The Immigrant Artist Biennial 2020: Here, Together!

September 9–October 24, 2020

Curated by Katya Grokhovsky

Blanka Amezkua
Esperanza Cortés
Bahareh Khoshooee
Daniela Kostova
Cole Lu
Ana Mendieta
Levan Mindiashvili
Qinza Najm
Anna Parisi
daàPò réo
Yali Romagoza

EFA Project Space is thrilled to present The Immigrant Artist Biennial 2020: Here, Together! a timely exhibition featuring multidisciplinary works by US-based artists, curated by Katya Grokhovsky. Delayed several months by the COVID crisis which has disproportionally impacted communities of color and immigrants, Here, Together! explores displacement, alienation, and the steady erosion of American Empire, viewed through the work of eleven Immigrant artists. 

Confronting a national rhetoric of exclusion, nationalism, and discrimination, the artists in the exhibition call for urgent unity, visibility, and criticality, by facilitating a necessary platform of cultural exchange. Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, and culminating on the eve of a fraught election, the exhibition draws attention to the intertwined issues of immigration and the engineered neglect of othered bodies. In her curatorial statement, Grokhovsky writes: “These artists call forth the power dynamics and hierarchies of a late-stage struggling capitalist society in dire need of compassion and humanity. Their work grapples with issues of identity, the meaning of home and place, and the consistent, looming threats of erasure, removal, and cultural whitewashing.”

Through the works on exhibit and public events, talks, and performances, The Immigrant Artist Biennial expresses ongoing efforts to counter the seemingly dominant paradigms of colonialism, xenophobia, and politically-motivated bigotry to create a common ground and a global community. By uplifting and spotlighting these artists from elsewhere who have chosen to make New York their home, the exhibition is a ray of hope for a future that we can yet create—“here, together!”

EVENTS

Tuesday, April 7, 2020 - Thursday, May 21, 2020, 3-4 PM
IG Studio Visits - The Immigrant Artist Biennial: Apart, Together

Wednesday, April 22, 2020, 7-9 PM
Artists Respond to Anti-Asian Racism, Xenophobia, and Immigrant-Bashing in the Time of COVID-19, an Immigrant Artist Biennial Roundtable

Thursday, April 23, 2020, 6-8 PM
Online - Visual Artists' Immigration Clinic

Wednesday, September 9, 2020, 6-8- PM
Virtual Opening Reception & Walkthrough for The Immigrant Artist Biennial 2020: Here, Together!

Friday, September 18, 2020, 4-5PM
No me pongan en lo oscuro (Do not bury me in Darkness), Action #2 – Yali Romagoza

Sunday, October 4, 2020, 4-5PM
All standpoints are partial – Bahareh Khoshooee & Sareh Imani (Kalaktive)

Friday, October 23, 2020, 12:00 AM -11:59 PM
Screening: Videos From The Immigrant Artists Biennial

Saturday, October 24, 2020, 6-8 PM
Closing Reception and Catalog Release with Performances by Levan Mindiashvili and Anna Parisi

Yali Romagoza, The Mistress of Loneliness (Chapter 1: The Departure ), 2019, video still.

Yali Romagoza, The Mistress of Loneliness (Chapter 1: The Departure ), 2019. Video still.

*The Immigrant Artist Biennial (TIAB) 2020: Here Together! is an inaugural multi-site project presenting works by 60+ US-based immigrant artists in September–December 2020. TIAB is Fiscally sponsored by NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts). EFA Project Space is presenter of TIAB’s central exhibition, made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by LMCC (the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council). Project Space programming is made possible through the generous support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Performance events are supported by the women & performance: a journal of feminist theory public programs fund.

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Left to right:
daàPò réo, Why Should We Be Deported? This is Very, Very Hard for a Family, 2020. Metal, barbed wire, fabric. 84 x 72 x 12 inches. Read more here.
Blanka Amezkua, US : WE, 2020. Silk flowers, pins, latex paint (in situ). 78 x 78 inches. Read more here.
Esperanza Cortés, Emerald Tears, 2010-2014. Clay, crystal, glass, metal base & plexi vitrine. 66 x 24 x 50.5 inches. Read more here.
Daniela Kostova, Body Without Organs: Bulgarian Bar, 2006. Video. 27’ 46”. Read more here.
Levan Mindiashvili, Levani's Room: AMERICA (“I STAND AT THE window of this great house [...] as night falls. The night that is leading me to the most terrible morning of my life. I have a drink in my hand, there is a bottle at my elbow. I watch my reflection in the darkening gleam of the window pane. My reflection is tall, perhaps rather like an arrow, my blond hair gleams. My face is like a face you have seen many times. […] My ancestors conquered a continent, pushing across death-laden plains, until they came to an ocean which faced away from Europe into the darker past.”), 2020. Excerpt from James Baldwin's "Giovanni's Room" transferred on translucent chiffon, outdoor string lights cord, LED black light bulbs, hanging hardware. Curtain: 12 x 14 3/4 feet, String Lights: 48 feet, bulbs 24, Overall dimension 12 x 14 x 2.5 feet. Read more here.

Front:
Esperanza Cortés, Emerald Tears, 2010-2014. Clay, crystal, glass, metal base & plexi vitrine, 66 x 24 x 50.5 inches.

Back:
daàPò réo, Why Should We Be Deported? This is Very, Very Hard for a Family, 2020. Metal, barbed wire, fabric. 84 x 72 x 12 inches.
Blanka Amezkua, US : WE, 2020. Silk flowers, pins, latex paint (in situ). 78 x 78 inches.

