Against Competition / Towards Mutual Aid

September 2016-February 2017
ABC No Rio in Exile at Flux Factory

Seeking an alternative to the competitive atmosphere of art production and exhibition, Against Competition/Towards Mutual Aid was based on the idea that art should nourish collaboration. The project required all artists to propose works themed around mutual aid; those projects were realized by the artists collaboratively over the course of a month.

Organizers
This project was organized by ABC No Rio Visual Arts Collective members Vandana Jain, Mike Estabrook, Brian George, and Steven Englander, and Flux Factory Artists-In-Residence Christina Freeman and Eleni Theodora Zaharopoulos.

Participating Artists
Razan AlSalah, Rachel Brown, Lee Brozgol, Kerry Cox, Elizabeth Demaray, Rachel Haberstroh, Robert Hieger, Rachel Hillery, Christopher Lin, Jemila MacEwan, Firoz Mahmud, Liz Naiden + Anatole Hocek, Patrícia Silva, Alex Strada, Julieta Triangular, Moira Williams, Ariel Zakarison, and Joanie Fritz Zosike.

Support
Against Competition/Towards Mutual Aid was supported in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts, in-kind support from Materials for the Arts and Flux Factory.

Press Release PDF

Press
ArtFCity

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 2017 
NEW YORK: ABC No Rio and Flux Factory are proud to collaborate on the process-based exhibition, Against Competition/Towards Mutual Aid. Seeking an alternative to the competitive atmosphere of art production and exhibition, this project is based on the idea that art should exist as a venture that nourishes collaboration. As such, competitive approaches should be replaced by more mutualist and participatory practices.

Unlike a traditional exhibition, the premise of Against Competition/Towards Mutual Aid requires all artists to propose works themed around mutual aid; those projects will be realized by all of the artists collaboratively over the course of a month. A core part of the exhibition will be the sharing of materials, skills, and labor. Visions will be realized, but not necessarily as originally imagined; this is part of the excitement of the project.

The work for this project will be planned in January, implemented and installed the first week of February, and made available to the public on Wednesday February 8. There will be a closing party and reception on Valentine’s Day, Tuesday, February 14.

Against Competition/Towards Mutual Aid expands on an ABC No Rio project of several years ago that was inspired in part by Marc Fischer’s essay “Against Competition” and consisted of artworks made cooperatively by an artist and another who helped realize their vision.

Programming

Arist as Ally
February 9
As part of Flux Thursdays, Flux Factory and ABC No Rio will present the panel Artist as Ally.
Please join us for a potluck and discussion, as four artists will share how they engage the arts in ways that address social issues.

Against Commodification! How? 
February 12
A panel discussion on how artist strategies to shift art and its power away from systems of commodification and into community building, self-affirmation, solidarity-building and constructive social impact.

Curated by Patricia Silva

Presenters
Ayana Evans, performance artist, curator
Ayana’s body is her work and material. Inventor of #OperationCatSuit.

Kris Grey, artist, educator
Gender-queer multi-disciplinary artist who co-produces workshops and performances that use the power of perceptions to reveal how individuals interface with systems of power and control. 

Helen Ho, community organizer, activist bureaucrat
Works with issues of equity and access in public parks, play spaces, and healthy eating. Founded and organized the first Tour de Queens for Transportation Alternatives and co-founded the Youth Bike Summit for Recycle-A-Bicycle.

Jesal Kapadia, un-artist/de-activator
A multi-disciplinary artist exploring potential forms of non-capitalist subjectivities. From 2001-2015, Jesal collectively edited art for ‘Rethinking Marxism’ (a journal of economics, culture and society) as well as organized and participated in events with members of 16beaver group.

ABC No Rio

Founded in 1980, ABC No Rio, a center for art and activism on New York’s Lower East Side, is internationally known as a venue for oppositional culture. In 2016 ABC No Rio vacated its building on Rivington Street in preparation for demolition and the construction of a new facility for its projects, programs and operations. During the building of its new home, ABC No Rio will continue “in exile” at other venues and in collaboration with other organizations. This  renewed focus towards collaborative work brings ABC No Rio back to its roots—ABC No Rio was founded by members of  the 1970s artist group Collaborative Projects.