On View August 28, 2021 – January 8, 2021
Time Sensitive includes three time-based media works that invite the viewer to examine the depths of global empathy and solidarity. Two of them, Civil War (2021) and With Avarice (2021) are new works completed in 2021 during the military coup period in Myanmar. Both videos capture the artists entangled in movements that teeter between cooperation and conflict. Their themes respond to a universal dilemma – how scarcity and excess mark imbalances in power and resources. Meanwhile, Still in the Present (2016) was developed in the beginning of Myanmar’s brief period of democracy and offers further insight into a society in constant transition.
About the Guest Curator
Adriel Luis is a community organizer, artist, and curator who believes in collective imagination as a pathway toward liberation. His work is focused on bridging artistic integrity and social vigilance. He is a part of the iLL-Literacy arts collective, which creates music and media to strengthen Black and Asian American coalitions; is creative director of Bombshelltoe, which works with artists to highlight marginalized communities affected by nuclear issues; and collaborates with dozens of artists and organizations through his curate and design engine, Phenomenoun. Adriel is the Curator of Digital and Emerging Practice at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, where he advocates for equitable practices in museums and institutions. Adriel has been a speaker at the Tate Modern, Yale University, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the China Academy of Fine Arts. He has a degree in human sciences from UC Davis in Community and Regional Development and a minor in Asian American Studies.
3AM: Time Sensitive will include an online viewing room, a narrated virtual tour, and a series of public programs. Tephra ICA is open Tuesday–Saturday, 11am–5pm by appointment only. Appointments are free and can be made at tephraica.org.
Virtual Opening Reception and Artist Talk:
August 31, 6pm
The presentation will be followed by a Q&A. FREE and open to the public. RSVP in advance at info@tephraica.org for Zoom Room link and password. Sponsored by Reston Community Center.
Pictured at top: 3AM, still from Still in the Present, 2016
About Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art
Tephra ICA is a non-profit, non-collecting institution committed to promoting innovative contemporary art and thinking. Leading with curiosity and care, the organization is a catalyst, generator, and advocate for visual arts.
Tephra ICA is supported in part by ArtsFairfax, Reston Community Center, Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
