Socrates Sculpture Park is pleased to announce two new projects: “My Sister’s Diary” by Anissa Mack and “Penumbra” by Jean Shin.
For “My Sister’s Diary,” the artist has created an information kiosk to which she will post pages of her sister’s diary on a weekly basis. Names, places, emotions and other information that her sister does not want us to read have been crossed out, resulting in pages that are reminiscent of FBI files while forming an expressive poetry of partially revealed information. The kiosk becomes a public forum for the presentation of secret thoughts and will accumulate both the diary pages and community postings.
Mack lives and works in Brooklyn, and has recently been included in exhibitions at SculptureCenter, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center and the San Francisco Institute for the Arts. Two of her latest projects included “Pies for a Passerby” produced for the Public Art Fund and “Harlem Postcards” commissioned by The Studio Museum in Harlem.
“Admit it. You’ve read someone else’s diary. Maybe you weren’t nosy, perhaps you just wanted to assure yourself that you weren’t the only one who was insecure and scared — or has lied or cheated. Or maybe you did want to spy,” Mack said of her installation.
“My Sister’s Diary” will run June 15 – Aug. 31, with an opening reception Sunday, June 15, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
For “Penumbra,” a site-specific installation, Shin has collected hundreds of broken black umbrellas that were abandoned on the streets of New York City. The fabric umbrella “skins” have been removed from their structures and sewn together to form an enormous shroud-like cloth. Suspended overhead from the trunks of three large trees, the canopy becomes a sculpture that shifts and undulates in response to the wind and the movement of the trees while shielding and protecting the ground below.
Shin was born in Seoul, South Korea and now lives and works in Brooklyn. She has exhibited extensively throughout the United States and abroad. She is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships including the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award and a NYFA Fellowship in sculpture.
“Penumbra” will run June 15 – Aug. 10, with an opening reception Sunday, June 15, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Socrates Sculpture Park was an abandoned riverside landfill and illegal dumpsite until 1986 when a coalition of artists and community members, under the leadership of sculptor Mark di Suvero, transformed it into an open studio and exhibition space for artists and a neighborhood park for local residents.
Today, it is an internationally renowned outdoor museum and artist residency program that also serves as a vital New York City park offering a wide variety of public resources. Socrates is a laboratory where experimentation and innovation expand, reinvent and redefine the tradition of art in public spaces.
Socrates Sculpture Park is open 365 days a year from 10 a.m. to sunset and is located at the intersection of Broadway and Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City. For directions to Socrates, go to www.socratessculpturepark.org.
For additional information, call Lisa Gold at 718-956-1819, Ext. 12 or send an e-mail to info@socratessculpturepark.org.
