- Manal Abu-Shaheen
- Vahap Avşar
- Jesus Benavente and Felipe Castelblanco
- Brian Caverly
- Kerry Downey
- Magali Duzant
- Golnaz Esmaili
- Mohammed Fayaz
- Kate Gilmore
- Jonah Groeneboer
- Bang Geul Han and Minna Pöllänen
- Dave Hardy
- Sylvia Hardy
- Shadi Harouni
- Janks Archive
- Robin Kang
- Kristin Lucas
- Carl Marin
- Eileen Maxson
- Melanie McLain
- Shane Mecklenburger
- Lawrence Mesich
- Freya Powell
- Xiaoshi Vivian Vivian Qin
- Alan Ruiz
- Samita Sinha and Brian Chase
- Barb Smith
- Monika Sziladi
- Alina Tenser
- Trans-Pecos with 8 Ball Community, E.S.P. TV, and Chillin Island
- Mark Tribe
- Sam Vernon
- Max Warsh
- Jennifer Williams
- An Itinerary with Notes
- Exhibition Views
- Hidden
- Watershed
- A Distant Memory Being Recalled (Queens Teens Respond)
- Overhead: A Response to Kerry Downey’s Fishing with Angela
- Sweat, Leaks, Holes: Crossing the Threshold
- PULSE: On Jonah Groeneboer’s The Potential in Waves Colliding
- Interview: Melanie McLain and Alina Tenser
- Personal Space
- Data, the Social Being, and the Social Network
- Responses from Mechanical Turk
- MAPS, DNA, AND SPAM
- Queens Internacional 2016
- Uneven Development: On Beirut and Plein Air
- A Crisis of Context
- Return to Sender
- Interview: Vahap Avşar and Shadi Harouni
- Mining Through History: The Contemporary Practices of Vahap Avşar and Shadi Harouni
- A Conversation with Shadi Harouni's The Lightest of Stones
- Directions to a Gravel Quarry
- Walk This Way
- Interview: Brian Caverly and Barb Smith
- "I drew the one that has the teeth marks..."
- BEAT IT! (Queens Teens respond)
- Moments
- Lawn Furniture
- In Between Difference, Repetition, and Original Use
- Interview: Dave Hardy and Max Warsh
- Again—and again: on the recent work of Alan Ruiz
- City of Tomorrow
- Noticing This Space
- NO PLACE FOR A MAP
- The History of the World Was with Me That Night
- What You Don't See (Queens Teens Respond)
- Interview: Allison Davis and Sam Vernon
- When You’re Smiling…The Many Faces Behind the Mask
- Interview: Jesus Benavente and Carl Marin
- The Eternal Insult
- Janking Off
- Queens Theatricality
Bold, powerful, and intriguing. An inspiring piece that makes you admire destruction and its ability to also be beautiful. Anything broken can still be as beautiful as something that is not. Destruction is the physical representation of struggle and sacrifice, and people face struggles and make sacrifices each and every day. Getting through these struggles shows the power we hold and the beauty we possess.
Kate Gilmore's video work, Beat It (2014), caught my attention the second I laid my eyes on it, first drawing me in due to the video’s loud and destructive noise. The footage was also shot in the bird’s eye view of a space seen through a circular opening of its ceiling. The effect is truly breath-taking as it challenges and plays with your vision and mind throughout the duration of the video in which the artist herself is in the act of breaking down a wood and drywall structure covered with the phrase “beat it” repeatedly printed in black and white. The simple yet bold color scheme was very pleasing to the eye. As I was watching the video, my anticipation grew, wondering what Gilmore’s next actions would be. The beginning of the video does not allow the viewer to see Gilmore striking the structure, but rather allows the viewer to only hear the destruction being caused. As the video progresses, you begin to see the broken fragments being tossed and piled up on top of the surface visible from below the circular opening. Gilmore then picks up and places the fragments on top of the ceiling through its central opening. It has a great effect of spatial illusion.
Gilmore’s artistic representation of displacement and defeat is truly something to admire. It is almost as if Gilmore is trying to get herself out of the small circle that people place her in which confines her from being true to herself. The placement of the wall fragments to create a closure to the circular opening with the phrase “beat it” demonstrates how Gilmore chooses to express herself and creates a new perspective for her audience. She is able to overcome and demolish her struggles, which is represented by the walls, and uses them to her advantage; something that all people should do in their everyday lives.
I believe that in order to truly become happy with oneself, one must accept both their success and failures. Struggles are necessary for growth as a person. Gilmore’s work reminded me of how I have managed to overcome and break the barriers of what was once a great struggle for me; to accept myself for who I am both inside and out, and happily be set free from the “beauty standards” imposed by our society.
Gilmore's video really allows its audience to experience and feel what she did and see the gradual development of the artwork. I truly honor her work and the feelings it provoked inside of me.
Beat it!
Emily Torres is a student of the High School for Arts and Business and is a vital member of Queens Teens, Queens Museum's nationally recognized youth leadership and career development program. For Queens International 2016, she has assisted and participated in projects with Xiaoshi Vivian Vivian Qin and Mohammed Fayaz.