Sara Reisman

Director of the New York City's Percent for Art program within the city's Department of Cultural Affairs^[1] since 2008,^[2] Sara Reisman is also an independent New York City-based curator with a robust record of supporting conceptually-based work of locally-based emerging artists that cut across the lines of race, class, nationality, and gender^[3] as well as the work of more established artists like Allison Smith^[4] and Richard Artschwager^[5] within such a context.

Prior to her appointment at the Department of Cultural Affairs, Reisman was an associate dean at the Cooper Union School of Art and program director of the International Studio Curatorial Program based in New York City from 2006 to 2008.^[2] Before this, she worked as a curatorial fellow at both the New Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Philadelphia.^[2]

The Arbitrariness of Signs

For the March-April slot at noted Williamsburg art gallery Momenta Art in 2010, Reisman gathered artists around the theme of the moment in painting history when realism gave way to abstraction. Included where Karl Erickson's latch-hook pillows, Shana Moulton's video reflecting upon the eerie powers of household objects, two paintings by Russia-born painter Peter Rovstovsky, and the work of Nina Lola Bachhuber. Also included were an iron work by Italian/Trinidadian/American sculptor Robert Visani, a wall installation by Iranian-American artist Sheree Hovsepian, and drawings by Connecticut-born artist/curator/teacher Jenny Salomon as well as the work of more established artists like Richard Artschwager and Israeli Ohad Meromi.

Curatorial work prior to the DCA appointment

From 2003 to 2007 Reisman managed the film and performance programs at Socrates Sculpture Park in Astoria, Queens. While there she conceived of and culled grants for the summer series of temporary outdoor sculpture and live performances Float in 2003. She subsequently curated the 2005 and 2007 editions of the exhibition,^[3]and the well-attended show continues under the direction of others: Chelsea Spengemann in 2009 and the Greenpoint, Brooklyn gallery Cleopatra's in 2011.^[6]

2003 Float

2005 Float

For the second edition of the show, Reisman recruited New York-based artists Kabir Carter, Sabrina Gschwandtner, Claudia Joskowicz, Michelle Rosenberg, and Ryan Humphrey. Venice, California-native Carter presented multi-hour performances with an installation composed of live commercial radio broadcasts routed through analog synthesizer modules that reacted in real-time to the broadcasts, Gschwandtner showed Found Footage Dumpster, and Bolivia-born Joskowicz exhibited Two Second Love Stories, a set of mailboxes that contained giveaway t-shirts, the design of each created from photos the artist took of Long Island City within the vicinity of Socrates overlaid text culled from recent news stories about the neighborhood. Reisman also included works by the Ukraine-born duo Vydavy Sindikat, Monika Goetz, Boston-based Douglas Weathersby, and others.

2007 Float

Reisman's third and final Float exhibition included the work of Taiwan-born installation artist Lishan Chang, a video-performance by Shana Moulton^[3], a video by William Lamson, and installation/perfomance work by Japan-born American Saya Woolfalk^[7]. Kambui Olujimi's performance, Skipping Stones, involved the artist inviting participants of all ages to compete in a rock-skipping contest where winners were awarded artwork made by him.

Center of Everywhere vol. 2, 2008

Sponsored by the Queens Museum via its Heart of Corona initiative^[8], Reisman curated the public art work of four artists. Mike Estabrook showed The Adventures of Coronita, a comic strip and short animation based on interviews with Corona community members, Lin + Lam a video installation, Vydavy Sindikat, an installation with Fresnel lenses and kaleidoscopes, and Miguel Luciano his super-modified street vendor pushcart called Pimp My Piragua.^[8]

Exhibitions in Philadelphia

In 2006 and 2007 Reisman curated shows in Philadelphia art spaces such as Vox Populi both of which included the work of Vydavy Sindikat. She also included the duo in a group exhibition at LMAK Projects when the gallery was located in Brooklyn.

Co-curations

As an independent curator, Reisman often collaborates with other curators.

Jamaica Flux, 2004-05

In 2004, Reisman worked with Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning's Heng-Gil Han and independent curators Christopher K. Ho, Omar Lopez-Chahoud, Melvin Marshall, and Edwin Ramoran on an indoor and outdoor group exhibition called Jamaica Flux: Workplace & Windows. New York-based sculptors, painters, video artists, and performance artists presented work sited in and around the shopping areas adjacent to the arts center. Work included a hand made out of turkey bones in a plexiglas box with flying dollar bills by Roberto Visani placed in a local bank, a Barbara Kruger framed photograph Untitled (When I Hear the Word Culture I Take Out My Checkbook), and a Jamaica, Queens tourist postcard series by Tamara Gubernat. There was also a video series curated out of a Ford Bronco by Karlos Carcamo which in turn included the work of Terry Boddie, Chris Bors, Sharon Paz, and William Powhida. Other artists included in the show were Michael Rakowitz, Claudia Joskowicz, Manuel Acevedo, Laura Carton, Liselot van der Heijden, Kambui Olujimi, Olu Oguibe, and Juana Valdes.

Contain, Maintain, Sustain, 2011

Her co-curatorial work in 2011 was show at Artisphere in Arlington, Virginia with Arlington's public-art projects curator Welmoed Laanstra and Cuban-born architect/interior designer/graphic designer Ernesto Santalla.^[9] The exhibition, Contain, Maintain, Sustain, touches upon sustainability as a concern among recent artists and includes the work of area artists as well as New York-based ones such as Christopher K. Ho, video and electronic music couple LoVid, and Tattfoo Tan and Mary Mattingly.^[9] The latter two artists are known for their works which put environmental concerns and ecology front and center.

Education

Reisman is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the Whitney Independent Study Program.^[2]

References

1. ^ DCA staff list
2. ^ ^{a b c d} LinkedIn profile
3. ^ ^{a b c} 2007 Float at Socrates Sculpture Park website
4. ^ Brian Hiott blog
5. ^ The Arbitrariness of Signs, Momenta Art gallery official website
6. ^ information about Float at Socrates Sculpture Park website
7. ^ Gladstone, Valerie, "'Float' Drifts into Socrates Sculpture Park," NY Sun, Aug. 24, 2007
8. ^ ^{a b} Queens Museum website, Heart of Corona Initiative
9. ^ ^{a b} Washington Project for the Arts official website, current exhibitions