Penelope Umbrico's 'Monument' Now Open Through January At BRIC

BRIC, celebrating 40 years as the leading presenter of free cultural programming in Brooklyn, presents Penelope Umbrico: MONUMENT, an exhibition in the Gallery at BRIC House exploring the monolithic state of our current technologies in relation to their obsolescence. Starting with the idea that all technologies are in effect "black boxes" to most users who engage with them, Umbrico presents a major installation and other works that will act to demystify them. The centerpiece of the exhibition is 20 foot long wall of broken semi functional LCD TVs that reveals their insides while serving as a platform for video programing and/or a backdrop for performances. The exhibition will be on view through January 20, 2019.

While revealing the hidden aspects of our "black-box" technologies, the project attempts to speak to our ever-accumulating e-waste and the rapid pace at which digital hardware becomes obsolete. A space is set aside in the Gallery for the community to recycle their unwanted e-waste. Visitors bringing in electronic screen devices are invited to disassemble them and create a portrait of the inside of the device. Umbrico will create a site-specific installation with the disassembled e-waste that will evolve as new material comes in.

In collecting unwanted e-waste from participants, the Gallery at BRIC House has become a temporary e-waste up-cycling collection center that also engages in a trade: as people bring an object, they in turn receive a print of the disassembles item, upcycled object. The upcycled objects will be displayed in the gallery. Photographic documentation of the disassembled devices will be printed on site and the contributor will be able to take away a print as a "souvenir" of the exhibition.

Penelope Umbrico will treat this exhibition as a kind of residency. Throughout the exhibition, she and other artists will often be on site, working with this material and creating objects from e-waste that will be exhibited in the evolving display. Umbrico and other artists will also work with members of the public who will be invited to bring their own broken or unused devices, to take apart and transform into new creations.

Gallery Hours & Admission

• Admission to BRIC's Contemporary Art exhibitions is always FREE and open to the public.
• The Gallery at BRIC House is open: Tue - Sat, 10AM-6PM; Sun, 12-6PM; Closed Mondays.

Associated Public Programs:

The following FREE public programs will take place in conjunction with the exhibition.

Coffee & Conversation
Saturday, December 1 | 12pm
A gallery tour and conversation with the artist about her new exhibition at BRIC House.

Panel Discussion
Wednesday, December 12 | 7pm
A discussion between Umbrico and artists Jean Shin, Mary Mattingly, Eva and Franco Mattes, and Josh Tonsfeldt, who all employ obsolete technology in their work.

Residency Hours
Tuesdays & Fridays, 2-6pm
BRIC encourages people to drop by the gallery, where the artist will assist members of the public in disassembling (and therefore demystifying) old technological devices.

E-Waste Drop Off
Dates TBA
Visitors can drop off their old technology (LCD TVs, iPods, Smartphones, Kindles, etc) to be recycled and reused for future art projects.

Penelope Umbrico utilizes search engines, web platforms, common software applications, and imaging technologies to create multi-disciplinary works that explore screen space, light and electronic signal in relation to the material detritus of technology. Her work navigates between producer and consumer, local and global, the individual and the collective with attention to the technologies that are produced by, and produce, these forces. Umbrico's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is included in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum; LACMA; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Milwaukee Art Museum; Museum of Modern Art New York; SFMOMA, among others. She is the recipient of many awards, including a Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program Residency, a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Her monographs are published by Aperture, NY, and RVB Books, Paris. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

ROSE NESTLER: GYMNASIA
in the Project Room at BRIC House

Curated by Jenny Gerow
BRIC House Project Room - 647 Fulton St, Downtown Brooklyn
Exhibition on View: November 29, 2018-January 20, 2019
Opening Reception: Wednesday, November 28, 2018, 7-9pm

BRIC is pleased to present Gymnasia, an installation by Brooklyn-based artist Rose Nestler in the Project Room of BRIC House, on view from November 29, 2018 - January 20, 2019. The exhibition includes Nestler's oversized textile reinterpretations of ancient prize amphorae (ancient Greek jars) and a multi-channel video installation that places costumed dancers, gymnasts, and wrestlers amidst large scale fabric trophies moving to the sound of a hypnotic and syncopated chorus of commentators.

