For Immediate Release
*Due to the Conoravirus pandemic, certain aspects of the exhibition have been altered from what was originally published in the Press Release. For up-to-date information please visit the exhibition page.
Media Contact
Sara Morgan
sm@socratessculpturepark.org
718.956.1819
Ten Artists Awarded ‘The 2020 Socrates Annual’ Fellowship
to Create Monument Projects for Socrates Sculpture Park
Bel Falleiros, (UN)MONUMENT SERIES, 2018-present, drawing on paper, 9 x 12 inches, Courtesy the Artist.
Artist Selection Process
New York City, March 11, 2020 – Fellowship applicants were asked to adhere to the topic of monuments. Over 200 proposals were submitted through a competitive open-call and reviewed by Socrates Director, John Hatfield and Socrates Curator, Jess Wilcox, as well as two Curatorial Advisors – Aimé Iglesias-Lukin, Director and Chief Curator of Visual Arts at the Americas Society and Legacy Russell, Associate Curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem.
The 2020 Artist Fellows
We are thrilled to announce the ten artists selected for ‘The 2020 Socrates Annual’ fellowship and the ‘MONUMENTS NOW: Call and Response’ exhibition.
Andrea Solstad
*2020 New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellows
Fellowship & Exhibition
Each Artist Fellow receives a $5,000 production stipend, $1,000 honorarium, three months of access to Socrates’ outdoor studio, and the administrative and technical support needed to realize their ambitious outdoor sculptures for public exhibition in the Park’s landscape.
The 2020 Artist Fellows’ completed projects will be incorporated into the Park’s year-long exhibition on the topic of monuments, ‘MONUMENTS NOW,’ which evolves over three cumulative phases. A robust offering of artist-driven public programming and opportunities for visitor engagement accompany the exhibition in acknowledgement of how monuments are shaped not just by their creator but also by the public.
1) ‘MONUMENTS NOW: Jeffrey Gibson, Paul Ramírez Jonas, Xaviera Simmons’
Opens May 16
Opens Summer 2020
New commissions for contemporary monuments by Jeffrey Gibson, Paul Ramírez Jonas, and Xaviera Simmons.
2) ‘MONUMENTS NOW: Call and Response’
Opens September 12
Opens October 10, 2020
The Artist Fellows’ projects for ‘Call and Response’ take various archetypal monumental forms such as the arch or the column and dedicate them to underrepresented peoples and histories – from the civil servants who deliver fresh drinking water to the everyday struggle for self-determination by the country’s descendants of chattel slavery.
What unites these various approaches is a focus on collective agency and power, departing from the hero narrative of traditional monuments. Much of the works’ impact relies on public participation and reception by actively inviting visitors to take part in creating the meaning of the monument.
3) ‘MONUMENTS NOW: The Next Generation’
Opens October 10
A monument and accompanying ‘zine collectively realized by local high school students.
Support
‘MONUMENTS NOW’ is organized by Socrates Sculpture Park and curated by Jess Wilcox, Curator & Director of Exhibitions.
It is made possible with generous support from the Ford Foundation, VIA Art Fund, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Lily Auchincloss Foundation, The Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, The Cowles Charitable Trust, The New York Community Trust Van Lier Fellowships and the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation. Additional support for an accompanying publication is made possible by the Henry Luce Foundation. Socrates’s Exhibition Program is funded by the Charina Foundation, The Sidney E. Frank Foundation, Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation, Agnes Gund, Lambent Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas W. Smith, Mark di Suvero and Spacetime C.C.
Funding for Socrates’ visual arts programming is provided in part by NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, & the National Endowment for the Arts.
About Socrates
For more than 30 years Socrates Sculpture Park has been a model of public art production, community activism, and socially inspired place-making. The Park has exhibited more than 1,000 artists on its five waterfront acres, providing them financial and material resources and outdoor studio facilities to create large-scale artworks on site. 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.
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