Today's spatial, social, cultural, political and planetary issues are at once too far-reaching and too entangled for any of us to ignore, whether in our professional, academic or even personal spheres of life. While as individuals we struggle to maintain an equilibrium between principles and practice, we look to institutions and their consolidated powers for guidance. As such, an organisation can act as prompt, provocation and pool of resources for the greater amplification and synthesis of values. Even as imbalances and injustices continue to privilege or disadvantage us against each other, Koozarch’s second editorial series Fair Play asks architectural, design and cultural institutions what “playing fair” might mean for them.

New York City is indisputably saturated with cultural and arts offerings, especially when considering the funding received by the city as compared with other metropolises across the United States. How, then, can a small, independent New York institution hope to engage an audience, while competing for attention? Is it possible to play fair in a field of players?
CARA (Centre for Art, Research and Alliances) wears its heart on its sleeve; as suggested by the name, its mission involves broadening the scope of what it describes as “art’s abundant pasts, presents and futures”, through a spectrum of activities including publishing, public programming, fellowships and more. Formerly known as New York Consolidated, CARA is a fairly young institution that emerged in dialogue with artists, curators, writers, publishers, researchers, and other cultural workers who share a vision for a just future both in and through the arts. Core values for CARA include kinship, collaboration, anti-racism and inclusivity and — impressively — pioneering efforts to ensure fair pay for art workers, certified by W.A.G.E. (Working Artists and the Greater Economy).

"Exploring Technology's Memory" by Center for Art, Research and Alliance (CARA)

In dialogue with the Center for Art, Research and Alliance’s (CARA) spring exhibition, and we learn to keep the soil wet, artist, composer, and academic Kite engaged CARA’s physical space in the West Village to activate her newly commissioned, interdisciplinary piece Oíhaŋke Waníča (Infinity). The artist’s unique practice involves Lakota epistemologies, machine-learning, performance, and experimental sound and video works.

Using an embroidery machine as a machine collaborator, Kite’s work is an interactive sculpture composed of geometric designs that translate the artist’s dreams in patterns that correspond to Lakota words and traditional art forms. The embroidery machine acts as an artificial being, which transforms knowledge from Kite’s dream world into the visual language of designs by stitching the patterns into cloth. These cyborgian communications act as the basis for a series of subsequent activations where Kite sings, fiddles, reads her dreams from the geometric patterns, and invites friends, relatives, collaborators, and aligned artists to interpret the embroidered scores.

Dissolving the idea of territory as a delineated geographical space of statehood or governance, and we learn to keep the soil wet highlighted the capacity of the body and the earth to hold histories of both violence and mutual care. From varying perspectives, the nine artists engaged the cyclical and defied their given or imposed territories through works that have grown out of emotional architectures, like the space of dreams, and the resilience and memory of the forest, the flesh, and the gut. Such expanded forms of community are part of the continuous transformation of the earth's life systems.

Curated by CARA’s Executive Director and Chief Curator Manuela Moscoso and produced by Agustin Schang, the exhibition was built upon CARA’s mission to expand public discourses and historical records to reflect art’s abundant pasts, presents, and futures. Through initiatives including publishing, exhibitions, public programs, and fellowships, CARA seeks to challenge dominant narratives and amplify the breadth of arts and culture.

Bio

CARA is an arts nonprofit, research center, and publisher based in New York. It aims to expand public discourses and historical records to reflect art’s abundant pasts, presents, and futures. Through initiatives including publishing, exhibitions, public programs, and fellowships, the center seeks to challenge dominant narratives and amplify the breadth of arts and culture.