KATES-FERRI PROJECTS in partnership with Abrons Arts Center is proud to present Holding: Curatorial AIRspace Exhibtion curated by Anna Khimasia. The exhibition will be on view at 561 Grand Street, NYC 10002, from January 2 to February 24, 2024 with a reception on Friday, February 2nd from 6 to 8pm.

In response to Abrons Arts Center’s 2024 curatorial theme of sanctuary, this exhibition brings together work that considers those for whom sanctuary is not always in view: displaced, undocumented, and marginalized communities. This state of limbo is precarious; it is a state of vulnerability in which notions of sanctuary, safety, and care are always already uncertain and perhaps impossible.

The title, Holding encapsulates movements of pushing and pulling, keeping and sustaining. To hold is to offer comfort and care, carry something close or keep someone near; simultaneously, to hold is to contain and detain, calling to mind a holding cell or a barrier.

This exhibition holds space to share the weight of the realities of our world. It is a space for reimagining subjecthood, identity and notions of belonging. Artists on view Alina Bliumis, Oji Haynes, Giancarlo Norese Kambui Olujimi, Nyugen E. Smith, Guillermo Trejo, Arleene Correa Valencia

About the Curator:

Anna Khimasia is an independent curator and educator. Often working collaboratively, her curatorial projects focus on under-represented bodies and voices, interrogating the politics of space, race and gender. Recent curatorial projects include Drawing on Our History (Carleton University Art Gallery); C’est du Gâteau/Piece of Cake (Arts image);Through the Looking Glass and Afternoon Tea for PERF (AXENÉO7); and Live in Palestine (AXENÉO7, A Space Gallery and Montréal, arts interculturels). This year Anna co-founded International Arrivals, a NYFA-sponsored project, supporting artists from countries in conflict. She currently teaches courses on contemporary art and performance at both UCLA and Rutgers.

About Artists Alliance Inc + Cuchifritos Gallery & Project Space

Artists Alliance Inc. is dedicated to launching, strengthening, and advancing the vision of emerging and underrepresented artists and curators through fully-funded residencies, paid exhibition opportunities, and commissioned projects.

Rooted in the Lower East Side (a long-standing epicenter of creative experimentation and cultural diversity) and in NYC at-large, AAI cultivates art practices that challenge the way we experience ourselves, our communities, and our world. Through three initiatives—Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space, LES Studio Program, Public Works—AAI aims to widen the audience for contemporary art and encourage public dialogue using art as a catalyst.

About Abrons Arts Center

Abrons Arts Center is a home for contemporary interdisciplinary arts in Manhattan’s Lower East Side neighborhood. A core program of the Henry Street Settlement, Abrons believes that access to the arts is essential to a free and healthy society. Through performance presentations, exhibitions, education programs, and residencies, Abrons mobilizes communities with the transformative power of art.

About Henry Street Settlement

Founded in 1893 by social work and public health pioneer Lillian Wald and based on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Henry Street Settlement delivers a wide range of social service, arts and health care programs to more than 60,000 New Yorkers each year. Distinguished by a profound connection to its neighbors, a willingness to address new problems with swift and innovative solutions, and a strong record of accomplishment, Henry Street challenges the effects of urban poverty by helping families achieve better lives for themselves and their children. Henry Street has a staff of 450 full-time and 400 seasonal employees, an active Board of Directors, partnerships with several organizations and a burgeoning alumni network.

Declaration of Inclusion

Abrons Arts Center values freedom of expression and creativity, ever striving to provide creative communities with a space that celebrates diversity of thought and experience. Abrons aims to be an anti-oppressive home to people from all backgrounds and does not discriminate on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, citizen status, ancestry, age, religion, disability, sex, or gender identity. As definitions of expression and inclusion evolve, Abrons is committed to continually revising this statement in collaboration with our communities.

Indigenous Land Acknowledgment

Nulelìntàmuhëna èli paèkw Lenapehoking. Kulawsihëmo ènta ahpièkw. Nooleelundamuneen eeli payeekw Lunaapeewahkiing. Wulaawsiikw neeli apiiyeekw.

We are glad because you people came to Lenapehoking. Live well when you are here. Abrons Arts Center is situated on the Lenape island of Manhahtaan (Mannahatta) in Lenapehoking, the Lenape homeland. We pay respect to Lenape peoples, past, present, and future and their continuing presence in the homeland and throughout the Lenape diaspora. We offer our care and gratitude to the land, water, and air of Lenapehoking, and are committed to resisting colonialism and imbalance with Mother Earth through the support of Indigenous-led programming and Indigenous artistic practices.

Thank you to the Lenape Center and Emily Johnson/Catalyst for their partnership in developing Abrons Arts Center's Indigenous Land Acknowledgment.

Video of exhibition on YouTube