"History isn't made in stirringindividual moments - an election, speech, or protest - just remembered by them. An Incomplete Haunting, an exhibition at 601Artspace curated by Rachel Raphaela Gugelberger, is part of Fall of Freedom, a decentralized series of events across theUnited States on November 21 and 22 opposing growing authoritarianism and censorship. Three of its 14 artists and collectives - Kris Grey, Miguel Luciano, and Dread Scott - co-organized Fall of Freedom and are listed as initiators of the exhibition."
"This exhibition trades in art's auratic power; its objects assert the power of collective memory. Kenneth Tam's "Why Do You Abuse Me" (2022) consists of the earth from sites along the Transcontinental Railroad, where many Chinese laborers died amid perilous working conditions and low wages in the 1860s. Embedded with dried fruits, seeds, mushrooms, and other sources of physical and spiritual nourishment, and standing almost preternaturally erect on one coin-edge to block your path, the piece feels almost alive."
An Incomplete Haunting at 601Artspace connects collective memory, historical violence, and present political anxieties through materially resonant artworks. The show participates in Fall of Freedom, a decentralized series opposing growing authoritarianism and censorship. Several participating artists also helped organize the larger event. Works incorporate historical materials and bodily traces to evoke ongoing reverberations of past decisions and systems. Kenneth Tam's piece uses earth from Transcontinental Railroad sites with embedded nourishment to embody erased labor histories. Weathered wooden beams salvaged from the original Stonewall Inn evoke weariness, burden, and the weight of persecution.
Read at Hyperallergic
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