Please join us for a special blessing by Calpulli Tletl Papalotzin and a gallery talk with Camille Hoffman and Two Clouds on the closing day of our 2019 Spring Exhibitions Mundos Alternos: Art and Science Fiction in the Americas, Alexandria Smith: Monuments to an Effigy, and  Ever Upward, Ever Afloat, a site-specific installation by Hoffman for the Relief Map of New York City’s Water System.

1-2pm:
Calpulli Tletl Papalotzin (Grupo de Danza Mexica Prehispánica) will perform a ritual blessing of Rigo 23’s installation Autonomous InterGalactic Space Program, presented as part of Mundos Alternos. The central component of the installation is a spaceship that was built together with indigenous Zapatista artists and artisans from Chiapas, Mexico. The spaceship received a ritual blessing before traveling to the US to be featured in the exhibition. As the exhibition closes and the spaceship prepares for travel, local Aztec Dance group Tletpapalotl will perform a blessing before its return. 

3–4pm:
Gallery talk with artist Camille Hoffman, whose installation Ever Upward, Ever Afloat inhabits the Relief Map of New York City’s Water System. Hoffman will be in discussion with Two Clouds, a Ramapough Lenape tribal member and full-time water protector at Split Rock Sweetwater Prayer Camp in New Jersey, whose portrait is featured in the work. Learn more about Two Clouds’ work as water protectors here. The conversation will be followed by Q&A. 
(Relief Map of New York City’s Water System Gallery)

Exhibitions on view through August 18th:
Mundos Alternos: Art and Science Fiction in the Americas
Mundos Alternos: Art and Science Fiction in the Americas brings together contemporary artists from across the Americas who have tapped into science fiction’s capacity to imagine new realities, both utopian and dystopian. Science fiction offers a unique artistic landscape in which to explore the colonial enterprise that shaped the Americas and to present alternative perspectives speculating on the past and the future.

Alexandria Smith: Monuments to an Effigy
Monuments to an Effigy takes the history of the A.M.E. Church and The Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground as a departure point for a new collage, sculpture, and sound installation. Smith will continue her ongoing exploration of narrative, memory, and myth through the lens of the Black female form and psyche.

Exhibition on view through August 25th:
Camille Hoffman: Ever Upward, Ever Afloat
Ever Upward, Ever Afloat was presented on the occasion of Queens International 2018: Volumes. The mixed-media collage and painting installation remained on view as part of Queens Museum’s series of contemporary works mounted in relation to the Relief Map of New York City’s Water System. Hoffman’s immersive gallery-sized landscape surrounds the relief model, and references New York’s official state motto, “Excelsior,” a Latin term meaning “ever upward”. In a process of altering and reclaiming through collage and paint, Hoffman encourages a reflection on the discrepancies between the motto–connoting unfaltering progress–and the impact of the development of advanced manmade systems on the environment.

Images in order of appearance:
Rigo 23, Autonomous InterGalactic Space Program, 2009-ongoing. Mixed media. Courtesy of the artist and Queens Museum. Photo by Hai Zhang;
Aztec Dance group Tletpapalotl, courtesy of Calpulli Tletl Papalotzin;
Camille Hoffman, Ever Upward, Ever Afloat, 2018. Excelsior erosion control blanket; hurricane tarp; Ninja Turtles kickboard; Dollar Tree scenic landscape and golf course calendars; camouflage party napkins; tiki party decorations; Destiny inspirational poster; Lysol Clean & Fresh package; Jonah & the Whale Watchtower brochure; Planet Earth beach ball; Hudson River freight ship print-out; Thanksgiving, Tropical Paradise, Frozen, Moana, Super Bowl Sunday, Dora the Explorer, Jake the Pirate, and Finding Nemo plastic holiday tablecloths; dolphin high-pile blanket, Pioneer Supermarket, Western Beef Supermarket, Home Depot, We Care We Recycle, Thank You Thank You bodega bags, Chinatown/Ghana Must Go plastic bags; aquarium liner; stretcher bars; oil and acrylic paint on plaster, wire and wood. Courtesy of the artist. Photo by Hai Zhang.