Permissions
The 2020 SHIFT Residency Exhibition
November 18, 2020–January 9, 2021
Curated by Maya Suess
Hernease Davis
Asha Ganpat
Guido Garaycochea
Joy Garnett
Gi (Ginny) Huo
Jordan Lord
Shona Masarin
Monika Wührer
EFA Project Space presents Permissions, an exhibition of new works produced during the 2019/20 SHIFT Residency. There is no way to introduce this exhibition without acknowledging that the works were created during a time of unexpected upheaval and a profound shift to the infrastructure of our lives. As the world moved into a time of global pandemic, economic upheaval, and a deep reckoning with systemic racism, the SHIFT residents were invited to make new bodies of work.
The works in this exhibition ask us to rest, to escape, to create fantastical worlds, to devise our own symbols, to leave town, to stay home, to choose how we respond to ourselves, to others, and the systems we live in. They remind us that we can ask for, offer, take or give ourselves permission.
EFA Project Space’s SHIFT Residency for Arts Workers was launched in August 2010 to provide studio space and peer support for practicing artists who also work as arts professionals for organizations in New York City. This program honors these individuals with a unique environment to build on their own art practices. For 2020-2021, eight residents were selected based on their outstanding contributions to the art community plus their potential for artistic growth through a shared experience. The unique nature of SHIFT Residency draws out unspoken challenges and considerations in the lives of its participating artists, who dedicate a significant portion of their time towards supporting other artists and the art community.
ABOUT THE VIRTUAL EXHIBITION
This virtual exhibition seeks to provide other means of experiencing the work produced for the exhibition Permissions, installed at EFA Project Space from November 18, 2020 - January 9, 2021. Though much of the material provided here is “documentation” of the exhibition installed at 323 W 39th St., the material offered here seeks to dislocate where and when an “in-person” experience of an artwork or exhibition takes place. This document is the result of ongoing conversations among the SHIFT cohort, EFA staff, and curator Maya Suess and combines text, image, video, audio, and sensory description to render the exhibition Permissions accessible to virtual audiences. These pages can be navigated by clicking on the names of the artists listed above or below. All text is screenreader accessible. On each page, there is an image gallery with installation views as well as descriptions for each work that provide visual, contextual, and other sensory information. There is recorded audio of all descriptions, accessible via Soundcloud.
Both the audio description and a PDF transcript of this text will be available via QR code in the gallery.
EVENTS
Thursday, October 22, 2020, 3:30-5 PM
SHIFT: A Residency for Art Workers Panel – The Pandemic Cohort
Wednesday, December 9, 2020, 8-10 PM
Amelia Bande and Rachel Higgins: Static Erratic
Saturday, January 9, 2021, 5-7 PM
Permissions Closing Reception: Screening & Catalog Release
Photography by Yann Chashanovski