Artists Space

Carolyn Lazard
Two-way

February 28 – May 10, 2025

Artists Space is pleased to present a newly commissioned exhibition of Carolyn Lazard.

Close-up of an upright black birthing mannequin reclined on a hospital bed in a blue patient room. A newborn mannequin swaddled in a hospital receiving blanket lays on the birthing mannequin’s chest.
Still from Fiction Contract, 2025 [Close-up of an upright black birthing mannequin reclined on a hospital bed in a blue patient room. A newborn mannequin swaddled in a hospital receiving blanket lays on the birthing mannequin’s chest.]

Two films were shot in the same location: a simulation center.

A simulation center is a controlled environment in which hospital professionals engage in a form of roleplay-based procedural enactment with one another and with medical mannequins. The practice of simulation is pedagogical in focus and centers on improving patient care. Both films presented in the exhibition, Two-way, were shot at Elmhurst Hospital, New York City Health + Hospitals (NYC H+H). This simulation center is an administrative arm of the hospital with its own wing, located within the larger hospital building. For the purposes of observation and review, simulation centers often employ tools of surveillance. Two-way mirrors aid in live synchronous supervision of sessions. Security cameras capture the practice for subsequent playback in debriefings with simulation participants and their supervisors.

Fiction Contract documents a childbirth simulation facilitated by The Maternal Mortality Reduction Program (MMRP). Across all five boroughs of New York City, this team trains medical professionals through complex childbirth simulations. NYC H+H selected an all-black team of administrators, midwives, doctors, and nurses for this simulation. It was performed with and by Jayda, a black birthing mannequin who can simulate different complex childbirth scenarios. In 2020, as part of a comprehensive plan to “eliminate disparities in maternal mortality between Black and White women,” the Deblasio administration earmarked funds to incentivize medical mannequin manufacturers to produce mannequins with brown skin. Prior to 2020, all medical mannequins were white.

The term “fiction contract” refers to the mutual agreement among simulation participants. In this enactment—which itself may constitute a social contract for performance—the simulation scenario is established as a constructed, but immersive environment. Participants agree to engage with the scenario as if it were real, while remaining aware that it is not.

Vital is a work of fiction. It depicts a black birthing person’s first prenatal visit. Both Vital and Fiction Contract were filmed in adjoining rooms of the same simulation center; the two films thus share the same props, or tools.

Both films have open captions in the exhibition. If you need audio description please email info@artistsspace.org for access.

Carolyn Lazard is an artist based in Philadelphia and New York. Their primary medium is iteration. Their practice remembers the generative incapacity of debility. Lazard’s work has been exhibited in several institutions including Museum Für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Their work was included in the 2019 and 2024 Whitney Biennial and the 2022 Venice Biennale. Lazard is a 2020 Disability Futures Fellow, a 2021 United States Artists Fellow, and a 2023 Macarthur Fellow. They hold a BA from Bard College and an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Filmed on location at NYC Health + Hospitals / Elmhurst.

Participants for Fiction Contract:
Jayda, Birthing Person
Lorren Williams, Jayda’s Voice
Morenike Jegede, Jayda’s Sister
Adrielle El-Dyson Otoo, Midwife
Lindsay Dallemand, Primary Nurse
Chinyere Ogbonna, Pediatric Doctor
Guirlene Dube-Whittingham, Assistant Nurse
Dr. Tricia Yusaf, Simulation Facilitator

Cast for Vital:
Martine Syms, Maxine Smalls
Cyrus Dunham, Dr. Max
Rhona Veg, Nurse
Kirby Mason, Medical Receptionist
David Luis, Hallway Doctor
Lavell Allen, Waiting Room Patient 1
Sally Barrilla, Waiting Room Patient 2
Lisha Hartgrove, Waiting Room Patient 3

