Paweł Althamer
Paweł Althamer’s Queen Mother of Reality is a monumental, mixed media sculpture of an elegant figure that is peacefully reclining in the shaded southern section of the park overlooking the East River waterfront. Althamer’s sculpture is dedicated to and inspired by “Queen Mother” Dr. Delois Blakely, a U.S. Ambassador of Goodwill to Africa,who has been the Community Mayor of Harlem since she was sworn in by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 1995. Queen Mother of Reality serves as a call to highlight the numerous displaced and homeless of New York City — Dr. Blakely’s paramount cause.
Originally built as a part of Althamer’s Performa Commission in 2013 for Biba of Williamsburg in East River State Park, Brooklyn, Queen Mother of Reality at Socrates Sculpture Park will act as a platform for creative dialogue and interactive programming, reflecting Socrates’ commitment to engaging audiences through public art. In spring 2014 the sculpture was reassembled by Althamer and his collaborators – a team of artists and community members, including artists Noah Fischer, Roman Stańczak, Rafal Zwirek, and Jim Constanza (aka the Aaron Burr Society), and the artist’s sons Bruno Althamer and Szymon Althamer, as well as members of the community.
Continuing Althamer’s commitment to social collaboration, which underlines most of his work, Queen Mother of Reality will engage audiences through interactive programming organized by Socrates and the artist that will invoke Dr. Blakely’s pursuits of social justice and community building. The sculpture is situated in the midst of an active community. The park is surrounded by three of the nation’s largest public housing complexes (Astoria, Ravenswood, and Queensbridge Houses), and the local community has been a park stakeholder since its creation in 1986.
Paweł Althamer was born in Warsaw Poland in 1967. He attended the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, from 1988–93, studying alongside his frequent collaborator Artur Zmijewski. His solo exhibitions include, The Neighbors at the New Museum in New York (2013); Espace 315 at Centre Pompidou, Paris (2006); Pawel Althamer at Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw (2005). His work has been exhibited in a number of major international group shows including the 55th Venice Biennale (2013), 8th Gwangju Biennial (2010), Skulptur Projekte Münster (2007), 4th Berlin Biennial (2006), and the 9th Istanbul Biennial (2005).
Artworks
Queen Mother of Reality by Paweł Althamer is a monumental, mixed media sculpture of an elegant figure that is peacefully reclining in the shaded southern section of the park overlooking the East River waterfront. Althamer’s sculpture is dedicated to and inspired by “Queen Mother” Dr. Delois Blakely, a U.S. Ambassador of Goodwill to Africa,who has been the Community Mayor of Harlem since she was sworn in by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in 1995. Queen Mother of Reality serves as a call to highlight the numerous displaced and homeless of New York City – Dr. Blakely’s paramount cause.
Originally built as a part of Althamer’s Performa Commission in 2013, Queen Mother of Reality at Socrates Sculpture Park acts as a platform for creative dialogue and interactive programming, reflecting the park’s commitment to engaging audiences through public art. This spring the sculpture was reassembled by Althamer and his collaborators – a team of artists and community members, including artists Noah Fischer, Roman Stańczak, Rafal Zwirek, Jim Costanzo (aka the Aaron Burr Society), Brian Fernandes-Halloran, and Eric Gottshall, as well as the artist’s sons Bruno Althamer and Szymon Althamer.
Continuing Althamer’s commitment to social collaboration, which underlines most of his work, Socrates and the artist are programming workshops, events, and talks throughout the summer that invoke Dr. Blakely’s pursuits of social justice and community building. The sculpture is situated in the midst of an active community. The park is surrounded by three of the nation’s largest public housing complexes (Astoria, Ravenswood, and Queensbridge Houses), and the local community has been a park stakeholder since its creation in 1986.
April 25 & 26 – EARTH DAY EVENT
Partnership for Parks and Socrates’ own horticulture team led high school and middle school volunteers as they planted vegetables, herbs, and flowers throughout the Socrates Sculpture Park. The group also designed and planted around Queen Mother of Reality, which remains on view with the sculpture.
Sunday, May 11 // 2-6pm – OPENING MOTHERS DAY EVENT
This Art-making workshop for kids and families was led by the Minor Miracles Foundation and focused on the celebration of Mothers and families. Artworks created in this workshop remain on view inside of Queen Mother of Reality
Sunday, May 11 // all day – NAILS ACROSS AMERICA
Artist Brianne Trammel provided free manicures for local mothers from the Astoria Housing Projects inside of her traveling social salon.
Sunday, May 11th – DEDICATION BLESSING by QUEEN MOTHER DR. DELOIS BLAKELY
Saturday, May 17th // 11am-2:30pm – UN FORUM ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
A tour, lunch and ceremony lead by Queen Mother Delois Blakely with members of the United Nations Forum on Indigenous Peoples.
Saturday, June 7th – FOOD PROGRAM
Lead by Queens Action Committee, this delicious event focused on healthy nutrition and the local food landscape through discussions and cooking instructions, alongside Socrates’ weekly Greenmarket.
Wednesday, June 11th // 12pm – ART-MAKING WORKSHOP
Special art-making workshop for 5th through 8th grade students, that took place in and around Queen Mother of Reality. Inspired by Yoko Ono’s Wish Piece, students were asked to design their wishes and incorporate them into the sculpture, where they remain on view.
Saturday, June 21 // 5pm-sunset – SUMMER SOLSTICE: SOUND EVENT
With the help of the Brooklyn art space Norte Maar, Socrates’ annual Summer Solstice Event will become an evening of site-specific sound performances encompassing the entire park. Throughout the evening (the longest of the year) Composers Inside Electronics will perform David Tudor’s “Rainforest I.” within Queen Mother of Reality.
Programming will develop throughout the summer, so please continue to check back for updates.
Queen Mother of Reality is presented by Socrates Sculpture Park in collaboration with Performa, and in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York.
The Exhibition Program at Socrates Sculpture Park is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Charina Endowment Fund, Lambent Foundation, Mark di Suvero, the Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation, Agnes Gund, Ivana Mestrovic, and the Thomas W. Smith Foundation.
Queen Mother of Reality is a Performa Commission and was originally presented as part of the Polish Pavilion Without Walls for Performa 13. The commission was generously supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, National Endowment for the Arts and Toby Devan Lewis, with additional support from Foksal Gallery Foundation (Warsaw), neugerriemschneider (Berlin), Fundacja Sztuka i Współczesność, CCA Ujazdowski Castle, and Polish Ministry of Cultural and National Heritage, Tilton Gallery.