{"id":9317,"date":"2024-08-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark-2026.kudos.nyc\/2024\/08\/14\/artists-embrace-invasive-species-in-the-socrates-annual-2024\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T03:23:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T03:23:30","slug":"artists-embrace-invasive-species-in-the-socrates-annual-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark.org\/el\/2024\/08\/14\/artists-embrace-invasive-species-in-the-socrates-annual-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Artists embrace invasive species in The Socrates Annual 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Media Contact |\u00a0 PDF<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Joyce Chan | Communications Manager | jc@socratessculpturepark.org<\/a>\nAyofemi Kirby | ElevenThirtySix Strategies | <\/span>ak@itseleventhirtysix.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Artists embrace invasive species in <\/b>The Socrates Annual 2024<\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n

<\/b><\/b>On View September 14, 2024 \u2013 April 6, 2025<\/span><\/i>\n<\/span><\/i>The opening celebration will take place on September 14, 3-6pm and is free and open to the public.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Long Island City, NY, August 14, 2024<\/b> \u2013<\/span> Socrates Sculpture Park (Socrates) presents <\/span>The Socrates Annual 2024 <\/i><\/b><\/a>on view <\/span>September 14<\/b> through <\/span>April 6<\/b>, 2025<\/b>. The exhibition features site-specific projects that consider the legacies of species migration juxtaposed with myths of invasion related to people, animals, and plants. <\/span>Artists consider the politics of settlement and complex legacies of species migration, illuminating ancestral agricultural technologies while facilitating interactions between humans and our landscapes, in the midst of proposing symbiotic opportunities for Earth\u2019s future inhabitants.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Socrates Annual 2024<\/span><\/i> is the culmination of Socrates Sculpture Park\u2019s fellowship program, awarded to nine artists selected through an open call. <\/span>Since 2001, the fellowship program has supported early career artists who receive financial and technical support <\/span>to realize ambitious public artworks to be included in a park-wide exhibition.<\/span><\/p>\n

In June, Socrates unveiled four projects by Kimberly Chou Tsun An<\/a><\/span>, Landon Newton<\/a><\/span>, Mamoun Nukumanu<\/a>,<\/span><\/b> \u039a\u03b1\u03b9 Vick Quezada<\/a>, <\/span>as part of this year\u2019s expanded fellowship. This new ecology-focused cohort of artists harnessed the peak spring and summer growing seasons to create \u201cliving\u201d installations that engage the Park\u2019s past, present, and future inhabitants within the former industrial wetland landscape. Incorporating and collaborating with dozens of native and introduced plant species, these ecological interventions have flourished throughout the summer and will continue to evolve with the changing seasons.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the summer, artists Jill Cohen-Nu\u00f1ez*<\/a>, Utsa Hazarika<\/a>,\u00a0Juan-Manuel Pinzon<\/a>, Petra Szilagyi<\/a>\u00a0\u039a\u03b1\u03b9 Nala C. Turner<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/b>have been fabricating site-specific sculptures in the Park\u2019s open-air studio utilizing a wide range of materials including mud, clamshells, metal, clay, stone, and found wood.These five projects delve into notions of diaspora, displacement, containment and assimilation, linking human adaptability with that of other living species. Jill Cohen-Nu\u00f1ez is the 2024 <\/span>Devra Freelander Artist Fellow<\/span><\/a>. This recognition is awarded to an artist exemplifying the artistic values of sustainability, identity, and feminism as well as an independent and adventurous spirit, all embodied by 2017 Artist Fellow Devra Freelander.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt Socrates Sculpture Park, we challenge conventional ideas of what is possible by creating opportunities to interrogate our relationship to nature and our immediate environment. Instead of automatically assuming certain plants and other naturally occurring species are invaders, we embrace the possibility and potential of integration, highlighting the vital role these species play in regenerating our ecosystems,\u201d <\/span>Katie Dixon<\/b>, <\/span>Executive Director<\/b> of <\/span>Socrates Sculpture Park said. \u201c<\/b>Socrates has a proud history of working with artists and our local community to transform neglected space into thriving, sustainable habitat. This year\u2019s Annual is a living testament to the power of adaptability and resilience, turning what is often disregarded into a cornerstone of our community\u2019s ecological health.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The Socrates Annual 2024<\/span><\/i> reflects our commitment to ambitious, early-career artists who take bold and impressive risks. This year\u2019s expanded fellowship underscores our dedication to decolonizing and expanding the field of outdoor sculpture by supporting artists whose material choices reflect their role as both creative practitioners and symbiotic participants in a vibrant living ecosystem.\u201d <\/span>Kaitlin Garcia-Maestas, Curator & Director of Exhibitions<\/b> of <\/span>Socrates Sculpture Park said,<\/b>\u00a0\u201cIn many ways, this year\u2019s exhibition reads like a love letter to the Park. Collectively, these nine projects embody a profound reverence and curiosity for the ecological history of our cherished greenspace and the host of communities it serves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Socrates Annual 2024<\/em> Artist Fellows were selected from over 250 applicants by a selection committee that included Eric Booker, Associate Curator at Storm King Art Center; Carlos Jim\u00e9nez Cahua<\/a>, Socrates Fellow, 2018; Patrick Costello<\/a>, Socrates Fellow, 2020; and Brendan Parker, Senior Farm Manager at Red Hook Farms, along with Socrates Sculpture Park staff members Kaitlin Garcia-Maestas<\/a>, Curator & Director of Exhibitions; Ewart Louie Jordan, Grounds Manager; Eric Mathews, Former Director of Grounds & Horticulture; Terrence McCutchen<\/a>, Grounds Manager; Marisa Prefer<\/a>, Former Senior Director of Park Operations.<\/p>\n

