Museum from Home

March 19, 2020 – September 26, 2020

In response to the current global COVID-19 pandemic that has resulted in the temporary closure of 516 ARTS and cultural institutions around the world, we have launched a digital initiative to help contemporary artists stay connected with audiences and community online. Please see the digital programming we are currently offering below.

Radical Reimaginings

516 ARTS, in partnership with Kolaj Institute, invited selected artists from New Mexico and around the world to reflect on our shifting world using collage, a medium that has been historically used by artists to directly engage with the visual narratives of their time and to reimagine the stories that have been told. Affordable and democratic in its means, collage has a history of contributing to activism and inspiring new ideas. In this spirit of celebrating the radical qualities of combining images, artists who use collage in their artistic practices were selected from near and far. As consciousness is rapidly changing on both a personal and collective level, the exhibition offers a space for reflection through acts of examining, re-organizing, and manipulating imagery.

Featured Artists:

Neal Ambrose-Smith (Salish-Kootenai, Métis-Cree, Sho-Ban), Arthur Amiotte (Oglala/Lakota), Tya Alisa Anthony, Roberto Appicciafoco, Kim Arthun, Elena Baca, Allan Bealy, Jay Berrones, Carolina Chocron, Guillaume Chiron, Zach Collins, Enrique “Kike” Congrains, Cynthia Cook, Karsten Creightney, Kelly Eckel, José Ignacio Fernández, Antonio Frappa, Mila Gonzáles, Thomas Christopher Haag, Daniela Ilabaca, Lory Ivey Alexander, Susanna Lakner, Mágica Estudio, Larry McNeil (Tlingit/Nisgaá), MK, Jennifer Nehrbass, Carlos Quintos Kemm, Laurie O’Brien, Sherry Parker, Michael Pajón, Beto Prieto, Luanne Redeye (Seneca Nation), Holly Roberts, Alyce Santoro, Sara Serna, Rosie Schinners, Lorna Simpson, Brooke Steiger, Casandra Tola, Paula Wilson

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Collage in Motion & Cut Up Shut Up!

516 ARTS presents a series of online collage exhibitions and programs, starting with Collage in Motion, an exhibition of collage animation curated by independent filmmaker and collage artist Lisa Barcy, and Cut Up Or Shut Up!, curated by Brian Konefsky, opening on May 9 in conjunction for World Collage Day, an initiative organized by Kolaj Magazine.

Why collage now? Collage is an art medium that excels at bringing different parts together to create new forms and new ways of thinking. As our minds struggle to process the current dramatic changes in the world, what better time to question assumptions, deconstruct, reconfigure, and imagine alternative realities through collage art? Ric Kasini Kadour, publisher of Kolaj Magazine and organizer of World Collage Day, says, “During a time when much of the world is self-isolating, this international event is about artists connecting across borders, against a global context of entrenchment and separation.”

Click here to view films

The Resilience Project

Artists from anywhere in the world were invited to participate in our digital project by sharing their work in order to help maintain their daily practices, cope with challenges, and stay inspired. We encouraged artists in all media to submit one item of their own original work – including visual art, videos of performances, creative writing, interviews, and pictures of their studio/workspace. 516 ARTS has been featuring a selection of the submissions on our social media and website for the duration of our closure, along with images and content selected by our staff. As this time is fluid and fluctuating, so is this project, and it is being designed based on changing needs. We hope this will be a generative, positive, and inspirational space for both artists and audiences. The Resilience Project is curated by the staff of 516 ARTS. The deadline for submitting artworks was May 31, but a selection of the submissions will be shared on our social media and website for the time of the gallery closure.

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Tania Candiani: Cromática – from Home

516 ARTS is pleased to present Cromática, a solo exhibition by Mexican artist Tania Candiani. Making its debut in the United States after originating in Oaxaca then traveling to Guadalajara, Hermosillo and Ciudad Juárez, the exhibition explores color, sound, and synesthesia—a condition in which one sense is simultaneously perceived by different senses. Known for her interdisciplinary approaches that collaboratively mine fields of research and production—both artisanal and industrial—her work navigates the intersections of art, design, sound, architecture, and science. She says, “I am intrigued by the way in which visions of scientific and technological progress entail ideas about collective futures, public expectations and the common good. And in that sense, how your notions are constantly evolving, not only in terms of technology but also culturally. It seems pertinent to look at the past in a kind of archeology of that knowledge, to observe the possibilities of the future.”

Click here to view exhibition