curating: why is everyone breaking up right now?
“WHY IS EVERYONE BREAKING UP RIGHT NOW?”
The Valentine’s Day Pop-Up Art Installation Examines Breakups, Sorrow, and Ruptured Romances Through a Collection of Mementoes and Memories From Artists’ Former Loves
Artist and curator Blair Simmons channels a broken heart into her own art and has curated the show through an open call for submissions from other broken-hearted artists on dating apps
January 31, 2023 (Brooklyn, NY) – A new pop-up art installation dedicated to love and the aftermath of losing it, opens on Valentine’s Day.
Titled “WHY IS EVERYONE BREAKING UP RIGHT NOW?,” the art installation debuts at AllinOne Collective’s Portal at 164 20th Street in Brooklyn and is one night only on Tuesday, February 14.
The artists contributing to the show found inspiration in the ashes of burnt relationships or lost loves, and have been encouraged to experiment with mixed mediums – including but not limited to objects that remind the artist of the lost love, letters, trinkets, writings, sculptures, sketches, unfinished thoughts, photography, or mutations of the items left behind in the aftermath of love lost.
Artist and educator Blair Simmons rashly joined a dating app, Hinge, in the days following her breakup with her partner of seven years. Realizing it was too soon to seriously begin swiping, she decided to transform her profile into an open call for an art show for other heartbroken souls.
The response has been overwhelming, in just 48 hours she had received 400 inquiries and submissions on the app and from her own social circle.
“It really does feel like everyone is breaking up. My home is filled with time capsules, fragments of a time past. This pain has to go somewhere, and I’m not the only one feeling this way,” says Simmons, “The show is designed to bring the disenfranchised together to grieve and channel their rage, pain, tears, or emptiness into something you can hold – a visual representation of the feelings you want to purge from your body. I look forward to bringing this community of lost souls together, together we might take the steps we need towards healing and closure.”
“People have asked if divorce counts, if death counts, if friendships ending counts, if going low contact with a parent counts.” Simmons says. ”While none of this was expected, yes to all, it all counts.”
This show has been expertly curated to showcase the art forged, sculpted, and formed by rejection, regret, and longing. Simmons brought in three additional curators to assist with the art installation details and logistics: Molly Ritmiller (who recently ended a six-year relationship), Maya Pollack (who ended a seven-year relationship), and Silvia Abisaab (who enjoys walks by the water and knows how to write artist contracts).
The art exhibit is open to everyone, including those who are in love, and those who are still recovering. Submissions are being accepted through February 6th from anyone who has gone through a breakup or suffered heartache within the last 18 months.
Each guest will leave with something that Simmons needs to get rid of from the relationship… but can’t seem to throw away.
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About the Curators:
Blair Simmons is a queer + anxious artist, researcher, storyteller, and technician working in as many mediums as will have her. Her research often materializes into objects and performances which have been performed at the likes of Blanc Gallery, Pioneer Works, La Mama’s CultureHub, Wordhack at Babycastles and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She has taught at CultureHub’s CoLab, Harlem School of the Arts, Children's Museum of the Arts and is currently teaching at NYU’s ITP/IMA.
Molly Ritmiller is an interdisciplinary artist/designer composed of an intricate web of people who have supported, befriended, encouraged, and educated her. She has a wide ranging background as a designer, teaching artist, photographer, fabricator, chef, and research fellow. She is currently thinking and writing about edges, what it means to be kin, and looking closely at the knotted web of vital materiality we coexist in.
Silvia Beatriz Abisaab is an artist and arts administrator. She received her BFA in Photography at the Kansas City Art Institute in 2016. Silvia utilizes photography and video to collaboratively work with individuals and organizations. Silvia is currently based in New York, New York.
Maya Pollack is an interdisciplinary artist and educator. She is currently teaching and advising students in the NYU Studio Art program. In her artistic practice and work with students, the question of how we care and empathize is of critical concern to her. She is currently exploring modes of shifting perspectives, suspending disbelief, and time travel.
About the Space:
AllInOne Collective strives to provide artists and activists housing and studio space. They foster community by sharing connections, jobs and opportunities. They provide the space and resources needed for artists and activists to make things happen.
Portal is a new warehouse space joining the AllInOne Collective mission, spearheaded by Miles Bolton (co-founder of AllInOne Collective) and Rome Fortune (rapper/organizer). Portal serves to help amplify the mission of AllInOne Collective by creating a space for artists by artists to serve as a dynamic launchpad for content creation, artistic expression, and community building to support burgeoning artist communities in NYC.
About the Digital Archive:
Accessible Objects is a platform that brings vanguard creators, curators, and inquisitive observers together in an open, playful, and approachable way. We curate periodic exhibitions and host events both on- and offline. Accessible Objects was founded in 2020 by Chloé Vadot and Sophia Yoo, as a response to global confinements and the loss of important cultural exchange spaces in times of isolation.
Chloé Vadot is a creative producer of projects. She has worked across a variety of creative industries from architecture (Architizer), events (Louis Vuitton), and design (Atlason Studio). She co-founded Accessible Objects in 2020 as a means of bringing creators of her generation together and supporting them in growing their independent practices. Born in France, Chloé has lived in the U.S. since 2005, studied at McGill University in Montréal and SDA Bocconi in Milan, and is currently based in Brooklyn.
Sophia Somin Yoo is a designer, curator, and artist based in Brooklyn. She co-founded Accessible Objects in 2020 as a way to make the progressive ideas of the creative vanguard feel approachable to all. Sophia is also the founder of Accessible Studios, a multi-disciplinary practice for site-specific, graphic, and web design. Additionally, she practices ceramics as Yoo Studio, creating functional and sculptural work inspired by traditional Korean forms. Born in Seoul, Korea, Sophia has lived in the U.S. since 1995 and received a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Yale University in 2014.
For immediate release:
February 2nd, 2023
Press Contact:
Billy Richling
917-342-2499
For More Information:
Event RSVP: https://partiful.com/e/ZkaZMpIzlK17NdUpH8w9
Submissions accepted via Instagram direct message @blairsimmons
Promotional images can be viewed here.
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