UN/MUTE is an online residency that provides artists an opportunity for a critical exchange and collaboration while simultaneously connecting resources from the global cultural epicenter of New York City. This project is co-organized by Undercurrent and the European Union National Institutes for Culture’s New York Cluster. We are coming in late on this thoughtful, and very interesting project that went live on February 12, 2021. Luckily it will continue through May 9th, which marks Europe Day.
The twelve-week program follows the narratives of ten European artists who have never visited New York City and ten NYC-based artists, randomly paired into teams of two: one European and the other, a New Yorker. Additionally, one artist in each team is a digital immigrant, born before 1986, and the other is a digital native, born into the world of web browsers and email, after 1986. Over a series of Zoom sessions, each team’s collective creative process unfolds in a series of video recordings. Follow the project on https://unmute.nyc
Two pre-recorded artist discussions followed by live Q&A will be online April 1 and April 2. In these discussions, the artists share unforeseen challenges, wrestle with the tangible versus the digital, and discuss how they navigate collaborating with another artist who started off as a complete stranger.
THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 1-2 PM, EST, Teams Mouse, Bug, Profile, Web, and Thumbnail discuss language, personal diaries, artificial energy, photography and time loss.
Watch Live via Zoom Webinar Link: https://zoom.us/j/
FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1-2 PM, EST, Teams Ram, Stream, Branch, Cloud and Key share their focus of systemic oppression, polarities, prosthetics, domestic spaces, and invisibility.
Watch Live via Zoom Webinar Link: https://zoom.us/j/
Participating artists/teams are:
TEAM /PROFILE: Barbara Maria Neu /Austria + Kris Grey /NYC
TEAM /RAM: Gabrielė Gervickaitė /Lithuania + Yi Hsuan Lai /NYC
TEAM /BRANCH: Alex Mirutziu /Romania + Sydney Shavers /NYC
TEAM /CLOUD: FOQL /Poland + Emmanuel Massillon /NYC
TEAM /WEB: Olesja Katšanovskaja–Münd /Estonia + Mo Kong /NYC
TEAM /STREAM: Marie Lukáčová /Czech Republic + Emily Shanahan /NYC
TEAM /KEY: Sophie Guisset /Wallonia-Brussels, Belgium + Will Calhoun /NYC
TEAM/MOUSE: Aaron Bezzina /Malta + Kyle Hittmeier /NYC
TEAM /BUG: Sanne De Wilde /Flanders, Belgium + H. Lan Thao Lam /NYC
This project was initiated by the Lithuanian Culture Institute and the Consulate General of Estonia in New York and is co-organized by Austrian Cultural Forum New York, Wallonia-Brussels International in New York, Czech Center New York, Delegation of Flanders to the USA, Goethe-Institut New York, Arts Council Malta in New York, Polish Cultural Institute New York, Romanian Cultural Institute, the Hope Recycling Station, the Jindřich Chalupecký Society, and supported by the European Union Delegation to the United Nations.
About Undercurrent:
Undercurrent, defined as a body of water below the surface and moving in a different direction from any surface current, is a dedicated exhibition platform for art aiming to support contemporary art practices that are contrary to prevailing trends and movements. The gallery showcases local and international contemporary artists with an inclusive subprogram of artists and creative entities of the Baltic countries. This exchange augments our mission by providing a switchback, for a diverse and accessible platform distilling cultural perspectives in New York City.
Undercurrent focuses to represent, reflect, and identify aesthetic, emotional, and philosophical complexities in the arts of our time as they are present in painting, sculpture, mixed media, film, word, and sound. The gallery intends to highlight the existence of multilayered, multi-polar systems operating today, which can radiate openness, vulnerability, and self-reflection simultaneously.