Saturday, January 9, 2010


Opening Reception: Thursday, January 21, 2010, 6-9 pm

Exhibition on view: January 21 - February 11, 2010

Rites of Passage is a group exhibition, organized by guest curator Thomas Micchelli, that considers the multiple paths taken by new forms of expression at the turn of the 21st Century, specifically those found in the work of alumni of The Cooper Union who graduated between the years 1995 and 2009 from The School of Art, The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, and The Albert Nerken School of Engineering. Their explorations range from the intangibility of light and sound to the poetry of infrastructure, autobiographical reflection to political outrage, naked terror to absurdist humor. Rites of Passage takes its title from a poem by Audre Lorde that speaks of the transition between generations, of young people as agents of change as well as witnesses to the passing of obsolete ideas.

The works in this exhibition, most of which were made especially for the show, denote some kind of journey that signaled a turning point in the participants' lives or worldviews.. Whether the passages are interior or external, they are accomplished through an openness and honesty of expression, a blurring of the lines between disciplines, and a willingness to try anything that might break apart an old paradigm and engender something new.

In connection with the exhibition there will be a panel discussion entitled Rock the Boat: Art as Intervention on Friday, February 5, 2010, from 6 to 9 pm in the Frederick P. Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square, New York City.

Participants:

Courtney J AngermeierCharles H. Krekelberg
Dorit Aviv and Dionisio CortesGeorgia Küng
Rush Baker + Sam VernonLaura Lee-Georgescu
Salman BakhtFiyel Levent
Vivek Gopal BaligaEdmundo Majchrzyk
Sofia BerinsteinGaurav Namit
Mitsuko BrooksLaura Napier
Adrien CaseyRyan and Trevor Oakes
Krystal ChangMiroslav Ovcharik & Maximiliano Ferro
Jaeho ChongKate Parnell
Nicky EnrightAnik Pearson
Adriana FarmigaNoëlle Raffaele
Grigori FateyevJenevieve Reid
Josephine HalvorsonDavid A. Ross
Sue HavensTaylor Shields
Kim HollemanNatalie Shook in collaboration with Mike Circosta
Jane V. HsuVeronica Tyson-Strait
Kenny Komer & Boris RasinSpring Ulmer
Peonia Vázquez-D'Amico