un/mute

Czech Center New York together with the Austrian Cultural Forum New York and Undercurrent presents un/mute, an international group exhibition of collaborative works by 28 artists across multiple disciplines. Project un/mute connects artists from New York and Europe featuring the Czech artist, Marie Lukáčová from Prague who worked together with New York-based Emily Shanahan in a team titled Stream. Together they exchanged inspirations from the pandemic while developing their collaboration. On view at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York and Undercurrent, the exhibition is the culmination of an 18-month-long project that was launched in 2020 to provide European and NYC-based artists an opportunity for critical exchange and collaboration during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Locations: Austrian Cultural Forum New York and Undercurrent.

Where:

Austrian Cultural Forum New York: open hours: Monday-Sunday, 10 AM -6 PM

Undercurrent: open hours: Thursday-Sunday, 1-7 PM

Opening Reception and Artist Talk: Friday 09.24. 6 - 9 PM at Undercurrent.

What do communication and collaboration mean in a time of uncertainty and isolation? How is the artistic process impacted by going “fully remote”? In un/mute, artists from 10 countries were paired to explore these questions. We recognize that effective communication requires the active engagement of all the senses and an openness to diversity, interpretation, and digitalization. But what does that look like in practice? The project challenged teams to overcome the limitations of lockdowns as they connected across artistic mediums, language, culture, generations, and time zones to find new forms of expression and meaning within art.

un/mute is the physical manifestation of online conversations among strangers who became collaborators. What began as abstract, ephemeral, and digital are now 14 tactile, analog, and concrete artworks presented across two locations. The artists confronted the parameters imposed by the lockdowns and each team found creative solutions that we might all learn from. The common thread that runs through the sculptures, installations, films, drawings, photographs, and performances is the importance of language.

Ever-evolving, language encapsulates an innate power dynamic that is renegotiated, redistributed, and reimagined in uncertain times. While words like “screenshare,” “Zoom-bombing” and “unmute” enter a universal lexicon, and “#relatable” memes are shared across cultures, we also face the limits of language as we work to avoid miscommunication and misunderstanding. Cultures and countries apart, the artists endeavored to find a bridge across two points in (virtual) space through the ephemeral Zoom link. What they also discovered was empathy from a fellow artist, discussions that sparked new ideas, a shared language around the creative process, and a rethinking of the power of art.

With cities re-opening, a recontextualized focus on systemic racism and xenophobia, and our collective experience of 18 months of self-reflection, un/mute observes the transition into a new epoch – one that imagines an inclusive and diverse ecosystem. Differences may surface in times of cooperation and compromise, but synergy can be forged through friction. We trip, we regain our balance, we shift, we reconsider. What is crucial is that when we do have the chance to rise to meet the moment, we seize the opportunity and “click unmute.”

un/mute is a project by Undercurrent and the following members of EUNIC NY – European Union National Institutes for Culture: Austrian Cultural Forum New York, Czech Center New York, Consulate General of Estonia in New York, Delegation of Flanders to the USA, Goethe-Institut New York, Lithuanian Culture Institute, Arts Council Malta in New York, Polish Cultural Institute New York and Romanian Cultural Institute. un/mute is also supported by EUNIC Global, the European Union Delegation to the United Nations, Hope Recycling Station and Jindřich Chalupecký Society.