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5/4/2008

This Case of Conscience

Queens Museum of Art, New York

In the new millennium, religion, its relation to the state and mutual respect are hot-button issues across the globe. In Flushing, Queens, this very conversation started 350 years ago with the Flushing Remonstrance. The Flushing Remonstrance was drafted in 1657 and signed by a group of Flushing residents who were offended by the persecution of religions outside the established Reformed Dutch Church. This document is considered by many to be a precursor to the Bill of Rights’ provision for freedom of religion. Throughout 2008, the Queens Borough President’s Office will offer cultural programming in conjunction with over 15 New York City (NYC) institutions to honor this most historic anniversary. To commemorate the homecoming of the Remonstrance, QMA will present the original document in conjunction with images of historical materials from the New York State Archives.

More than a show about the distant past, the exhibition seeks to explore the continued relevance of this unique moment of tolerance within our distinctively diverse environment. Embracing the notion that art can and should actively address and engage contemporary issues, QMA has invited five contemporary artists - Emmy Catedral, Takashi Horisaki, Sara Rahbar, José Ruiz, and Tattfoo Tan - to partner with religious institutions in Flushing to create works that respond to religious dialogue and exchange. Components of each project will be exhibited both in the Museum and in Flushing at participating religious sites. Four commissioned photographers - Kim Badawi, Jenny Jozwiak, Stephanie Keith, and Scott Lewis - will capture the religious variety of Flushing. An open call invites photographers from all walks of life and religious persuasions to participate in a large display of images that celebrate religious freedom in this vibrant community.

The Flushing Remonstrance is on loan from the New York State Archives, a program of the New York State Education Department.

“This Case of Conscience”: Spiritual Flushing and the Remonstrance has been made possible with support from the Lily Auchincloss Foundation. Additional funding provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.


Also at QMA through May 4, 2008:

Back on the Map:
Revisiting the New York State Pavilion at the 1964/65 World's Fair

The Texaco Road Map is the large-scale terrazzo art pavement commissioned for the New York State Pavilion. Designed by renowned American architect Philip Johnson for the 1964/65 World’s Fair, the Pavilion is located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, next door to the Queens Museum of Art (former home of the New York City Pavilion). Commissioned by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, the New York State Pavilion featured a complex of structures: a Theaterama building, three observation towers, and the “Tent of Tomorrow,” a 12-story, open-air elliptical pavilion capped by the World’s largest suspended cable system roof fitted with colored acrylic panels. For the floor of the “Tent of Tomorrow,” Johnson commissioned the largest-known representation of any area of the earth’s surface: a 130-foot-by-166-foot terrazzo replica of a Texaco New York State road map. A fusion of Pop Art imagery and traditional craft techniques, the Texaco Road Map was a crucial component of Johnson’s Pavilion and is considered – alongside graphic paintings by Roy Lichtenstein on the Theaterama's exterior–one of the first public Pop Art monuments. Like many of the World's Fair structures, the New York State Pavilion was built as a temporary structure, and it is only in recent years that it has been recognized as an important historical icon. However, after years of exposure to weather conditions and vandalism, the Texaco Road Map now lies in a state of advanced disrepair. This threatens the continued existence of the Texaco Road Map as a cultural icon of Flushing Meadows Corona Park and American art and history.

Back on the Map aims to inform and engage the public about the significance of this historic gem. A culmination of conservation activities by the City of New York Department of Parks & Recreation in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania School of Design Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, the exhibition at the Queens Museum of Art will feature restored sections of the Texaco Road Map and elaborate the project findings through text panels and an interactive Web site. The Museum will also exhibit the process by allowing visitors to view the restoration from a uniquely close angle: they will have the opportunity to observe one of the conservators as he/she works on the restoration within the Museum’s galleries.

Funding Credits
Back on the Map is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and the School of Design, University of Pennsylvania.

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Anthony Auerbach
Empire State Pavilion

Anthony Auerbach’s installation Empire State Pavilion comprises three works speculating on how history is recorded in traces and inscriptions, and how it is erased. The works stem from an aerial survey the artist carried out in 2006, documenting the 9,000-square-foot terrazzo copy of the Texaco road map of New York State which was installed the New York State Pavilion for the 1964 - 65 World’s Fair. While the iconic Philip Johnson- designed pavilion fell into disuse and disrepair, the map began to turn back into a landscape. In this state, with a method modeled on the aerial techniques of geologists, archaeologists, cartographers and spies, Auerbach recorded a sequence of some 2,500 photographs covering the entire surface of the map. From this material emerge the devices and configurations of Auerbach’s Empire State Pavilion: Emperor Panorama, a stereoscopic invitation to inspect a surface, The State of New York, a fake projection, and untitled video image sequen ce interleaving the historical names and geographical remains of the antique city states and former imperial capitals in upstate New York. http://aauerbach.info/nys

Edition
Index (The State of New York) by Anthony Auerbach
Card file containing a complete inventory of the aerial survey The State of New York (edition of 3); series of unique archival prints 24.75" x 34.5", from Vargas Organisation, London.
http://vargas.org.uk/edition

Always on view at QMA
The Panorama of the City of New York
Selections from the Neustadt Collection of Tiffany Glass

Exhibitions credits:

Anthony Auerbach is supported in part by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.

Back on the Map is supported by The National Endowment for the Arts, The Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and the School of Design, University
of Pennsylvania.

Press Contact: Krista Saunders (718) 592-9700, ext. 221, ksaunders@queensmuseum.org

Queens Museum of Art
New York City Building
Flushing Meadows Corona Park Queens, NY 11368
Wednesday to Friday: 10:00am - 5:00pm
Saturday and Sunday: 12:00pm - 5:00pm

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