Korea Art Forum Presents:
2023 SHARED DIALOGUE, SHARED SPACE (SDSS), Part II
Please join us for
2024 Shared Dialogue, Shared Space, Part 3, No. 3
presenting the work of
Akiko Ichikawa, Sari Nordman, and Thomas Gallagher,
at María Sola Community Greenspace
128 Lincoln Ave, Bronx, NY 10454
Saturday, September 21st, 2024, from 2 PM to 6 PM
Korea Art Forum (KAF) is excited to announce its collaboration with La Peña del Bronx, presenting the 2024 Shared Dialogue, Shared Space (SDSS), in Mott Haven, South Bronx, on Saturday, September 21st, from 2 pm to 6 pm. The artists Akiko Ichikawa, Sari Nordman, and Thomas Gallagher will lead their participatory art activities.
Akiko Ichikawa has translated into Japanese sayings she found on t-shirts worn by pedestrians in the community. She will guide participants into stenciling these translations onto secondhand t-shirts selected and brought to the event. Limited, Limited Edition (South Bronx) is a way for Ichikawa and her participants to engage and create singular cross-cultural experiences and an imaginative space transcending one-dimensional takes on Japanese culture.
Akiko Ichikawa. Limited, Limited Edition (South Bronx) on September 7, 2024. Under the artist’s guidance, a participant stencils onto a shirt she picked that she will take home. Photo credit: Nancy Paredes.
Sari Nordman will create Anxiety, a public social engagement project involving knotting workshops to create tapestries using recycled plastic films and traditional Finnish rya rug weaving methods. The workshops will culminate in an environmentally-themed fiber art installation, addressing the problems of single-use plastics and their negative impact on nature and people, particularly in underserved communities. During the collaborative process of making plastic tapestries, participants will exchange their perceptions and reflections on recycling, single-use plastics, and solutions to plastic waste problems. These dialogues will raise their awareness of environmental issues and their root causes.
Sari Nordman. Anxiety on August 24, 2024. Sari takes pictures of a participant wearing one of her plastic tapestries. Photo credit: Nancy Paredes.
Thomas Gallagher will create an opportunity for neighbors from the community to bridge language and cultural barriers: to speak, hear, and understand the “voice of the other” through a game he calls Lingo Bingo. His project draws on the vernacular visual language and play mechanics of the game Bingo, replacing the numbers with words and phrases in multiple languages to create a low-risk, playful setting for participants of diverse cultural backgrounds to discover shared values.
Thomas Gallagher. Lingo Bingo on September 7, 2024. Smiles all around as Thomas facilitates the game in five languages. Photo credit: Nancy Paredes.
The artists anticipate their participatory art activities promoting community building among diverse people, fostering respect for immigrants from various countries, and giving space to values across cultures, like equity, climate, and racial justice.
About Shared Dialogue, Shared Space (SDSS)
SDSS commissions artists selected from KAF’s open calls to create and present new participatory work in public settings. This yearlong project connects the NYC public to thoughtful art and culture, focusing on immigrant communities, people with disabilities, and those experiencing economic hardship.
The initiative integrates art into people’s daily activities in public and semi-private spaces, exploring and crystallizing the impact and conditions of creative moments in the everyday. It fosters dialogue between artists and the public, covering a wide range of subject matter and the multidimensional impact of art on cultural production and social change. It particularly combats hatred, focusing on anti-Asian attitudes and racial divides entrenched in all sectors of American life at this critical time when hate crimes in 2023 surged 159% compared to 2019 in New York City, a global center known for its strength in bonding diverse cultures, beliefs, and identities.
First launched in 2020, SDSS has underscored the essential role of art in human existence. Art intervenes when the world is in crisis, and SDSS promotes the human capacity for collaboration, resilience, and creativity. For the past four years, SDSS has broadened communication channels between the contemporary art world and local communities in New York City, advancing artists’ creative endeavors to engage the public while enhancing residents’ quality of life in local communities.
In Mott Haven, SDSS will platform three art activities, welcoming the community to participate. The project will deliver immersive and captivating experiences showcasing artists’ and communities’ diverse talent and perspectives. SDSS in the Bronx will offer artist-run participatory activities free of charge. Live interpretation services in Korean, Chinese, and Spanish are available. ASL service is also available at SDSS events with two weeks’ advance notice. All are welcome to attend. For more information about the project, please send an email to info@kafny.org
About Korea Art Forum (KAF)
Founded in New York City in 2013, the Korea Art Forum (KAF) is led by artists, scholars, and peacemakers committed to bridging the world through art to create peace by supporting artists in their public engagement and enhancing people’s quality of life and well-being. KAF produces commissions, exhibitions, forums, and publications to bring together people across the art world and beyond to share dialogues, build an interconnected world, and support inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility.
THANK YOU!
KAF’s 2024 Shared Dialogue, Shared Space (SDSS): Part 2 is supported, in part, by an award of Grants for Art Projects from the National Endowment for the Arts; and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; and is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional funding is provided by the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) and Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ) Arts Engagement administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC). We especially thank our community partners, South Bronx Unite, the Minkwon Center, the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, the NYC Department of Transportation, and NYC Council Members Vickie Paladino, Sandra Ung, and Julie Won for supporting KAF’s projects.
