Wind Turbine at 519 E 11th Street with Con Edison Power Plant, 1976. Photo courtesy of The News: New York’s Picture Newspaper.
Swiss Institute (SI) presents Energies, an international group exhibition that unfolds throughout the entire building at 38 St Marks Pl and expands into numerous partner locations in the surrounding East Village community. The exhibition includes influential historic artworks alongside contemporary positions and new commissions that address ecological affordances and effects, social formations, and political arrangements attached to energy past and present.
On SI’s rooftop terrace, in the communal spirit of the 519 E 11th Street co-op, Haroon Mirza has created a solar panel installation that provides electrical charge for a sound piece by the artist as well as Ash Arder’s new installation on the second floor, comprising a fridge housing a sculpture made from perishable, culturally symbolic material.
On view in the gallery is Gabriella Torres-Ferrer’s newly commissioned video installation transmitting live footage from four sites in Puerto Rico, whose infrastructure was devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017. The cameras turn off and the broadcast is interrupted when the still frequent power outages occur.
Haroon Mirza and Gabriella Torres-Ferrer
Energies
Swiss Institute (SI), New York
11 September 2024 – 5 January 2025
17 September 2024
