ABC No Rio in Exile at Flux Factory
Against Competition/Towards Mutual Aid
February 1 - February 14, 2017
Flux Factory
39-31 29th St
Long Island City, NY 11101
Against Competition/Towards Mutual Aid is a collaborative arts project between ABC No Rio and Flux Factory. The project seeks to create an alternative to the traditional, competitive atmosphere of art production and exhibition. The project is based on the ideas that art should exist as a venture that nourishes collaboration and that competitive approaches should be bypassed and 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.
By engaging in an artistic process based on voluntary reciprocity, Flux Factory and ABC No Rio aim to question the commonly-held notions that competition is natural, inevitable and healthy. We look to historical models for our inspiration, such as Amish barn raising - in which a community comes together to build a barn for one of its members. While we cannot promise a barn, we promise a nuanced exploration of the ideas and potential ways we can bring this type of collaboration to fruition.
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.
On 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.
Artists participating in Against Competition/Towards Mutual Aid include 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.
Against Competition/Towards Mutual Aid is supported in part by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts.
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.
