2023-11-29 | Terrence Musekiwa in a group State of Emergence in NADA East Broadway, NYC

Our fellow Terrence Musekiwa is participating in a group exhibition State of Emergence in NADA East Broadway.

NADA East Broadway is pleased to host State of Emergence, a group exhibition of works by 20 Ukrainian and international artists curated by Lesia Kulchynska and Catinca Tabacaru. The exhibition is organized in partnership with the Ukrainian Institute.

Starting from the Russo-Ukrainian war, curators Lesia Kulchynska and Catinca Tabacaru focus on ongoing emergencies around the globe and their possible techno-driven futures, proposing the consideration of empowering alliances between those who have lived through, or are still living in, these states. The exhibition places artists from Europe, Lebanon, Suriname, the United States, and Zimbabwe in conversation with Ukrainian artists.

State of Emergence welcomes viewers with the presence of strange and dangerous creatures: the Dancing Rubble by Slinko personifies in absurdity the destruction of war; while The Siren, a painting by Nikita Kadan reverberates with the seduction of death. As an audience, we try to adapt to their eerie presence despite having no reasons to trust or understand them. Looking at the dead ends of hope, the artists call in the liberating overtones of gloom.

Alaa Mansour explores AI’s hallucinations of digital domination, while the art streaming collective UKRAïNATV invites viewers to surrender to the intoxicating messiness of being together in the digital trenches of the ongoing cyberwar. UkraЇnaTV creates a hybrid virtual-physical space that allows for chance encounters between visitors to the exhibition and guests at their studios in Krakow and Kyiv.

Maria Kulikovska and Ksenia Hnylytska reflect on their war-induced nomadism: strangers cut off from their endangered or destroyed homes who are learning to become their own islands. Will these islands form new archipelagos? Through the archeology of images and matter, Terrence Musekiwa and Xavier Robles de Medina find a way to reassemble colonial subjectivities into incommensurable heterogenous agency. All this takes place under the stunning and bizarre synthetic sunset of Lesia Vasylchenko, raising questions on the predictability of our future.

This New York chapter of State of Emergence is the third in an ongoing collaboration between Kulchynska and Tabacaru. It started with an exhibition of Ukrainian artists in the Catinca Tabacaru Gallery’s Bucharest space, which opened exactly 50 days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Chapter One brought together thirteen artists, eight of whom were still living in Ukraine on the day the exhibition opened. The works were first impressions, filled with emotion, danger, and short-term coping mechanisms. The exhibition brought forth reflections on the emergence of a new reality and subjectivity amid the State of Emergency. Later that year, Chapter Two was mounted at Sandwich Gallery in Bucharest as an exploration and rediscovery by five artists of their personal and shared histories erased by Russia’s colonial violence over the past centuries.

State of Emergence is organized under the Ukrainian Institute’s Visualize program, standing as a testament to resilience in the face of challenging times. Anastasiia Manuliak, Head of Visual Art for the Ukrainian Institute states, “By featuring works from Ukrainian artists alongside established artists of Ukrainian origin and renowned international artists, we hope to bring Ukrainian perspectives on global issues and challenges to the forefront. This inclusion of Ukrainian discourse in the vibrant art scene of New York City is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the artistic dialogue on a global scale.”

Artists:

Alaa Mansour

Anatoliy Belov

Borys Kashapov

Katia Lesiv

Katia Lysovenko

Katya Grokhovsky

Ksenia Hnylytska

Lesia Vasylchenko

Luba Drozd

Maria Kulikovska

Nikita Kadan

Nona Inescu

Oksana Kazmina

Palliative Turn

Rachel Monosov

Slinko

Terrence Musekiwa

Yulia Krivich

Xavier Robles de Medina

UKRAïNATV

Terrence's work "Muunzi tsika yepakutanga," employs a diverse palette that calls for the revitalization of heritage and the transcendence of enduring colonial legacies. The work takes shape through the indigenous practice of meticulously sculpting the face from a fusion of Springstone, Red Jasper, and Butter Jade which are interwoven with an array of salvaged objects. Among these materials are a 1970s riot helmet, a cascade of copper internet cables, and the scattered lump sum of a defunct currency.

At the heart of this piece is a protruding pregnant belly formed from the very shell of a riot helmet. This motif proclaims the enduring spirit of multigenerational resistance against the oppressive forces of colonialism. It is an acknowledgment that the echoes of conflict reverberate through time, leaving their indelible mark on the present and future alike. Here, we find an embodiment of the manifold ways in which acts of resistance manifest, where motherhood emerges as one of the most potent forms of defiance. Yet, it also bears witness to the harsh truth that children, both born and unborn, bear the weight of history's tumultuous upheavals with unparalleled vulnerability during times of war and genocide.

Seemingly growing out from the piece, a mesmerizing tapestry of copper internet cables unfurl. These salvaged wires, contemporaneous artifacts of our digital age, serve as a symbol of our times. In the era of instant connectivity, they offer an opportunity to weave together the threads of history, thus enabling us to trace the intricate narrative arcs across generations. Through such intergenerational dialogue, we gain a clearer understanding of the path that has brought us to our present juncture and, more crucially, how to navigate the path forward.

The visage of "Muunzi tsika yepakutanga," is shaped from the fusion of several broken stones. Reflecting the toll that generational conflict has and how the passage of time distorts and disfigures. It speaks to the scars and burdens that each generation carries, etched upon the collective countenance of humanity.

Photo: Installation view of “State of Emergence,” presented by Catinca Tabacaru, 311 E Broadway, Floor 2. Photography by Cary Whittier.

You can see the exhibition until 10 December.

More information here