Image Credit:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cTILT (what if these plants get out)\u201d by Landon Newton, 2024. Photo: Bob Krasner\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Each Artist Fellow is awarded a $8,000 production grant, $2,000 honorarium, and three months of seven-days-a-week access to the resources and fabrication facilities of the Park\u2019s outdoor artist studio to realize their proposed project. The Fellowship was formalized in 2000 and has included artists such as Sable Elyse Smith (2016), David Brooks (2009), Leilah Babirye (2018), Orly Genger (2004), Sanford Biggers (2001), and Torkwase Dyson (2015). Learn more about the Fellowship <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Socrates Annual 2024 <\/span><\/i>opening celebration<\/a> on Saturday, September 14 from 3pm \u2013 5pm, is free and open to the public and will include activations and performances initiated by Artist Fellows.\u00a0<\/span>\n<\/span><\/p>\n

For full details visit <\/span>socratessculpturepark.org\/the-socrates-annual-2024<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Download the exhibition press kit <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

ABOUT THE 2024 SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK ARTIST FELLOWS<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>Kimberly Chou Tsun An <\/b>(she\/her) is a writer, cultural worker, organizer, and community artist. Her work explores the connections between people, plants, land, and ancestral and cultural practices \u2014\u00a0those we inherit, those we choose or grow into, and those we cultivate together in community. Relationships are our greatest resource. Her projects, almost always conducted in collaboration, often take the form of public programs: workshops, walks, and collective altar building or ceremony. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY with deep roots in Detroit, MI and Taiwan. <\/span>@kimberchou<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Jill Cohen-Nu\u00f1ez <\/b>(they\/them) is a Dominican-American artist from the Bronx, New York. Combining pre-Columbian Caribbean and Jewish ancestries with personal mythology, Cohen-Nu\u00f1ez investigates memory, the formation and evolution of rituals, folklore, and spiritual practices using wood, ceramics, stone, glass, and metal. Through these arduous methods of creating, their work reflects on generational loss of connection to culture and land through migration and assimilation. In 2023, they were awarded a New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellowship at Wave Hill and have received grants and scholarships from the Connor Merit Awards, Urban Glass, the Oki Doki studio, and an NYFA city artist corps grant. Cohen-Nu\u00f1ez has participated in residencies at Haverford college, the Newark Print Shop, Manhattan Graphics Center, MASS MoCA, Chashama, and Modern Art Foundry. They have exhibited work at the National Sculpture Society, Bronxartspace, Center for Performance Research, Fordham University, Baad! Bronx Academy of Art and Dance, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Jane Hartsook Gallery at the Greenwich House. They hold a BA in studio art from CUNY City College. <\/span>@mosslands__ <\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Utsa Hazarika<\/b> (she\/her) is an artist and writer based in Queens. Her research-based practice ranges across video, installation and sculpture, and explores how an interdisciplinary dialogue between art and social research can push us to think about power, memory and resistance. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including a solo exhibition at the Queens Museum (US), and group shows at Museum of the City of New York (US), Hessel Museum of Art (US) and Cemeti Institute for Art and Society (Indonesia). She has been awarded residencies and fellowships in Asia and the United States, including Pioneer Works (US), Asian Cultural Council (US), Lijiang Studio (China), and Khoj International Artists\u2019 Association (India). She holds an MFA in Fine Arts from The New School, an MPhil in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge, and attended the Whitney Independent Study Program. Her art and academic research has been published in Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology (UK), Trans Asia Photography Review (US) and The Caravan (India). <\/span>@utsahazarika<\/span>\n<\/span>\n<\/span><\/a>Landon Newton <\/b>(she\/her) is an artist, gardener, and independent researcher. Her interdisciplinary practice considers the reciprocal relationships between plants and people; incorporating installation and site-specific works to <\/span>explore themes of permanence, historical distortion, care, and maintenance using living plants as materials and participants. Her work has been exhibited at<\/span> The Milstein Center, Barnard College, (upcoming);<\/span> The <\/span>Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna; Frieze New York; local_30 with A.I.R. Gallery, Warsaw; Tjaden Gallery, Cornell University; WIENWOCHE, Vienna; Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, South Korea; and the Queens Museum among others. Her ongoing project, <\/span>The Abortion Herb Garden<\/span><\/i>, is a collaborative and research-based installation focusing on abortifacient, emmenagogic, and contraceptive herbs explored through gardens, participatory workshops, performances, and site-specific sculpture. She has been an artist-in-residence at Denniston Hill, NY; Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, VA; the Studios at MASS MoCA, MA; the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, NY; and Marble