Curated by Debra Singer and Rashida Bumbray

Working primarily in sculpture and installation, Geneva-based artist Mai-Thu Perret creates works interrogating aspects of contemporary consumerist culture through the lens of utopian revolutionary ideals of early 20th century avant-garde artistic movements. For her first New York solo exhibition, Perret will present the US premiere of her new video, An Evening of the Book, as well as related sculptural works. The video, and show as a whole, takes its title and inspiration from a 1924 agit-prop Russian theater work that included a set design by Varvara Stepanova, an influential artist of the Russian avant-garde whose work epitomized the Constructivist tenet that art should have a social purpose. Incorporating abstract choreographed movement, the video evokes a dreamy logic as a group of women are seen at work, play, and rest. Through ghostly layers of past and present, this new project draws attention to how historical fragments can continue to be an ongoing active force in shaping the present, signifying something new in the changed context of today.