Celebrating the music and spirit of a true original.
Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda was an American jazz pianist, organist, harpist, singer, composer and the wife of John Coltrane, the most venerated and influential saxophonist in the history of jazz. Alice’s recording catalog dates back to 1957, and during the last decade of her career – starting in the mid-’80s – she self-released four brilliant cassette albums. They contained a music she invented, inspired by the gospel music of the Detroit churches she grew up in, mixed together with the Indian devotional music of her religious practice.
Ten years after Alice’s passing, in what would have been her 80th year, we will celebrate her music and spirit at the stunning arts and performance space Knockdown Center in Queens. The first part is presented with New York label Luaka Bop, and inspired by the Sunday ceremonies Alice held at her Sai Anantam Ashram in California. Timed to coincide with sundown, the powerful, spiritual music will be performed by an ensemble led by music director Surya Botofasina, who grew up at the Ashram. The latter half will be a concert led by her son, Ravi Coltrane, featuring an all-star band playing music from throughout Alice’s career.
SUNSET SET: The Sai Anantam Singers & Special Guests
EVENING SET: Ravi Coltrane, Brandee Younger and more
We are pleased to announce a series of events celebrating the legacy and spirit of avant-garde musician, filmmaker, and artist Tony Conrad (1940–2016). Planned by friends, family, curators, and collaborators, the events include concerts and screenings at venues such as The Kitchen, Anthology Film Archives, and ISSUE Project Room, centering on a memorial the afternoon of Saturday, April 8, at the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center. The memorial will feature speeches, videos, and musical performances from artists and writers that were close to Conrad.
TONY CONRAD
Throughout the six decades of his career, Tony Conrad stretched the limits of music and performance. In the 1960s, he drafted post-Cagean music compositions and text pieces, collaborating with artists such as Henry Flynt, Jack Smith, and—as part of legendary drone ensemble Theatre of Eternal Music—La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, and John Cale. By the mid-’60s, Conrad had begun to focus his attention on film; in 1966, he created The Flicker, a stroboscopic masterpiece which stands as one of the first examples of structural film
From then on, Conrad’s socially-engaged multimedia works, such as Straight and Narrow and Ten Years Alive on the Infinite Plain, continued to push boundaries while investigating notions of authorship, viewership, discipline, and power.
In the ’70s, Conrad turned his attention to new media, working alongside artists such as Paul Sharits and Hollis Frampton while a professor State University of New York at Buffalo. In the ensuing decades, Conrad was a leader in Buffalo’s film, media, and educational communities through involvement with the Squeaky Wheel Media Coalition, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo Cable Access Media, and the Department of Media Study at the university.
Conrad continued to make films in the ’80s, working with—and proving a major influence on—a younger generation of artists, namely Mike Kelley and Tony Oursler. The ’90s brought a resurgence of interest in Conrad’s music, with new and archival releases creating a wider audience than ever before for his groundbreaking minimal compositions.
Conrad performed music, screened films, and exhibited art in numerous mediums at festivals and institutions throughout the world, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Tate Modern. He had recently been the subject of solo exhibitions at Greene Naftali Gallery, New York; Galerie Buchholz, Cologne; and 80WSE, New York University. His films and artworks are in the collections of the Whitney Museum, the Albright-Knox Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, and the ZKM Center for Art and Media, among others. He continued to teach, perform, transgress, and inspire up until his passing on April 9, 2016. A radical and thoughtful visionary, Tony Conrad is missed.
Universe- MC’s from far far + near taking over the Knockdown Center
Karma Kids
Akai Solo
Big Breakfa$t
Rich Jones
Lil Freckles
Man Forever
Man Forever is an exploratory percussion project helmed by John Colpitts (aka Kid Millions), one of New York’s most versatile and critically lauded collaborators and a founding member of Oneida.
https://johncolpitts.bandcamp.com/
CCDS
From St. Louis – Two Drummers, two drum sets. SciFi and Horror blasts.
https://ccdsdeathsquad.bandcamp.com/releases
Collapsible Shoulder
Collapsible Shoulder’s music is drawn from its members’ years in the downtown NYC and Brooklyn music scenes: neo-psychedelic with unpredictable twists and turns, an electronic-acoustic-sonic mash.
