SUNDAY OCTOBER 30th 3PM-5PM

Sample from Rin Johnson's Bronze Bodies

At the North Entrance of Prospect Park, six artists will perform works, read poems and present sculptures for public engagement.

Though we habitually build monuments to war heroes and military conquest into our landscape, we almost never address peace with monumental sculpture or sanctioned public acts. Peace may be too fragile to be poured in concrete or set in stone. It may be too elusive to explore with language or form. But applying the ideal of peace to the human condition in this less-than-ideal world can be substantive. If a protected territory routinely engages in acts of war elsewhere, peace is a matter of political geography. If inequality and discrimination are common experiences, peace is an issue of identity and the body. If anxiety and technological dissonance are woven into the collective psyche, peace is an internal state.

These six artists take different approaches stemming from their practices. Jayoung Yoon’s monument involves the use of her own hair to externalize her mental states as an act of meditation. Rin Johnson’s work will consider the complexities of the individual body in pursuit of freedom and peace. Noah Fischer will be presenting a poem. Maximiliano Siñani, an artist working with subversive movements and language will making an action. Tatsiana Zamirovskaya, a writer whose captivating narratives can intertwine distorted time, symbolism and relationships will be reading a text.

Brian Fernandes-Halloran will present a peace monuments that ordains the barn owl as the new national bird. "The bald eagle’s regional confinement, sensitivity to chemicals, mostly fish diet and limitations as a predator due to its high visibility and reliance on sight, make it a misfit for the USA. The barn owl is the right bird for contemporary America, a country that is a global presence with covert military operations, advanced surveillance technology and pervasive corporations. Though rarely glorified, the barn owl is the most widespread landbird species in the world, making it a boundless and adaptable predator. It hunts at night but is capable of hunting at any time by monitoring its prey with multiple senses, keen sight and unmatched hearing. It is one of the quietest birds in the air; floating above its potential targets, surveilling them and striking without making itself known."

The ceremony will conclude with the installation and performance of works at the Grand Army Plaza and the hoisting of a flag freshly painted by the participating public.

press release


More on the artists:

Brian Fernandes-Halloran organized this event in line with his practice of facilitating revelatory experiences with objects and material based activities. He exhibits and collaborates internationally and has upcoming exhibitions in Fridman Gallery and 67 Ludlow. site

Noah Fischer’s practice spans sculpture, writing, performance, and political organizing and usually a combination of the above. He is the initiating member of Occupy Museums, a direct action art group that grew out of the Occupy Wall Street Movement in 2011 and has developed a practice merging performance, aesthetics, and politics. site

Rin Johnson is a sculptor and poet and an MFA Candidate at Bard College. Johnson has exhibited in Europe and the United States and is the author of two chapbooks, "Nobody Sleeps Better Than White People" from Inpatient Press and the forthcoming "Meet in the Corner". Johnson also writes for the Brooklyn Rail. site

Maximiliano Siñani is currently resident at ISCP. site

Jayoung Yoon is a New York-based artist born in Korea. She is known for interdisciplinary artworks using Human Hair as a medium . She performs ritualistic meditation ceremonies in which she embodies the detachment from gender, culture, thought, and ego. site

Tatsiana Zamirovskaya is a Belarusian writer. She is internationally published and is currently MFA Candidate at Bard College. She produces compelling narrative that engage the across levels of interpretation, be they temporal, symbolic, personal and sensorial.