Heather M. O’Brien, Between apocalyptic apprehensions, and dreams of deliverance, 2012, 35mm slide projection.

April 3 – April 16, 2014
Opening: April 3, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Book launch + Film Screening: April 11, 5:00 p.m
Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center,
Parsons The New School for Design
www.newschool.edu/sjdc

NEW YORK, March 28, 2014 – Generations are often weighted by the impact of events they have never experienced in person. I Scarcely Have the Right to Use This Ghostly Verb, the upcoming exhibition at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center’s (SJDC) Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries at Parsons The New School for Design, explores the complexities of cultural memory in the work of nine artists who unsettle historical narratives and the position of the witness.

The exhibition features the works of Mounira Al Solh, Firelei Báez, Tatiana Istomina, Reena Katz and Pablo Gómez Uribe, Heather M. O’Brien, and Paz Ortúzar, as well as historical pieces by David Wojnarowicz and John Albok from The New School Art Collection.

On Friday, April 11 at 5:00 p.m., there will be a book launch for the accompanying publication as well as a film program at the SJDC. I, a publication of texts and visual works from artists, scholars, and writers includes works inspired by Borges’ “Funes The Memorious,” intermingling perspectives of a singular “I” and the collective to expand the dialogue of the exhibition. I includes the work of Avi Alpert and Sreshta Rit Premnath, Maricruz Alarcón, Gavan Blau, Thom Donovan, Carlos Labbé, Arrow MacGowan, Heather M. O’Brien & Andrew Freeman, Isaac Pool, Hernán Rivera, Andrés Felipe Torres, Alex Walton, Ilyn Wong, Jessica Posner, Kaitlynn Redell and Sara Jiménez, Margarita Sánchez, Joen Vedel, Vincent Vulsma, and Matthew C. Wilson. The film screening will begin at 7:00 p.m. with Ignacio Agüero’s Not to forget (30 mins), Camila Guzmán’s The Sugar Curtain (82 mins), and Chen Chieh-Jen’s Military Court and Prison (62 mins). Focusing on events that occurred during the last decades of the Cold War, these documentaries illuminate the political role of personal memory within the constitution of historical narratives.

I Scarcely Have the Right to Use This Ghostly Verb is the curatorial project of Maricruz Alarcón, Pieter Paul Pothoven, and Ilyn Wong. The curators wish to thank the SJDC and Parsons Fine Arts for their generous support. Additional support has been provided by Sfeir-Semler Gallery and Icarus Films.

For more information about the exhibition and public events, please visit http://www.newschool.edu/sjdc or contact the curators directly at ghostlyverb@gmail.com

# # #

About the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
The Sheila C. Johnson Design Center is an award-winning campus center for Parsons The New School for Design that combines learning and public spaces with exhibition galleries to provide an important new downtown destination for art and design programming. The mission of the Center is to generate an active dialogue on the role of innovative art and design in responding to the contemporary world. Its programming encourages an interdisciplinary examination of possibility and process, linking the university to local and global debates. The center is named in honor of its primary benefactor, New School Trustee and Parsons Board of Governor’s Member Sheila C. Johnson. The design by Rice+Lipka Architects is the recipient of numerous awards, including an Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects. For more information please visit www.newschool.edu/sjdc.

Parsons The New School for Design is one of the leading institutions for art and design education in the world. Based in New York but active around the world, the school offers undergraduate and graduate programs in the full spectrum of art and design disciplines. Critical thinking and collaboration are at the heart of a Parsons education. Parsons graduates are leaders in their respective fields, with a shared commitment to creatively and critically addressing the complexities of life in the 21st century. For more information, please visit www.newschool.edu/parsons.

# # #

SJDC General Information
Location: 2 West 13th Street, New York
Gallery hours: Open daily 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. and Thursday evenings until 8:00 p.m.; closed all major holidays and holiday eves
Admission: Free
Info: Please contact 212.229.8919 or visit www.newschool.edu/sjdc