Get Artists Paid and MAMI presents Art is Labor: A Day of Creative Advocacy and Critical Imagination, a day long event that centers holistic sustainability for artists in today’s precarious economy.
Join us for discussions and workshops that cover topics such as managing student loan debt, healthful eating on a budget, internet security, making sense of the commissioning processes, and more, as well as an ART IS LABOR marketplace with goods for sale by local qtpoc artists. The day will wrap with a mixer and DJ sets by D0UZE and Cremosa.
Schedule of Events
1:00-6:00PM
ART IS LABOR Market
Goods for sale or barter by qtpoc artists featuring:
The Bettys
Stephanie Griffin
Sakuradaijin & Moonbear
Artist Statements 101 with Shama Rahman
HERban Cura
Inshadycompany
HAT_LINE
Odiosas
Matthew Scott Gualco
Yung Nihilist Vintage
BROOKLYN HI-ART MACHINE
Santa Isla
Mojuicy
Ayqa Khan
Black Boy Feelings
Wyeth Moss
Roxana Santana
Holyrad Studio
Caribienne
rayo & honey
Cósmica
Yellow Jackets Collective
La Chamba Press
Danni Hu-Yang
Wet Blanket Enterprises
BALTI GURLS
3 dot zine
Braids by Mariama
Fikira Bakery
Bandaid Baby
Criminal Pussy
La Liga Zine
1:30-3:00PM
Panel Discussion: Co-operative vs. Co-opting
With Suhaly Bautista-Carolina, Barbara Calderón, Natalia Linares and Tsige Tafesse
Moderated by Luna Olavarria Gallegos
“Co-operative vs. Co-opting”: A conversation around the complexities of creating, consuming and representing ourselves as creatives in a capitalist system rooted in exploitation. Is it possible to create a cooperative and sustainable creative ecosystem in today’s times, and if so, how? What are examples of tangible resistance, pre-existing and co-existing, that create necessary friction against destructive institutional paradigms? What are the alternatives to exploitative economies and how do we create lasting and realistic change?
3:15-4:15PM
Workshop: Healthy Eating on a Budget
Facilitator: Janel Coleman
How can we take care of both our bodies and our pockets? This workshop will cover how to sustain a healthy diet on a budget. We will explore the myth of healthy eating being an expensive privilege and the necessity of maintaining good health in order to pursue our passions.
About Janel: My name is Janel and I spend a lot of quality time with food. Currently, I have a B.S. in Public Health and am a Certified Holistic Health Coach. My interest in nutrition was sparked by being a broke college student while developing food allergies and intolerances. My goal is to provide communities with knowledge and support, so people become self-motivated to practice self-care throughout the entirety of their lives.
IG: @janellaurel
4:20-5:20PM
Workshop: Web Security for Dissident Artists
Facilitator: Candace Williams
Although web security seems daunting, there are basic concepts, tools, and strategies that dissident artists can use to make better choices about how they secure online communications. This session includes an overview of threat modeling as well as basic messaging and email security strategies. There will also be time for conversation/Q&A about web security topics. By the end of the session, participants should be able to take 1-2 concrete web security steps.
About Candace: Candace Williams’ poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Hyperallergic, Lambda Literary Review, and the Brooklyn Poets Anthology (Brooklyn Arts Press), among other places. Her first collection, Spells for Black Wizards, won the the Atlas Review’s 2017 Chapbook Series. She’s earned a MA in Elementary Education from Stanford University, a Brooklyn Poets Fellowship, and scholarships from Cave Canem. She’s performed, presented, and taught workshops at the Obie-winning Bushwick Starr Theater, the New Museum, Dixon Place, Eyebeam, and the Museum of Arts and Design.
5:30-6:30PM
Workshop: Debt-Free Denae: Meet An Artist Who Paid Off Her Student Loans…Are You Next?
Facilitator: Denae Famada
Join dancer Denae Famada for a conversation on dealing with student loans. She will share her personal story of becoming debt-free, the skills she learned along the way, and offer steps to help start your journey to life without student loans. Bye Sallie!
