Ofri Cnaani: Moon Guardians
October 24–November 24, 2013
Opening: Thursday, October 24, 7–9pm
Gansevoort Plaza
9th Avenue at Gansevoort Street
Hours: Nightly from 6pm
More Art is pleased to announce Ofri Cnaani’s Moon Guardians, a video installation to be projected in Chelsea’s Gansevoort Plaza. This site-specific series of video haikus examines the historical and social context of the Meatpacking District.
Ghost-like figures, directly emerging from of the neighborhood’s storied past, will be rear-projected on the windows and storefronts facing the square, each gazing at the viewer and creating a bridge to the past. New York has always been recognized as a place where marginalized figures and outsiders are celebrated. In recent years, however, the city has become more conservative and sanitized and the Meatpacking District exemplifies this shift.
Over the course of two years, Cnaani worked with teens from a local public school and conducted interviews with long-time residents who have lived through successive waves of gentrification and witnessed the area’s radical transformation from a working-class neighborhood into a hub for high-end retail, restaurants and art galleries. Cnaani’s characters are real, all of whom have lived in the Meatpacking District through its many transformations, and evoke its rich history. For one month starting on October 24, the participants—which include an artist/gallerist, a butcher, an elderly couple, and a drag queen—will once again inhabit the District, interacting with one another and with the place, window to window, building to building. As a result, Gansevoort Plaza will be transformed into a dynamic silent amphitheater.
Participants
Ivy Brown, Dorothy Durlach, Bill Kushner, Frank Ottomanelli, Sultana
About Ofri Cnaani
Ofri Cnaani is an artist and educator. She works in time-based media, live-cinema performances, and large-scale installations; and has exhibited at esteemed institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA PS1, Network of Lombardy Contemporary Art Museums, and the BMW Guggenheim Lab. Born in Israel, Ofri lives and works in New York.
About More Art
More Art is a non-profit organization based in New York since 2004. We garner the power of art to encourage social change and bridge the gaps existing in our society. We make art accessible to all by fostering artistic collaborations between contemporary artists and local community members and ensuring that all of our projects have free access and are located in public spaces. The organization helps develop programs that represent a variety of media and aesthetics and is primarily concerned with involving people who, due to ethnic, social or economic barriers, have limited access to the arts resources in the city.
Funding and support
Funding for this project has been provided in part by public funding from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with The City Council. The project was made possible by generous support from the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, the Andrea Meislin Gallery, the Consulate General of Israel in New York, and individual donors, and by the special assistance of the Little West 12th Street Realty, L.P., Ports 1961, and Ivy Brown Gallery. Special thanks to the Meatpacking District Improvement Association, and Hudson Guild Adult Services.
Please contact Audrey Nicolaides at audrey [at] moreart.org for further information and images.
