X Initiative is closing

X INITIATIVE IS CLOSING IN FEBRUARY 2010

548 West 22nd Street
New York NY 10011
917.697.4886

www.x-initiative.org

Free and open to the public
Wednesday – Saturday, 11 – 6

X Initiative – an experimental nonprofit organization – is about to end its year long run at 548 West 22nd Street. Since it opened in March 2009, X Initiative has presented 12 exhibitions and more than 50 events, with an attendance of over 75,000 visitors. X Initiative received honorable mention in the best of 2009 articles by The New York Times art critics Holland Cotter and Roberta Smith.

Year to date exhibition program and upcoming events and details:

PHASE 1, March – May 2009
DEREK JARMAN
MIKA TAJIMA
CHRISTIAN HOLSTAD

NO SOUL FOR SALE – A FESTIVAL OF INDEPENDENTS, June 2009

PHASE 2: July – October 2009
TRIS VONNA-MICHELL
LUKE FOWLER
KEREN CYTTER
FRITZ HAEG
TODAY AND EVERYDAY

PERFORMA – November 2009

PHASE 3: November 2009 – January 2010
HANS HAACKE
ARTUR ŻMIJEWSKI
ECSTATIC RESISTANCE
IN NUMBERS

The month of January marks the last chance to see our final round of exhibitions, featuring solo shows by Hans Haacke and Artur Żmijewski, the group exhibition Ecstatic Resistance, and In Numbers, a presentation of artists’ serial publications through January 30th.

HANS HAACKE, Weather, or not
On the fourth floor of X Initiative, New York-based artist Hans Haacke presents his first solo exhibition in a New York institution since 1986. The artist displays re-interpretations of some of his historical pieces along with new site-specific works and installations.

ECSTATIC RESISTANCE

On the third floor, X Initiative presents Ecstatic Resistance, a group exhibition organized by New York-based artist Emily Roysdon. Included are works by more than ten international artists and performers who embrace the occurrence of pleasure within the realm of the political.

ARTUR ŻMIJEWSKI
The first American mid-career survey of the Polish artist, this exhibition includes a selection of over ten of Zmijewski’s groundbreaking videos spanning his career and features the US premiere of one of his most ambitious works to date, Democracies, a video installation documenting public events and protest scenes from around the world.

IN NUMBERS: SERIAL PUBLICATIONS BY ARTISTS
This exhibition represents the first serious effort to investigate a neglected art form—the serial publication. From historical examples, like the small presses of the 1960s, correspondence art of the early ‘70s, the zine cultures of the ‘80s and early ‘90s, and desktop publishing of today, In Numbers presents a collection of magazines and publications that have defined new forms of art production.

UPCOMING CLOSING EVENT – BRING YOUR OWN ART – FEBRUARY 3rd:
Please save the date for our closing event celebrating the end of X Initiative: Join us on FEBRUARY 3rd for BRING YOUR OWN ART, a 24-hour event inspired by Walter Hopps’s Thirty-Six Hours, an event that the legendary curator organized in the Museum of Temporary Art in Washington, DC in 1978, where Hopps installed anything that anybody brought to the museum. Artists, galleries, curators, collectors and enthusiasts are invited to site and install art at X Initiative, which will be open for viewers and participants for 24 consecutive hours. BRING YOUR OWN ART is a temporary occupation which mirrors X’s activity for the last twelve months. A gathering for the closing of X initiative, BYOA offers a DIY platform where any kind of art can be exhibited at this historic site. X Initiative will collaborate with Adam Simon of Fine Art Adoption Network (FAAN) for this event. FAAN is an online network ( www.fineartadoption.net ) that uses a gift economy to connect artists and potential collectors (adopters). Details to follow.

In addition to the closing event, please mark your calendar for these upcoming events from the weekly series in conjunction with our current exhibitions and programming:

1/9-Sharon Hayes
1/14-Jeanine Oleson with Juliana Snapper
1/14-Leah Gilliam
1/22-Lucien Castaing-Taylor
1/28-Wu Ingrid Tsang, Zackary Drucker & Mariana Marroquin
1/28-Dean Spade and Craig Willse

About X Initiative
X is a not-for-profit initiative of the global contemporary art community founded to exist for one year at 548 West 22nd Street to present exhibitions and programming. Advised by a 50+ advisory board comprised of artists, curators, museum professionals, gallerists, collectors, art historians and critics, X reaches across traditional boundaries to form a consortium interested in responding quickly to the major philosophical and economic shifts impacting culture. Questions posed in the form of programming address relevant and pressing issues pertaining to the changing landscape of contemporary art.

Thanks to all for your tremendous support of X initiative!