About Denae: A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Denae Famada is a comedian, choreographer and burlesque artist based in Brooklyn, NY. She’s the creator of the dance and comedy collective DNA Comedy and performs burlesque as her alter-ego Ravenessa. She believes in the power of humor, movement and fun to create new perspectives and engage difficult topics. She received her B.A. in Drama from Stanford University and M.F.A. in Performance & Choreography from Florida State University. She studied at The Alvin Ailey School, The Peoples Improv Theatre and is an Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) alum in both improv and sketch comedy. Ms. Famada was a 2012 EMERGENYC fellow with New York University’s Hemispheric Institute for Performance & Politics, a 2012-2013 Commissioned Artist at Stanford University, a 2013 TEDxStanford performer, a 2014 Laundromat Project Fellow, a 2015 UCB Diversity Fellow and is the winner of the 2016 NBC Inclusion Scholarship. Her original dance comedy shows have been performed at NYC SketchFest, SOLOCOM, SPANK, NACHMO, Brooklyn Museum, the Comedy in Dance Festival, and Women in Dance curated by Camille A. Brown. Ms. Famada is currently work on her book about becoming debt-free and posts tips weekly. Learn more at Debt-Free Denae on Facebook.
3:00-5:00PM
Workshop: Demystifying the Process of Commissioned Work
Facilitator: New Negress Film Society
Members of the New Negress Film Society will screen commissioned work and then engage in a frank Q&A discussion about our experiences making work for companies. We hope to cover topics such as the value of Black Women’s creative work within a capitalist framework, tactics used by companies to keep artists’ rates low, and tips for calculating your rate.
BIO: The New Negress Film Society is a core collective of black women filmmakers whose priority is to create community and spaces for support, exhibition and consciousness-raising. The group is formed by Frances Bodomo, Ja’Tovia Gary, Chanelle Aponte Pearson, Stefani Saintonge and Dyani Douze.
4:30PM-6:00PM
Workshop: Healing//MerKaBa for the Hoeteps
Facilitator: Tabita Rezaire
Join in a meditative journey into Kemetic wisdom to awaken your light beings and reclaim your hoetep powers. In our times of ultra disconnection, ancient African teachings offer guidance to raise our vibrational frequency and tune into our energy source. The spiritual technology of Kemetic Yoga enables us to reconnect, remember and nurture our divine juice. Come turn your MerKaBa on.
Instructions for optimum experience: wear a comfortable power outfit, bring a yoga mat (or a towel) and water to stay hydrated.
About Tabita: Tabita Rezaire (b.1989, Paris, France) is a French-born Guyanese/Danish new media artist, intersectional preacher, health practitioner, tech-politics researcher and Kemetic/ Kundalini Yoga teacher based in Johannesburg. She holds a Bachelor in Economics (Paris) and a Master in Artist Moving Image from Central Saint Martins College (London). Rezaire’s practice explores the possibilities of decolonial healing through the politics of technology, seeking to unlearn, remember and reconnect. Navigating architectures of power – online and offline – her works tackle the pervasive matrix of coloniality and its affects on identity, technology, sexuality, health and spirituality. Disseminating light through screen based interfaces; her digital healing activism offers substitute readings decentering occidental authority, so as to assist the dismantling of our white supremacist-patriarchal-cis-hetero-globalized world screen. Rezaire is a founding member of NTU, half of the duo Malaxa, and mother of the energy house SENEB.
5:30-6:30PM
How to Effectively Provide Opportunities + Space for Marginalized Voices in DJ Culture
Facilitator: Frankie Decaiza Hutchinson (Discwoman)
Since Discwoman’s inception, our main concern has been platforming those with less representation in broader society, specifically women, gender nonconforming folks, people of color. I’m going to share the experiences we’ve had since our beginning, covering what has worked and what has not worked. We will focus on how to effectively benefit those most vulnerable in our communities, how to redirect resources from white cis men and how that is a politically potent action. After the presentation, I’d like to invite people to give their own feedback on their experiences and for us to collaboratively develop more effective ways to keep our voices centered.
About Frankie: Hailing from London, co-founder of Discwoman, Frankie Decaiza Hutchinson, moved to New York City in 2009. While in university, she developed an affection for the underground electronic music scene and began creating platforms for women. Since her move across seas, she’s worked in a range of places and areas of the city relating to media and culture that have ultimately led her to leading Discwoman.