The works included in this show pull from the iconography and structures of the ancient Greco-Roman Gymnasium, while also utilizing the familiar aesthetics and materials of contemporary sportswear. Gymnasia presents an investigation into the correlation between athleticism, spirituality, gender, and power through evocations of sports, ceremonies, and rewards that sustain the oppressive regime of toxic masculinity within American culture.

About Rose Nestler

Rose Nestler received her MFA from Brooklyn College in 2017. She has exhibited at a variety of galleries including Thierry Goldberg, CRUSH Curatorial, and CUCHIFRITOS, all in NY; Ortega y Gasset Projects, Underdonk, and Smack Mellon, all in Brooklyn; and University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery. Nestler has been an artist-in-residence at Lighthouse Works, Chashama Workspace Program, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, Vermont Studio Center, and Byrdcliffe Artists Colony.

JOHANNAH HERR:
YOUR COMFORT IS ATTENDED BY PERMANENT VIOLENCE
in the Hallway Space at BRIC House

Curated by Jenny Gerow
BRIC House Project Room - 647 Fulton St, Downtown Brooklyn
Exhibition on View: November 16, 2018-February 3, 2019
Opening Reception: Wednesday, November 28, 2018, 7-9pm

BRIC is pleased to present Johannah Herr: Your Comfort is Attended by Permanent Violence in the Hallway Space at BRIC House, on view from November 16, 2018 - February 3, 2019. Using cut vinyl and wall paint, Johannah Herr's monumental text-based murals simultaneously create a dazzling surface of metallic and glitter elements that seduces viewers into engaging in the polarizing discussions of urgent issues, from women's rights to climate justice and the value of Black lives.

The embedded text-"YOUR COMFORT IS ATTENDED BY PERMANENT VIOLENCE"-wraps across the doorway break in the wall, reading "YOUR COMFORT IS / PERMANENT" on one side and "ATTENDED BY / VIOLENCE" on the other. One can only fully read the text in entirety by positioning oneself obliquely at either end of the hallway. In positioning the two phrases, seemingly separate when facing each wall directly, but coming together to form one sentence. Herr sees the oblique angle as metaphor for the perspectives of the marginalized (whether female, queer, racial minority, people with disabilities etc.). When one views from the vantage point of the dominant group, it is often impossible to see the larger scope of how one's privilege is built on the marginalization of others. However, from the marginalized vantage point, this relationship is abundantly clear.

About Johannah Herr

Johannah Herr has had solo exhibitions at the New Gallery, Brooklyn; Chashama and Envoy Enterprises, both NY; the Muller Gallery, Detroit, MI; the Muted Horn, Cleveland, OH; and Galeri Metropol, Tallinn, Estonia. Her work has been shown at Elijah Wheat Showroom and Schema Projects, both Brooklyn; Sheila Johnson Gallery, NY; Platform Gallery, Seattle, WA; the Centro per L'Arte Contemporanea, Trebisonda, Italy; and the Water Tower Arts Festival, Sofia, Bulgaria, among other venues. She was a Studio Artist in Residence at the Museum of Arts and Design, NY, in 2017. Herr attended Parsons School of Design and the Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Herr is a 2017-18 recipient of the ArtFP, an open call for Brooklyn-based visual artists to exhibit at BRIC House.

About BRIC
BRIC is the leading presenter of free cultural programming in Brooklyn, and one of the largest in New York City. We present and incubate work by artists and media-makers who reflect the diversity that surrounds us. BRIC programs reach hundreds of thousands of people each year.

Some of BRIC's most acclaimed programs include the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival in Prospect Park, several path-breaking public access media initiatives, including BRIC TV, and a renowned contemporary art exhibition series. BRIC also offers education and other vital programs at BRIC House and throughout Brooklyn.

In addition to making cultural programming genuinely accessible, BRIC is dedicated to providing substantial support to artists and media makers in their efforts to develop work and reach new audiences. Learn more at BRICartsmedia.org.