White Box
329 Broome Street , 212-714-2347
East Village / Lower East Side
October 29 - November 24, 2008
Reception: Wednesday, October 29, 6 - 9 PM
Web Site
Featuring work by: Melanie Baker, Wafaa Bilal, Sandow Birk, Hasan Elahi, Mounir Fatmi, Jon Hendricks, Arnold Mesches, Naeem Mohaiemen, Sheryl Oring, Jenny Polak, Martha Rosler, Jackie Salloum, Hank Willis Thomas and Raphael Zollinger
Sedition will reveal art about the tumultuous times we are living in. Following the rich history of art that challenges dominant ways of seeing, Sedition will show work that has been under fire and art that is firing its own ammo. Work such as Hank Willis Thomas’s Hang Time (Circa 1923), which features the “Air Jordan” logo hanging from a noose on a tree, encourages viewers to contemplate how systemic violence against African-Americans has set the stage for the persistence of racism. Wafaa Bilal’s Virtual Jihadi is an interactive video game in which an avatar becomes a suicide bomber in a hunt for President Bush. Jenny Polak’s ICE raid tracking uses Google Maps to document and trace Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids on the undocumented throughout the U.S.
This show will pull no punches. When the theater is on fire, we are obligated to scream. Many artists are making challenging work that is commensurate with the times. Some have been critically engaged for decades. This show will bring together an unexpected mix-artists who often would not be thought of as working in the same framework. What do an American feminist painter who gained prominence in the 1960s and a 21st century Bangladeshi new media artist who looks at surveillance have in common? Or what does an artist who uses the appropriation of the language of advertising to explore blackness have to do with an artist who utilizes conceptual strategies to address US wars? We say, lots.
*Sedition \si-di-shen\ noun: conduct or language inciting rebellion against the authority of a state