Curated by Celia Rowlson-Hall
presented by Eye Level Gallery
Start Time: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 6:00pm
End Time: Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 9:00pm
Location: St. Cecilia’s Convent
Street: 15 Monitor Street
City/Town: Brooklyn, NY
Featuring installations, video, photography, paintings and performances by:
Camille and Stewart / Allison Cave / Jen Dunlap/ Leah Durner/ David Fishel/ Katie Klencheski/ Ian lynch/ S. Billie Mandle/ Sarah Beth Percival/ Jonathan Melville Pratt/ C J Rosenthal/ Celia Rowlson-Hall/ Marc Vinciguerra/ Emily Wroe
Saint Cecilia’s Church, was built in 1871. The outer stone used for the construction is limestone, said to be originally utilized by St. Patrick’s Cathedral of Manhattan. It is most notable for its illuminated copper bell tower which can be seen from the northbound side of the nearby Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
A convent may refer to a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, In modern English usage, “convent” almost invariably refers to a community of women, but it also refers to a building used by the community, in this case a community of artists have been working throughout the summer:
Leah Kim, work which for a long time now has been inspired by the Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris, Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Grande Arche, her designs are shaped in plastic, and then flattened, making it possible for the viewer to see past the garment’s structure and shape.
Chae Ohn’s drawings present a clear visual struggle between the subject and its background, in previous occasions she has made herself present by making her body look like one of her drawings reduced to black and white lines poured into a 3rd dimension.© Chae Ohn
Various reactions to this residency are displayed in installations, video photography, painting, drawings, sculpture drawings, fashion sculpture, performance, in a vast array of work seeking to explore, and explain the convent’s environment and the possible stories and scenarios pertaining to Saint Cecilia’s sisterhood Convent.
Jonathan Melville Pratt, is doing a sound piece with performers dancing to the story in the voice of a young girl who provides a sweet and unnerving touch, as an explanation or interpretation of the a place were women live in a place such as this Convent;
Katie Klencheski’s is presenting a surveillance approach with CCTV.REV.21:4© Katie Klencheski
“I’ve always been interested in how Western/Christian religious mythology could be reinterpreted in a contemporary setting. So, I was very interested in participated in the Convent because it gave me a chance to react to space that exists in this context. My work before this has been almost completely 2-dimensional, but in reaction to the space, I have been exploring video and installation. The work I’ve done is about the death of the building and the afterlife of the building.”
In S. Billie Mandle’s work we have previously being witnessing the result of a powerful collection of photographs taken at many churches, mostly around New England in California, she teaches photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and lives in Brooklyn. For this show, with her “Reconciliation” series, made in confessionals, embodying the thoughts and prayers of the penitents, which structures could suggest the ways people reckon with the complexities of faith and forgiveness.
© S.Billie Mandle
As opposed to Jen Dunlap’s, whose live recreation of a confessional, the penitents will find themselves in an intimate, confessional – visitors will be able to enter my confessional, and be part of an interactive performance confession booth. Celia Rowlson-Hall’s piece, is the re-creation of Da Vinci’s last supper with all women, which was when Jesus said that each of his disciples will betray him. In this film she explores obvious and blatant ways of how women daily betray themselves.
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SAINT CECILIA’S CHURCH
Coordinates: 40°43′13.25″N 73°56′30.48″W
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**”The cell tolls for St. Cecilia Church” New condos are sprouting all around, as if somebody scattered seeds of greed, and a two-bedroom just down Herbert St. is going for $1.4 million. But the church that has graced this patch of Brooklyn for more than a century has fallen on such hard times it is allowing a cell phone company to install transmitters on its famous bell tower, as you can see things have been getting tough for Father Kirsch, that is why, if you visit this show, make sure to do a large donation at the bar, as all profits from the bar are in gratitude of the artists to the community and The Convent.
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For information about the event, please contact:
Gabriela Alva Cal y Mayor, Eye Level BQE
(212).380.1493, leairbag@gmail.com