Crew:
Carolyn Lazard, Director
Morgan B. Powell, Producer
Rezarta Seferi, Line Producer
Flannery Spring-Robinson, 1st Assistant Director
Alex Ashe, Director of Photography
April Goldberg, Gaffer
Gulab Singh, Key Grip
Caiya Sanchez-Strauss, G&E Swing
Marcus Odom, 1st Assistant Camera
Jade Alexia Williams, 2nd Assistant Camera
Xian Gunther, 2nd Assistant Camera
Evgeny Kolesnikov, Sound Mixer
Tarina Meaders, Makeup Artist
Chanelle Jones, Digital Image Technician
Sami Hopkins, Art Director
Kai Miller, Production Assistant
Meron Tebeje, Production Assistant
Logan Lynette Burroughs, Production Assistant
Anthony Banua-Simon, Editor
Will Whatley, Sound Designer
Andrew Geary, Light Iron, Colorist
Madison Zalopany, Access Consultant
Nefertiti Matos Oliveros, Blind Quality Control
A. Sef, AD Script Writer
Thomas Reid, AD Editor
Barbara Faison, AD Narrator
Alicia Riccio, Captions Writer
Efe Osaren, Birthwork Consultant

Carolyn Lazard and Artists Space would like to offer a special and heartfelt thanks to NYC Health + Hospitals and The Maternal Mortality Reduction Program (MMRP) for their production assistance and unwavering support. We are especially grateful to the following people:

Dr. Machelle Allen
Michael Alvarez
Maloree Baxter-Williams
Cosme Bernabe
Atiya Butler
Justin Chin
Max P. Colmers
Lindsay Dallemand
Louise Derevlany
Eric DeVitto
Guirlene Dube-Whittingham
Diana Eusse
Sergey Gontar
Lisha Hartgrove
Dr. Laura Iavicoli
Morenike Jegede
Dr. Helen Arteaga Landaverde
Nicholas Lividini
Tatiana Lubin
Dr. Daniel M. Lugassy
Shayna McClelland
Dr. Michael Meguerdichian
Milenko Milinic
Christopher Miller
Kimberley Miller
Chinyere Ogbonna
Adrielle El-Dyson Otoo
Pierre Pham
Jessica Pohlman
Ganish Ramoutar
Thomas Ricketts
Rocco Sapone
Nicholas Tardo
Joseph Umile
Lorenzo Valentino
Dr. Wendy Wilcox
Lorren Williams
Dr. Tricia Yusaf

Carolyn Lazard would like to express gratitude to the construction, audiovisual, and graphics teams for their steadfast support on the exhibition design. Special thanks to the friends and collaborators who offered moral and general support:

Basie Allen
Cassandra Mayela Allen
Patrick Armstrong
Corey Bernstein
Giampaolo Bianconi
Suzanne Camhi
Jackie Clay
Phoebe Collings-James
Steve Collins
Paul Cossu
Vivian Crockett
CTHQ
JJJJJerome Ellis
Shatara Ford
Onyx Fujii
Deana Haggag
Jay Abu Hamda
Geoff Han
Daniel Herleth
Denniston Hill
Jason Hirata
Rebecca Watson Horn
Telo Hoy
Zakiyyah Iman Jackson
Adam Khalil
Zack Khalil
Gus Kontogiannis
T Lax
Emmy Levitas
Park McArthur
Ted Mello
Miguel
Chad Mitchner
Covalky Monsanto
Meg Onli
Julia Phillips
Sasha Phyars-Burgess
Jackson Polachik
Vadim Rabinovich
Renzo Rodriguez
Lacey Romano
Geelia Ronkina
Cameron Rowland
Courtney Smith
Performance Space
Megan Steinman
Bärbel Trautwein
Penny Tsoumas
Diya Vij
Kyle Welch

Exhibition support for Carolyn Lazard: Two-way is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Lead support is provided by the Arison Art Foundation; Lambent Foundation Fund, a fund of Tides Foundation; and Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund. Major support is provided by James Cahn & Jeremiah Collatz. Support is provided by Agnes Gund. Public program support is provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. In kind support is provided by Trautwein Herleth..

Support for Artists Space exhibitions and programs is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Lambent Foundation Fund of Tides Foundation, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council, The New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, I.A. O'Shaughnessy Foundation, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, The Cowles Charitable Trust, Milton and Sally Avery Foundation, and the Friends of Artists Space.