Levan Mindiashvili, Levani's Room: AMERICA (“I STAND AT THE window of this great house [...] as night falls. The night that is leading me to the most terrible morning of my life. I have a drink in my hand, there is a bottle at my elbow. I watch my reflection in the darkening gleam of the window pane. My reflection is tall, perhaps rather like an arrow, my blond hair gleams. My face is like a face you have seen many times. […] My ancestors conquered a continent, pushing across death-laden plains, until they came to an ocean which faced away from Europe into the darker past.”), 2020. Excerpt from James Baldwin's "Giovanni's Room" transferred on translucent chiffon, outdoor string lights cord, LED black light bulbs, hanging hardware. Curtain: 12 x 14 3/4 feet, String Lights: 48 feet, bulbs 24, Overall dimension 12 x 14 x 2.5 feet.

Left to right:
Blanka Amezkua, US : WE, 2020. Silk flowers, pins, latex paint (in situ). 78 x 78 inches.
Daniela Kostova, Body Without Organs: Bulgarian Bar, 2006. Video. 27’ 46”.

Blanka Amezkua, US : WE, 2020. Silk flowers, pins, latex paint (in situ). 78 x 78 inches.

Daniela Kostova, Body Without Organs: Bulgarian Bar, 2006. Video. 27’ 46”.

Front:
Esperanza Cortés, Emerald Tears, 2010-2014. Clay, crystal, glass, metal base & plexi vitrine. 66 x 24 x 50.5 inches.

Back, left to right:
Qinza Najm, Her World, Her View, 2017. Acrylic on carpet. 72 x 48 inches. Read more here.
Yali Romagoza, The Mistress of Loneliness: Chapter 1:The Departure, 2019. Suitcase with video. 31.5 x 29 x 6.9 inches. Read more here.
Yali Romagoza, The Mistress of Loneliness: Chapter 2: Pursuit of Happiness, 2019. Suitcase with video. 31.5 x 29 x 6.9 inches.

Qinza Najm, Her World, Her View, 2017. Acrylic on carpet. 72 x 48 inches.

Yali Romagoza, The Mistress of Loneliness: Chapter 1:The Departure, 2019. Suitcase with video. 31.5 x 29 x 6.9 inches.
Yali Romagoza, The Mistress of Loneliness: Chapter 2: Pursuit of Happiness, 2019. Suitcase with video. 31.5 x 29 x 6.9 inches.

Esperanza Cortés, Emerald Tears, 2010-2014. Clay, crystal, glass, metal base & plexi vitrine. 66 x 24 x 50.5 inches.

Esperanza Cortés, Emerald Tears, 2010-2014. Clay, crystal, glass, metal base & plexi vitrine. 66 x 24 x 50.5 inches.

Left to right:
daàPò réo, Why Should We Be Deported? This is Very, Very Hard for a Family, 2020. Metal, barbed wire, fabric. 84 x 72 x 12 inches.
Levan Mindiashvili, Levani's Room: AMERICA (“I STAND AT THE window of this great house [...] as night falls. The night that is leading me to the most terrible morning of my life. I have a drink in my hand, there is a bottle at my elbow. I watch my reflection in the darkening gleam of the window pane. My reflection is tall, perhaps rather like an arrow, my blond hair gleams. My face is like a face you have seen many times. […] My ancestors conquered a continent, pushing across death-laden plains, until they came to an ocean which faced away from Europe into the darker past.”), 2020. Excerpt from James Baldwin's "Giovanni's Room" transferred on translucent chiffon, outdoor string lights cord, LED black light bulbs, hanging hardware. Curtain: 12 x 14 3/4 feet, String Lights: 48 feet, bulbs 24, Overall dimension 12 x 14 x 2.5 feet.
Anna Parisi, Hail Potamotrygon Leopoldi, 2015. Collage on paper. 32 x 32 inches, plus frame. Read more here.
Ana Mendieta, Parachute, 1973. 1/2-inch reel-to-reel video w/ sound (digitized). 7’ 9”. Courtesy the Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC and Galerie Lelong & Co., New York. Read more here.

Anna Parisi, Hail Potamotrygon Leopoldi, 2015. Collage on paper. 32 x 32 inches, plus frame.

Left to right:
Ana Mendieta, Parachute, 1973. 1/2-inch reel-to-reel video w/ sound (digitized). 7’ 9”. Courtesy the Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC and Galerie Lelong & Co., New York.
Cole Lu, The Proof, 2019. Silicone, rigid foam, metal, ink. 9.8 x 9.8 x 7.8 inches. Read more here.
Cole Lu, Thoroughbred (No Caster of Weather Foretold), 2019. Bronze. 17.7 x 11.8 x 9.8 inches.
Cole Lu, First Reversal, They’ve Come By Mistake to a Lake That is Sure to Reverse Any Lering Leaf (come to think of it, I don’t want to tell you about that incident), 2019. Stainless steel, aluminum, epoxy, cotton, leaves. 20.4 x 14.5 x 7.8 inches.

Ana Mendieta, Parachute, 1973. 1/2-inch reel-to-reel video w/ sound (digitized). 7’ 9”. Courtesy the Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC and Galerie Lelong & Co., New York.

Cole Lu, The Proof, 2019. Silicone, rigid foam, metal, ink. 9.8 x 9.8 x 7.8 inches.

Bahareh Khoshooee, #EverChangingFacade, 2020. Foam sculpture and video. 60 x 60 x 60 inches (approximate). Read more here.