WITH NO MEMORIES NO TIES NO PHANTOMS TO TEND FOR interrogates the historical and contemporary tradition of cultural theft through the lenses of memory and power.
January 20, 2018 from 6-9 pm Wave Pool will host the opening reception for WITH NO MEMORIES, NO TIES, NO PHANTOMS TO TEND FOR, an exhibition curated by Wave Pool Gallery’s first Curatorial Resident, Abby Mae Friend. The show includes work from local and national artists through various means of cultural production such as video, sculpture, installation, writing and poster art.
WITH NO MEMORIES NO TIES NO PHANTOMS TO TEND FOR is an excerpt from Eunsong Kim's essay "Found, Found, Found: Lived, Lived, Lived," a brilliant piece of cultural criticism regarding Carrie Mae Weem's series From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried. A beautiful and vulnerable indictment of the American tradition of cultural theft, historical and contemporary genocide, and the ways that different cultures carry that tradition of violence through their memory and their loss, Kim’s essay goes far deeper than any simple investigation or argument against cultural appropriation.
The exhibition, titled after Kim's words, is a look at American history, our political and personal relationships with colonialism, and the ways that settler colonialism has affected our personal and collective ability to recall and reconcile, identity, memory, ownership, and power.
Aiming to create a point of access where the audience can interact with the complex intersections of cultural theft and settler colonialism, Friend has curated a show in which artists use their voices and bodies to create art that is unafraid of confrontation and offers space for contemplation and dialogue.
On Saturday February 3rd at 5 pm, Wave Pool will host an interactive screening of selected works from contributing artist Merritt Johnson’s series of short films “Exorcising America.” Audience members will be invited to participate in a guided exorcise practice. In collaboration with Chase Public, Wave Pool will host a Response Project on Saturday January 27th at 6pm where participants will be performing responses to Eunsong Kim’s essay “Found, Found, Found: Lived, Lived, Lived.”
Contributing artist include: M’Shinda Imani Abdullah-Broaddus, Aalap Bommaraju, Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo, Arthur Brum, Liz Cambron, Damian DinéYazhi, Zachary Hutchinson, Merritt Johnson, Eunsong Kim, Oliverio Rodriguez, Isabel Solá and Caleb Yono.