CT Office of the Arts, a state agency funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of New Haven. Additional support is provided by the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, the Andy Warhol Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, VIA Art Fund, Yale New Haven Health, Yale School of Medicine, and the Board of Directors and Friends of Artspace.
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Gallery Hours: Artspace is open to the public Wednesdays-Saturdays from 12-6 pm.
50 Orange Street
New Haven, CT 06510
Press Contact: Lisa Dent, director@artspacenh.org, or 203-772-2709