6:30-8:30
MIXER
Unwind and process the day with a drink and sets by D0UZE and Cremosa.
About the organizers:
Get Artists Paid (G.A.P.) is an international alliance, formed online in 2016 as a collective response to ongoing exploitation in the art and media industries.
Get Artists Paid asks that artists receive just compensation for creative labor, which is the foundation of any sustainable society. We organize around identifying art as labor, demanding compensation for work and acknowledging that people of color have always created societal infrastructure without recognition. Members of our alliance include writers, curators, filmmakers, photographers, organizers, performers and musicians— all of whom are under-paid, misrepresented and largely professionally unrecognized.
MAMI is a curatorial initiative started by Dyani Douze and Ali Rosa-Salas after their co-curated exhibition in summer 2016 at Knockdown Center. They’ve partnered with BALTI GURLS, BBZ London, Browntourage, BUFU, POWRPLNT, Fake Accent, GET ARTISTS PAID, Holyrad Studio, Smart Girl Club, SISTER NYC, Top Rank Magazine, and many more womxn of color and collectives to organize community gatherings that center our survival. IG: @mami_dna
Nomads Only & De La’funk… A Day In The Clouds V Body:
A Day In The Clouds is when we’d like to have you around!
A special day out is what we like to do and are all about…
A new collaboration and a brand new venue situation.
A music art love affair, early Spring transformation…
Vincent Lemieux (Mutek, Musique Risquee / Paris)
Giammarco Orsini
Nabeel (De La’funk, BK)
To celebrate the launch of aCCeSsions issue three, the journal’s editorial team will host an event featuring DJ sets from artists Juliana Huxtable, James Hoff and HD at the Knockdown Center. aCCeSsions is the online journal edited by the graduate students at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (CCS Bard) in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.
Issue 3: “Transmissions”
Digital Launch: Thursday, March 16, 2017
https://accessions.org/
Launch Party: Saturday March 18, 7pm
Featuring DJ sets by James Hoff, Juliana Huxtable, and HD
Event is free and open to the public
Issue 3 contributors: Armen Avanessian, Dora Budor, Lauren Duca, Miriam Felton-Dansky, Anna Friz, Chrissie Iles, Daniel Llano Parra, Christopher Roth, and Shuddhabrata Sengupta.
The latest issue of aCCeSsions features nine new commissions from artists, curators, critics, journalists, and scholars. Articles, artworks, and interviews address the ways ideas are packaged and the politics latent in their dissemination. “Transmissions” considers what happens when information is intercepted, mediated, or fragmented. The high stakes of curating discourse and technological secrecy are discussed in an interview with Armen Avanessian and expanded upon in his film with Christopher Roth, Discreet, which will stream exclusively on aCCeSsions. Chrissie Iles’ interview discusses the construction of community in cinema and her curatorial approach to crafting of a total viewing experience, while Lauren Duca’s essay raises questions about the circulation of the Pepe the Frog meme and the ways the cartoon character has been co-opted as a malicious mascot. This third issue of aCCeSsions assembles interdisciplinary perspectives that reassess the concept of transmission.
This issue also marks the redesign of the aCCeSsions website by Other Means, a graphic design studio in New York City. The revamped format features animated content and visual interventions that seek to redefine the experience of this online publication. The journal’s redesign also marks the introduction of BackTalk, a bi-monthly selection of personal trains of thought and ruminations shared by our student editors and found in aCCeSsions.
About aCCeSsions
aCCeSsions is the graduate student-led online journal of the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College.
The second year graduate students comprise the editorial board of aCCeSsions. Together, they employ a collaborative approach to commissioning, editing, and curating new transdisciplinary writing and artworks for online space. These new visual, text-based, and aural contributions revolve around a new theme each issue. The journal also includes a new section called BackTalk. Here, each individual editor will publish a compilation of links related to their trains of thought, on a bi-monthly basis.
aCCeSsions represents a culmination of each graduating class’ collaborative interests and concerns. The platform is a space in which graduate students may test the limits of curatorial practice over the course of an annual publication cycle.
Past issues of aCCeSsions are available in the “Archive” section of the website. The website and each issue of the journal has been designed by Other Means in close collaboration with each graduating class at CCS Bard.