WALLS DOWN! Fall 2019 Season
It might be that the most defining characteristic of our time is that, again, walls and weapons feature as prominently now as they once did in medieval times. Porous borders are understood in some quarters to be areas of threat and certain chaos, and whether real or imagined, enforced separation is posited as the solution. — Toni Morrison, “Home,” Oberlin College convocation (2009)
Walls Down!
walls are for:
securing
questioning
straddling
crossing
penetrating
decorating
demolishing
It is a good time to examine the walls in our lives and world and ask, in all honesty, who and what they really serve.
Walls Down!, my theme for Fall 2019 – Spring 2020, asks you to consider what walls you have built that keep you from seeing too far beyond the familiar and easy. What walls prevent you from seeing humanity in others and the expansive potential in yourself? Walls Down! asks the maker and witness of art to question stale assumptions, confront injustice, excite the mind, and strengthen the heart with joy and hope.
Are you ready? Let’s go.
— Eva Yaa Asantewaa, Senior Curatorial Director
Gibney Presents—Featuring evening-length commissions by Ita Segev, Bennyroyce Dance, nia love, Hadar Ahuvia & Shira Eviatar, Brother(hood) Dance!, and Thomas F. DeFrantz/SLIPPAGE.
For the Moment—A new improvisatory series featuring Joey Kipp, Troy Ogilvie, and Jaimé Yawa Dzandu (Sept. 19), and MICHIYAYA Dance, Alethea Pace, and Georgia Wall (Nov. 19).
Living Gallery—Free monthly performances in the Gibney Gallery by Ashley Brockington, Rosamond S. King, and Tara Sheena.
DoublePlus—Signature series presenting artists deserving of new or wider visibility in split-bill evenings, each curated by an established artist: Dana Davenport + Samita Sinha, curated by Alexis Convento; Alexander Diaz + Jennifer Harrison Newman, curated by Charmaine Warren; and Laurel Atwell + Hyung Seok Jeon, curated by Tei Blow.
Engagement Events—Including Sorry I Missed Your Show, a free screening and discussion series; a Town Hall for Percussive Dance Artists and a Panel on Black Dance Artists & Masculinity; and Long Tables on topics including Censorship in the Arts and People of Color in Contact Improvisation.
I refuse the prison of “I” and choose the open spaces of “we.”
— Toni Morrison, Moral Inhabitants
Top photo: DoublePlus artist Dana Davenport by Maria Baranova.