The Momentary announces summer exhibitions and new outdoor installation

The Momentary this week announced its 2021 summer schedule which includes three indoor exhibitions and a new outdoor installation.

Tickets are not required, and there is no cost to view any of the works.

The facility is operating at a reduced capacity with staff monitoring upon entry and exit to ensure proper distancing is taking place, according to Emily Neuman, senior communications manager.


Abigail DeVille: Light of Freedom

Abigail DeVille, Light of Freedom, 2020 / Photo: Andy Romer

Abigail DeVille: Light of Freedom is scheduled from March 25 through July 25 outside the Momentary.

The 13-foot-tall sculpture references the Statue of Liberty’s torch encased in scaffolding and filled with found objects.

In Light of Freedom, DeVille reflects the despair and exultation of this turbulent period of pandemic and protest. She recognizes and hallows the earliest enslaved Africans who were brought to New Amsterdam, critiques the promise of American liberty through the arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty that were installed in Madison Square Park from 1876-1882, and summons the current Black Lives Matter movement as the sources for the work.

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Cauleen Smith: Space Station, Radiant behind the Sun

Cauleen Smith, Stop, 2017 / Photo: Tom Van Eynde

Cauleen Smith: Space Station, Radiant behind the Sun is scheduled to be on display June 26 through Oct. 17 inside the Momentary.

Visitors will walk through a gallery that’s been transformed into an immersive space station that draws from Afrofuturism, science fiction, and experimental cinema. The space’s 1970s aesthetic includes new installations, drawings, banners, and other elements while two of Smith’s films, Sojourner and Pilgrim, play on alternating loops.

Exploring themes of feminism, queerness, spirituality, Black culture, time, space, history, and more through research-based works, the immersive world of Cauleen Smith: Space Station, Radiant behind the Sun encourages its viewers to transcend the present, reimagining a future built on generosity and community as explored in her films.

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Garrett Bradley: American Rhapsody

Garrett Bradley, AKA, 2019 (film still)

Garrett Bradley: American Rhapsody will be on display July 3 through Sept. 19 inside the Momentary.

The exhibit features two single-channel videos and a multi-channel video installation that explore concepts of race, class, familial relationships, social justice, southern culture, and U.S. film history.

As the frames come together to tell a narrative, mundane and ordinary life events become images of beauty and reverence, connecting the dots from past to present and offering a new vision for the future.

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Kenny Rivero: The Floor Is Crooked

Kenny Rivero, Vivero, 2018 / Photo: Tom Barratt

Kenny Rivero: The Floor Is Crooked is scheduled from July 10 through Oct. 24 inside the Momentary.

The exhibition includes drawings, paintings, and sculptures intended to be an investigation of Rivero’s artistic practice that deconstruct histories and identities he’s been conditioned to accept as absolute.

Through his practice, Rivero aims to deconstruct histories and identities he’s been conditioned to accept as absolute. As the artist states, “through the lens of my evolving relationship to fear, love, death, intimacy, violence, power, and aloneness, my work addresses themes of Dominican and American identity, Afro-Caribbean symbologies, socio-geographic solidarity, cultural and familial expectations, race, and masculinity.”?

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