House Project, VT. Peer-reviewed publications include, <\/span>you are here<\/span><\/i>, The Journal of Creative Geography, University of Arizona, and <\/span>Cultivate Journal<\/span><\/i>, The Feminist Journal of the Center of Women\u2019s Studies, University of York. Workshops and Guest Speaker engagements include Barnard College; SUNY Purchase; Bard College; the Art, Culture, and Technology program at MIT; and Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Her work has been discussed in <\/span>Gagosian Quarterly<\/span><\/i>; <\/span>On Seeing<\/span><\/i>, Substack, by Roxane Gay; <\/span>Artnet<\/span><\/i>; and <\/span>Hyperallergic<\/span><\/i>. <\/span>She received a BA in history from Smith College and an MFA in photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She works and gardens in New York City. <\/span>@theabortionherbgarden<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mamoun Nukumanu<\/b> (he\/him)<\/span> is a Brooklyn based interdisciplinary artist that guides living trees in temporal dances. Born on Long Island, Nukumanu\u2019s work explores the semiotic entanglement of ecology, mind and body to create doorways to other worlds. Deeply passionate about ecological regeneration, he imagines the growth of symbiotic futures through the reforestation of the earth and the reestablishment of the ecology commons through the collective cultivation of living tree cities. Nukumanu graduated from NYU Gallatin in 2019 and proceeded to work at Terreform ONE in Brooklyn for five years on the design of a living tree house prototype. He plants his tree sculptures in convergence with the will of fate, with work currently growing across the world, including New York, Amsterdam, Puerto Rico, and Portugal. <\/span>@nukumanu<\/span><\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>\n<\/span>\n<\/span>Juan-Manuel Pinzon<\/b> (he\/him) is an artist based in New York City. Juan studied economics at Oberlin College (\u201918), completed the 9-month program at the Krenov School of Fine Woodworking (\u201919) and earned his MFA in Craft\/Material Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University (\u201822). He is currently a fellow at Socrates Sculpture Park and has attended residencies at Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT, The Ellis Beauregard Foundation in Rockland, ME, and Stove Works in Chattanooga, TN. He has exhibited work across the country, most recently at Pascall Hall, Rockport, ME and Cierah Gallery in New York, NY. <\/span>@juan.manuel.pinzon<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Vick Quezada<\/b> (they\/them) currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Art Practice at Hampshire College in Western Massachusetts and lives in New Haven, Connecticut. In 2022, Quezada was a Fellow at Yale\u2019s Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration. In 2021, they received the prestigious US Latinx Art Forum Fellowship co-sponsored by Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship and the Ford Foundation. In 2020 Quezada was hand selected from a \u201clarge-scale survey\u201d of 40 emerging artists from the US and Puerto Rico to be featured in El Museo del Barrio\u2019s groundbreaking, La Trienal. In 2019, Quezada was the artist-in-residence at New York University\u2019s Latinx Project. Quezada was selected as the University Massachusetts at Amherst Contemporary Arts Curatorial Fellow in 2018, along with Fred Wilson, who curated the show \u201cFive Takes on African Art\u201d. Their work has been featured in Hyperallergic, BOMB Magazine, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, Art News, Trans Studies Quarterly: Duke University Press, and Remezcla. Quezada received a Bachelors from University Texas at El Paso and their MFA from University Massachusetts at Amherst. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>@vickquezada<\/span>\n<\/span>\n<\/span><\/a>Petra Szilagyi <\/b>(they\/them)<\/span> is an artist and student of the Super Natural. The product of a nomadic Afro-Caribbean\/Hungarian, Petra has traveled from Japan, to Nigeria and many places in between, in a calling to seek the inexplicable, the unquantifiable and rich anti-structure spaces. They received their BA from Williams College and MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University.<\/span> @petrasyzygy<\/span>\n<\/span>\n<\/span><\/a>Nala C. Turner <\/b>(she\/her) is a visual artist working across multiple disciplines of art-making and healing such as ceramics, sculpture, somatics, and art therapy. Nala earned her M.P.S. in Art Therapy and Creativity Development from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY; and previously received her B.A. in Psychology and a B.F.A in Ceramics from Truman State University in Kirksville, MO. Her ceramic works, commissions, and public art have been exhibited at Companion Gallery, Humboldt, TN, Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, FL, Flood Plain Art Gallery, St. Louis, MO, The Burton at Bideford, Bideford, UK, New Brewery Arts, Cirencester, UK , and The Hub, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, UK. Public art installations include <\/span>Healing Landscapes<\/span><\/i> (in production), Socrates Park, Queens, NY; and <\/span>Queen City<\/span><\/i>, Metropolitan Park, Arlington, VA. Turner previously was awarded the commission for New York\u2019s The Town Hall\u2019s first inaugural <\/span>Lena Horne Prize for Artists Creating Social Impact<\/span><\/i> award, celebrating Grammy Award-winning singer\/songwriter and visual artist, Solange Knowles, in 2020. <\/span>@carlynne.ceramics<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

