"Convergence Center" Exhibition
Park Avenue Armory
This event has ended.
After traveling across the country to glean perspectives from artists and activists on the state of democracy, Creative Time’s year-long program Democracy in America: The National Campaign culminates in the “Convergence Center”: a major exhibition, participatory project space, and meeting hall mounted in New York City’s Park Avenue Armory just in time for election season. The Convergence Center at Park Avenue Armory will provide an activated space to both reflect on and perform democracy and will be punctuated by speeches by leading political thinkers as well as community leaders and activists throughout the run of its program. As one of the largest unobstructed spaces in New York, the non-traditional setting of the Armory features interiors—such as its vast drill hall and historic period rooms—that are ideal for artists presenting multifaceted visual and performing arts productions.
Media
Schedule
from September 21, 2008 to September 27, 2008
Hours: 12-10pm; September 23, 12-6:30pm.
Opening Reception on 2008-09-21 from 14:00 to 22:00
Artist(s)
Jon Kessler, Steve Kurtz, Allison Smith, Duke Riley, Erick Beltrán, Luca Frei, Chu Yun, Magdalena Jitrik et al.
Reviews
So much of what is on display approaches the notion of democracy in America through the prism of post-9/11 overuse of the flag as a symbol of patriotism and freedom, the climate of fear created in this country since then, and the Iraq war. There is very little that is subtle about this exhibition, but then neither 9/11 nor the Iraq war were subtle. But isn't this just a restating of the obvious?
I thought it was a bit disappointing that this show doesn't particularly engage with the creeping infringement on civil rights — the truly subtle, insidious processes that are having the real impact on the state of democracy here.