“Museum as Hub: In and Out of Context” reveals a partnership of arts organizations pursuing experimental methods of exhibition, communication, and collaboration, and considers the consequences of being part of a “hub,” including challenges of producing and exhibiting work in differing international contexts. The yearlong project is conceived as a changing exhibition that incorporates works commissioned by Museum as Hub partners as well as works by an extended network of artists and organizations from around the world. Central to this presentation is the design of the Museum as Hub space by Choi Jeong Hwa that serves as an “envelope” for the year—a flexible space that is an active zone for viewing, discussion, and activity.

For “In and Out of Context: REDUX,” the third stage of this exhibition, artists Ayreen Anastas, Julieta Aranda, and Rene Gabri present an evolving series of works, publications, events, and discussions to explore the museum as a site of exchange and catalyst for experimentation. Through individual and collective works, Anastas, Gabri, and Programs for Research and Outreach (PRO)’s project, Project for a Revolution in New York, or How to arrest a Hurricane, explores art’s potential place in the economic, national, and urban struggles by activating a pool of artists, agitators, thinkers, and former or aspiring revolutionaries to develop a series of works, events, occurrences, and interventions within the museum and in the city. Julieta Aranda’s project, All the memory of the world (We can remember it for you), consists of several newly commissioned sculptures, a wall installation that will develop over a three-month period, a newspaper publication, a screening, and discussions that expose “declarative memory,” a kind of representation of the past that requires articulation. For her, such articulations are part of a process in which we seek to track the truth and our witnessing of it—a type of memory that is contested but for which we become accountable.

As a project that thrives on its own evolution, “In and Out of Context: REDUX” invites repeated visits by the public. Details of scheduled events, discussions, and opportunities for participation are outlined below.

Potentials for Collective Research and Action: Activism, Analysis and Aesthetics at a Crossroads Organized by Programs for Research and Outreach (PRO) in association with Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri, this event will shift between elements of a seminar, screening, lecture and discussion.

New Museum Theater
Thursday, April 15
Part I: 4 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Part II: 7 p.m. – 9 p.m.
FREE, limited seating available