Posted on March 27, 2019
Independent Curators International (ICI), in partnership with Studio in a School NYC, presents do it (in school), a new approach to art education based on the long-running exhibition curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, do it.
A new version of Hans Ulrich Obrist’s exhibition do it, conceived as a curriculum for high-school students
Featuring instructions by: Etel Adnan, Uri Aran, Yto Barrada, Robert Barry, Jérôme Bel, Bernadette Corporation, Christian Boltanski, Louise Bourgeois, Jimmie Durham, Cao Fei, Claire Fontaine, William Forsythe, Simryn Gill, Dominque Gonzalez-Foerster, Joseph Grigley, Shilpa Gupta, Anna Halprin, NS Harsha, Madeline Hollander, Jonathan Horowitz, Pierre Huyghe, Joan Jonas, Allan Kaprow, Alison Knowles, Aaron Koblin, Koo Jeong-A, Bertrand Lavier, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Sol LeWitt, Lucy R. Lippard, David Lynch, Jonas Mekas, Annette Messager, Eileen Myles, Jean-Luc Nancy, Bruce Nauman, Ernesto Neto, Rivane Neuenschwander, Albert Oehlen, Precious Okoyomon, Yoko Ono, Füsun Onur, Clifford Owens, ThaoNguyen Phan, Cesare Pietroiusti, Adrian Piper, Raqs Media Collective, Lillian F. Schwartz, Hassan Sharif, Jim Shaw, Shimabuku, Rikrit Tiravanija, Carrie Mae Weems, Erwin Wurm, and more.
Exhibition on view:
Hunter East Harlem Gallery, 2180 3rd Avenue at 119th Street, NYC
April 12 to June 1, 2019
In 1993, Obrist together with artists Christian Boltanski and Bertrand Lavier, conceived do it, an exhibition based entirely on artists’ instructions, which could be followed to create temporary art works for the duration of a show. do it has challenged traditional exhibition formats, questioned authorship, and championed art’s ability to exist beyond a single gallery space. Since do it began, many new versions have appeared, including do it (museum) and do it (home) produced by ICI in 1997. Over 26 years, do it has grown from 12 to over 400 sets of artists’ instructions, and has been shown in more than 150 art centers in over 15 countries.
Building on this history, do it (in school) is the latest version of do it, a selection of instructions that form a study-based curriculum for high school students.
Curated by Obrist and produced by ICI in partnership with Studio in a School NYC, do it (in school) represents a new take on art education, focused on contemporary practice and geared towards critical thinking and creative experience through hands-on workshops. The curriculum is a solid base for learning about conceptual art and some of the most influential art practices of this century. Students learn about contemporary artists from around the world, generating artworks that respond to their personal experience as they interpret the work themselves.
Over the past six months Studio in a School NYC adopted do it (in school) in their ongoing curriculum with three New York City high schools: Art and Design High School, Manhattan; Fordham High School for the Arts, Bronx; and Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School, Queens.
Capping this first implementation of do it (in school), an exhibition at Hunter East Harlem Gallery will present a selection of works realized by students as a result of the Studio in a School NYC programs, alongside documentation of the students’ process of interpretation of the artists’ written scores. This collaboration with Hunter College adds to do it (in school) a unique connection between high schools and a city university, as high-schoolers become active in the college art gallery program. The exhibition will open with a reception on Friday, April 12, 4–8pm, at Hunter East Harlem Gallery, 2180 3rd Avenue, and be on view through June 1, 2019.
do it (in school) is made possible with the generous collaboration of Uri Aran, and by ICI’s Board of Trustees, ICI’s Leadership Council and the Jeanne and Dennis Masel Foundation, and additional gifts to ICI’s Access Fund, as well as by the generous support of individuals and foundations that support Studio in a School NYC’s New York City Schools Program.
About the Curator:
Hans Ulrich Obrist (b. 1968, Zurich, Switzerland) is Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries in London, and Senior Artistic Advisor of The Shed in New York. Prior to this, he was the Curator of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Since his first show “World Soup” (The Kitchen Show) in 1991, he has curated more than 300 shows. Obrist’s recent publications include Mondialité, Somewhere Totally Else, Ways of Curating, The Age of Earthquakes with Douglas Coupland and Shumon Basar, and Lives of The Artists, Lives of The Architects.
About Studio in a School NYC:
Since 1977, Studio in a School NYC has nurtured the creativity and growth of over one million students through quality visual arts instruction taught by professional artists. Studio’s New York City Schools Program engages over 30,000 students in Pre-K through high school in all five boroughs each year, while the national Studio Institute focuses on research and dissemination of best practices in visual arts education as well as college and career readiness for teens and young adults.
About Hunter East Harlem Gallery
Hunter East Harlem Gallery is a multidisciplinary space for art exhibitions and socially minded projects. Located on the ground floor of Hunter College’s Silberman School of Social Work, the gallery presents exhibitions and public events that foster academic collaborations at Hunter College while addressing subjects relevant to the East Harlem community and greater New York City. The gallery seeks to initiate partnerships with publicly oriented organizations and focuses on showcasing artists who are engaging in social practice, public interventions, community projects, and alternative forms of public art. Since its inception in 2011, all exhibitions and programs at Hunter East Harlem Gallery are free and open to the public.
Press Contacts:
Bessie Zhu, Independent Curators International (ICI)
bessie@curatorsintl.org
Jonas Stigh, Studio in a School NYC (Studio)
jstigh@studioinaschool.org
Arden Sherman, Hunter East Harlem Gallery (HEHG)
huntereastharlem@gmail.com