A FEMINIST FUTURE IS SEEN AT THE OPENING OF ‘LIFEFORCE’

View Gallery 95 Photos

View coverage of LIFEFORCE exhibit opening at The Untitled Space gallery.  Pictured here, gallery director Indira Cesarine with curators Kelsey and Rémy Bennett. (95 photos)

LIFEFORCE
The Untitled Space
45 Lispenard St, NY 10013
July 27 – August 6 | 12pm – 6pm (closed Sun)

Artist talk – Thursday August 4th 6:30-8:30pm
RSVP: events@untitled-space.com

Updated August 3rd – This week, gallery visitors to The Untitled Space will have the chance to hear more about the feminist futurism of current all-female exhibit, LIFEFORCE. On Thursday, August 4th, from 6:30 – 8:30, the gallery is hosting an artist talk that will be moderated by guest speaker, Dr. Danya Glabou, who teaches cyborg feminism at Brooklyn Institute and specializes in feminist theory and science studies. Artists who will be included in the talk are Amanda Turner Pohan, Hein Koh, Jeannette Hayes, Kelsey Bennett, Maggie Dunlap, Nicole Nadeau, Rémy Bennett, Sam Cannon, Signe Pierce and Taira Rice.

On July 26th, a crowd of art lovers, scenesters, and New York locals braved the heat to experience the opening of LIFEFORCE at The Untitled Space. The 24 artists of the the exhibit offered a cyber feminist vision of the future through photography, installation art, paintings, drawings, and sculpture. Artists focused on the all encompassing power of “the female” on both physical and metaphysical levels and celebrated the LIFEFORCE that is beyond human physicality and matter. Presented by Untitled Space director, Indira Cesarine, and curated by sisters, Kelsey and Rémy Bennett, who were all in attendance, the exhibit drew inspiration from 1970s Afrofuturism and Donna Haraway’s 1985 text, A Cyborg Manifesto. Gallery goers had the chance to mingle with LIFEFORCE artists, Sam Cannon, Fahren Feingold, Hein Koh, Amanda Turner Pohan, Taira Rice, Jessica Stoller, Jo Shane, Maggie Dunlap, Aria McManus, Nicole Nadeau, Tafv Sampson, and Signe Pierce, who were all in attendance.

Tafv Sampson Featured in "LIFEFORCE" Exhibit, Untitled Space Gallery, New York
Artist Tafv Sampson Featured in “LIFEFORCE” Exhibit, Untitled Space Gallery, New York

LIFEFORCE continued the The Untitled Space’s mission of highlighting women in art. From Fahren Feingold’s dreamy watercolors of ladies engaging in self love to Aria McManus and Raine Trainor’s birth control pill slap bracelet – the artists of LIFEFORCE showed work that was refreshingly unapologetic, unashamed, and fiercely female. Upon entering the gallery, visitors encountered Double Duty, Hein Koh’s massive sculpture of two breasts spouting milk and hanging noose-like from the ceiling. Another artist, Jo Shane also explored motherhood in her work, her piece Autobiography/Milk, was an installation of her own refrigerated breastmilk and she even flashed the cameras in a quick photo op. Amanda Turner Pohan’s work showcased a different type of body secretion. Her installation revolved around a perfume made from the artist’s urine, sweat, tears, and synthetic pheromones.

Signe Pierce Featured in "LIFEFORCE" Exhibit, Untitled Space Gallery, New York
Artist Signe Pierce Featured in “LIFEFORCE” Exhibit, Untitled Space Gallery, New York

The two teenage artists of the show, Taira Rice and Panteha Abaresha, used illustrations to comment on social and racial constructs. Abareshi’s vivid comic strips showed powerful women of color while Rice’s crayola renderings (including a nun with sassy undies) refuted female stereotypes. Monica Garza’s mixed media paintings featured polynesian women engaging in every day activities in the nude in a manner that effectively flipped the gaze of Gauguin. Photography featured heavily in the show. From self portraits to neon tableaus – artists Elizabeth Ilsley, June Calypso, Kelsey Bennett, Maisie Cousins, Nadia Lee Cohen, Signe Pierce, Parker Day, and Tafv Sampson, and Sam Cannon – used the many of facets of photography as a tool to envision a feminist future.

LIFEFORCE is on view at The Untitled Space through August 6th. The show features the work of Amanda Turner Pohan, Aria McManus, Chiara Girimonti, Elizabeth Ilsley, Fahren Feingold, Hein Koh, Jeanette Hayes, Jessica Stoller, Jo Shane, Juno Calypso, Kelsey Bennett, Maggie Dunlap, Maisie Cousins, Monica Garza, Nadia Lee Cohen, Nicole Nadeau, Panteha Abareshi, Parker Day, Raine Trainor, Rémy Bennett, Sam Cannon, Signe Pierce, Tafv Sampson, and Taira Rice.

Event photography by Dustin Wayne Harris courtesy of The Untitled Space 

Where Art, Fashion & Culture Collide

THE UNTITLED MAGAZINE
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
X (Twitter)
LinkedIn
Tiktok