_________________________________________________________________________________<\/span><\/p>\n

SUPPORT<\/b>\n<\/b>\n<\/b>Major support for The Socrates Annual Fellowship & Exhibition comes from the National Endowment for the Arts. <\/span>Additional support is provided by Agnes Gund, Charina Foundation, the Sidney E. Frank Foundation, Devra Freelander Artist Fund, and Lambent Foundation, with in-kind support provided by Spacetime C.C. <\/span>Funding is also provided in part, by public funds from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts.<\/span><\/p>\n

ABOUT SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK<\/b>\n<\/b>\n<\/span>For over 365 years, Socrates Sculpture Park has been an award winning model of public art production, community activism, and socially inspired place-making. Most recently Socrates was honored with the Public Art Dialogue 2023 Founders Award. Over 1,200 artists have created and exhibited new works on its five waterfront acres and outdoor studio facilities. Past exhibiting artists include Agnes Denes, Jeffrey Gibson, Guadalupe Maravilla, Virginia Overton, Jean Shin, Sable Elyse Smith, Nari Ward, Meg Webster, and Hank Willis Thomas. <\/span>\n<\/span>\n<\/span>Socrates is free and open to the public 365 days a year from 9am to sunset. It is located at 32-01 Vernon Boulevard (at Broadway) in Long Island City, New York. Socrates Sculpture Park is a not-for-profit organization licensed by NYC Parks to manage and program Socrates Sculpture Park, a New York City public park<\/span>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact |\u00a0 PDF Joyce Chan | Communications Manager | jc@socratessculpturepark.org Ayofemi Kirby | ElevenThirtySix Strategies | ak@itseleventhirtysix.com Artists embrace invasive species in The Socrates Annual 2024 On View September 14, 2024 \u2013 April 6, 2025 The opening celebration will take place on September 14, 3-6pm and is free and open to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9319,"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9317\/revisions\/9319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socratessculpturepark.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}