What does it mean to be invited? What does it mean to be uninvited?
Would you like to buy an apple?
Artists Space
the invited (cordially uninvited)
These questions were posted by artist Christopher D’Arcangelo in June 1978 when rejected from participating in a show at Rosa Esman Gallery entitled The Invitational, while initially having been invited to partake. A few months later, D’Arcangelo was included in a four person untitled group show at Artists Space, curated by Janelle Reiring, for which part of his contribution entailed the exclusion of his name from the invitation card and in the catalogue. D'arcangelo displayed his formatted catalogue pages on several walls of the gallery. The three pages of this text entitled “Look Out For What You Look At”, the original letter of invitation from Rosa Esman to D’Arcangelo, and his original proposal to the Rosa Esman Gallery, were to be kept on file at Artists Space and handed out throughout the exhibition as he offered apples for sale.
D’Arcangelo's declaration is the starting point for a series of events titled the invited (cordially uninvited) curated by Krist Gruijthuijsen for the exhibition The columns held us up at Artists Space in July 2009. By leaving the usual premises of the institution, the project investigates the notion of representation by taking the matter into one’s own hands. A series of encounters with the invited artists are staged in various venues throughout and around the Soho area of New York. The chosen venues, which include friends' apartments, hotel rooms, artists' studios and temporary vacant spaces, present a mobile and rapid exchange of information in ad-hoc situations. This informal set of relationships is a reminder of the local network of events that took place in 1970s Soho, for which Artists Space functioned as one of the core generators. The events take the form of commissions, screenings, performances, talks, and one-evening exhibitions.
July 14, 2009
Ben Kinmont
Event
6pm
July 15, 2009
Alexandre Singh
Lecture
7pm
July 16, 2009
Lisa Oppenheim
Screening
7pm
July 18, 2009
Jordan Wolfson
Reading, Discussion & Project Release
8pm