Images by Christian Hincapié
NARS Foundation is excited to present "Holding Breath", an exhibition featuring the works of our Satellite Program Artists in Residence at Governors Island, Anne Wu, j.p.mot, Sarah K. Williams, Christian Hincapié, and CHiKA.
These 5 artists started their journey on the Island in the middle of a pandemia. They exited one space of isolation to enter another where the feeling of alienation and strangeness has also been extremely present. During their time at 404A Colonels Row, they have focused on the ways the Island looks and it’s looked at, and the ways in which we think of distance, memory, and matter as living forces.
The results take the shape of a triptych combining historical images of the financial district and associating them to the historical and visual perspectives of Governors Island (Hincapié); a sunken structure referencing the layered history and architecture of the Island and what lies underground/unseen (Wu); a video performance piece that explores concepts like obligation, productivity, and human connection (Williams); an installation that explores the idea of remoteness through the fragmentation of a disjointed image (mot); and a virtual zen garden based on 5 Japanese healing symbols (CHiKA).
In the houses and on the Island in general, you can feel an old presence although no ghosts have been sighted yet. That presence carries the weight and memory of a long and layered history that exists now as a referential aspect surrounding a space that physically, simply stopped in time, holding its breath.
The current political climate coupled with the continuous fight against the virus have exponentially heightened feelings of uncertainty; an endless intermission in our lives that longs for a much needed exhalation.
Make an appointment to visit the exhibition