Join us for the second in a series of dynamic public programs that delve deeper into the themes, contexts, and aesthetics that have informed Queens Museum’s Spring 2019 Exhibitions. June 30 programs will feature a series of talks by Lou Cornum, Catherine S. Ramírez, and Josh Rios, a sculpture unveiling and Aztec dance performance in the park, a screening of Thor Anderson’s Zapatista Moon, and the 5th Annual Women in Comics Convention.

Gallery hours will be extended until 7pm on the occasion of Alternatives & Futures Public Programs. 

Schedule of Events:

11am-5pm: Comic Book Convention
5th Annual Women in Comics Convention (WinC Con)
Join us for an exciting series of convention programs ranging from workshops on “Finding Your Superpower” and “Comic Book Writing” to cosplay and lightsaber demonstrations as well as important discussions on representation in the comics industry, a WinC PRIDEfest celebration, and WinC EDU programming for Educators. The 5th Annual WinC Con is presented by the Women in Comics Collective International, an organization that highlights the merit and craft work of Women and Non-Binary People working in the comic book industry.
Check out the at-a-glance schedule and a detailed schedule of panels, workshops, and events with descriptions and panelists/facilitators!
(QM Theater, Unisphere Gallery, and Werwaiss Gallery, 2nd Floor)

2-3:30pm: Science Fiction Talks Series
A series of talks by scholars and artists whose work explores science fiction, Indigenous futurisms and environmental justice, decolonizing movements, and citizenship, expanding on central themes in the exhibition Mundos Alternos: Art and Science Fiction in the Americas.
Speakers:
Lou Cornum: What time is decolonization?
Catherine S. Ramírez: Science Fiction, Citizenship, and Alienage: From Black Denizens to DACA
Josh Rios: Stranger in a Strange Land (A Borderland Remix)
Speaker bios can be found here. Talk descriptions can be found here.
(Atrium, 1st Floor)

3-4:30pm: Offsite Public Art Unveiling + Performance
Hospicio Cabañas (Playable Stage for Thunder Hawk) by Karl Orozco is a sculptural mosaic of the oldest hospital complex and orphanage in the Americas located in Guadalajara, Mexico. Hospicio Cabañas was a playable stage in the 1993 arcade hit Super Street Fighter II and served as home court for Thunder Hawk, the first Mexican video game character. Orozco has created a pixelated mosaic of Thunder Hawk’s stage on a large column using heirloom corn kernels, looking to inject the character’s backstory with greater historical and cultural relevance lost in the game’s original depiction.
For the sculpture’s unveiling on June 30th, Orozco has partnered with the Mexican indigenous performance group Tonalxochitl Danza Mexica to celebrate histories of colonial resistance. Tonalxochitl is a collective of Indigenous families who practice ceremonial dances from pre-colonial Mexico, called Danza Conchera or Danza Mexika Chichimeca. They are caretakers of knowledge pertaining pre-hispanic sciences, rituals and fine arts, with more than a decade of community involvement in the East Coast of Turtle Island, so-called United States. Tonalxochitl belongs to a larger community of Kalpultin (family groups) who share similar origins, traditions and cosmo-visions. Tonalxochitl hopes to ignite an interest in people’s minds and hearts about re-connecting to their own cultural heritage. They are based out of Newark, New Jersey and also provide educational programs for all ages and in this way, they are shifting the narrative about Indigenous people’s history.
This program is supported by the Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park, NYC Parks Art in the Parks, and CityLore.
(OFFSITE: Park Entrance to Flushing Meadows Corona Park, 111th St. and 49th Ave)

5-7pm: Screening and Q+A
Thor Anderson, Zapatista Moon, an ethnographic documentary (92 mins)
Introduction and Q+A moderated by Mia Eva Rollow, artist and co-founder of EDELO in Chiapas, Mexico, with artist Juan Pablo Ayala and Zapatista Moon research associate Deanna Bangs
Zapatista Moon reprises the extraordinary history of the Zapatistas’ revolutionary struggle, through rare archival footage from 1994, visionary imagery depicted in Zapatista murals, embroidery and paintings, and an important record of the First Meeting of Zapatista Women with the Women of the World in 2007. This is a work-in-progress screening, one of a series of community-based showings held to engender conversation and assist in the process of both clarifying and amplifying the Zapatistas’ call for indigenous autonomy, democratic participation, and resistance to capitalism and globalization.
Zapatista Moon is presented in conjunction with Rigo 23’s work Autonomous InterGalactic Space Program (2009-ongoing) currently on view as part of Mundos Alternos: Art and Science Fiction in the Americas
Filmmaker bio can be found here.
(QM Theater, 2nd Floor)

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.
Thor Anderson, Zapatista Mural, Still from Zapatista Moon. Photo by Dane Strom, 2015.

Public programs for Spring 2019 exhibitions at Queens Museum are made possible by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the National Endowment for the Arts.