Miya Ando in Chronos Cosmos: Deep Time, Open Space: Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY
Chronos Cosmos: Deep Time, Open Space transforms Socrates Sculpture Park into a gateway to the universe, presenting artworks that consider space, time, and matter in relationship to celestial entities and earth-bound processes. In the open-air environment of the Long Island City waterfront park, the exhibition uses scale to put the universe in context, creating connection points to space and time.
Chronos Cosmos: Deep Time, Open Space will be on view at Socrates Sculpture Park from May 5 – September 2, 2019. Participating artists include Radcliffe Bailey, Beatriz Cortez, Alicja Kwade, Eduardo Navarro, Heidi Neilson, and Oscar Santillán with new commissions by Miya Ando, William Lamson, and (MDR) Maria D. Rapicavoli.
Informed by Earth’s place amid a vast universe, Chronos Cosmos: Deep Time, Open Space zooms far out — featuring cosmic perspectives, various scales of time and space, and speculative gestures. Each artist’s own notions of time, history, space, and site challenge the reigning system regulated by technocratic and colonial standards.
Together the works reveal a coexistence of disjointed times in our contemporary world: clocked and measured time, rhythmic biological time, earthly time, the flowing time of human experience, anticipatory time, historical and anachronistic time, serial and simultaneous time, as well as technologically mediated time.
Situating a contemporary consciousness between the origins of the Earth and the expansion of the universe, these works each uniquely orient the viewer in time and space to produce a renewed sense of wonder toward our planet. This perspective creates potential for alternative modes of social relationships, sustainable human/planet co-existence, and political agency.
The works are informed by a variety of sources, including atomic physics, amateur astronomy, afro-futurist theory, and non-western histories and ancient perspectives and knowledge.
ABOUT THE ARTWORK
Miya Ando, 銀河 Ginga (Silver River), 2019. Steel and fabric, 10 × 3.5 × 200 ft
Meandering through the park, Ando’s textile banner 銀河 Ginga (Silver River) embodies the Japanese word for galaxy, reflecting the relationship between the natural and human-imagined ordering of the world. The piece connects two phenomena associated with time: the flowing water of a river and the movement of the stars. Ginga also suggests the myth that inspires the Japanese summer Star Festival, Tanabata. In the legend, the Sky King becomes frustrated when his daughter, the Weaver Princess, is distracted from her weaving by her beau the Cow Herder. In reaction, the Sky King separates the lovers, putting the Silver River (the Milky Way) between them. The rainy season’s storms signify her tears. The sympathetic magpies build a bridge across the sky allowing the lovers (represented by the stars Vega and Altair) to reunite once a year. This day on the 7th day of the 7th month is known throughout Japan as the day wishes come true. The festival marks this meeting, and Ando’s shimmering textile celebrates this celestial journey and tracking of seasons.
Ando spoke about their work for the Exhibition Audio Guide. Listen by calling 646-217-4440 ext. 6#
