Casual Conversations in Brooklyn is an anthropological inquiry into Brooklyn’s immigrant communities. Confronted by a radically different reality these new Americans are bound together by pursuing their American dreams and searching for new identities reflective of their new lives. How does one retain cultural roots while creating a new identity? Casual Conversations in Brooklyn approaches this and other challenging questions in a two-part site-specific installation occupying both the indoor and outdoor gallery spaces. OUTDOOR S... Read more

Casual Conversations in Brooklyn is an anthropological inquiry into Brooklyn’s immigrant communities. Confronted by a radically different reality these new Americans are bound together by pursuing their American dreams and searching for new identities reflective of their new lives. How does one retain cultural roots while creating a new identity? Casual Conversations in Brooklyn approaches this and other challenging questions in a two-part site-specific installation occupying both the indoor and outdoor gallery spaces.

OUTDOOR SPACE
Be Happy – a new project conceived for Black & White Project Space’s unique outdoor space harnesses the gigantic cutout of a young woman with a ‘Be Happy’ talk balloon against the artificial grass surface as a metaphor for ‘greener pastures,’ the search for which entices people to migrate.

INDOOR SPACE
Casual Conversations in Brooklyn – the last installment of the ongoing project consists of a series of artistic interventions, discussions, and actions that have taken place since 2007. It is comprised of sculptural objects, photographs, video and sound work inspired by public dialogues conducted by the artists in the Brighton Beach community of Brooklyn, and new work specially developed during this exhibition. The newly created and existing work will gradually fill up and claim the space over the course of the exhibition inviting the spectator to share the journey, its beginnings, its evolution, and the stories these wandering objects trigger. This unconventional installation attempts to evoke the transformation of immigrant experience from an ‘empty nest’ to the space defined by new social interactions.

Let’s drink. Let’s talk. Free.
Visitors are invited to drink, talk, share a story, or make a toast.
Each performance will be videotaped.
Videos will be on view during the exhibition.

Performance schedule:
Saturday, March 14th, 7-9pm
Friday, April 10th, 7-9pm
Friday, May 8th, 7-9pm