ONVIEW:In Plain View, Parsons School of Design, 5th Avenue Gallery, NYC, January 27–March 2, 2025.
I've a new video from The Same Sun series in this group exhibition. More to come for Same Sun in 2025!
485 Ma premiers at In Plain View, group exhibition
In Plain View, group exhibition banner and 2 screenshots of 485 Ma - Freshkills, Memphis, Lago de Texcoco
485 Ma - Freshkills, Memphis, Lago de Texcoco, a new video from the The Same Sun /Calendar series is premiering in In Plain View: Transforming Frshkills from Landfill to Lanfscape, a group exhibtion at Parsons School of Design in New York City. It is a follow up to the original project The Same Sun / Calendar which debuted at @tsa_ny in 2018. This new series takes as a departure point my residency with Freshkills Park: Field R/D at @freshkillspark in 2018-2019. While at the residency, we explored various aspects of the landfill. I did propose several other project which I still have sketches of and might post later. But in the end, I decided to express my experience at Freshkills Park residency through the format of The Same Sun/ Calendarˆ, which if you recall, is a video series that explore various sites on deep-time maps.
Oliver Jones (beige jacket and sunglasses) was at the leading edge of the 1969 Third World Liberation Front strike in Berkeley that led to the founding of the Department of Ethnic Studies. (Photo by Oliver Jones)
On my way to San Antonio to install my upcoming exhibition and decided to stop at Berkeley California for some research and to visit old and new friends. I couldn't help but try to re-imagine the Third World Liberation strikers as they marched in and out of the famous Sather Gates at Berkeley. South-facing photographs here show them entering the campus at the Sather Gates sun setting in the background.[...]
Documents of Resistance - 10 Years Discussion at Open Contemporary Art Center (OCAC), Taipei
ABOVE: (detail) Moving Forward Together, Digital print, 30 x 45 in. 2023
Open Contemporary Art Center (OCAC) Presents: Antonio Serna - Documents of Resistance, 10 Years
Join us on Sunday, August 19th for a discussion with Mexican-American artist Antonio Serna about Documents of Resistance, his art project that focuses on the history of art and activism of people of color in the USA.* Started over 10 years ago, Documents of Resistance began as an onsite art protest teach-in focusing on protests against racism in the museums of New York City and has slowly evolved to include workshops, installations, advocacy work, archive, and database set to launch in 2024.
Art for the Future ranks 20 in top 50 Exhibitions of 2022
ABOVE: The artworks in Hyperallergic’s Top 50 list installed in Alexandre Jean-Baptiste Brun’s 19th-century rendering of a Paris salon (edit Valentina Di Liscia/Hyperallergic)
Art for the Future ranks #22 in 2022 in Hyperallergic's top 50 exhibitions of 2022 which have been reimagined above as an installtion in the Salon Carré du Louvre, by way of an Alexandre Jean-Baptiste Brun painting (c.1880). My photograph is hanging in one of the side rooms - I know right !?! 😂
“Do You Know Where Your Country Is?” Paper Tiger Television Asks.
ABOVE: Screenshot of Paper Tiger Television's “Artists Call for Central America: It's the Next Best Thing to Being There” (28min 19sec), Video, 1984. CC BY Paper Tiger Television
At the end of this Paper Tiger Television program the host closes out by saying, “It's 9 o'clock, Do you know where your country is?” It's seems so fitting to ask this again today as we sit back and watch American diplomats rushing east, west, north, and south trying to patch-up a crumbling empire in the face of major economical and political shifts in the global landscape. This exhibition couldn't be more relevant now, and that's precisely why it's traveling.[...]
Paper Tiger Television’s Coverage of Artists Call Performance Festival (1984)
ABOVE: Screenshot of Paper Tiger Television's “Artists Call for Central America: It's the Next Best Thing to Being There” (28min 19sec), Video, 1984. CC BY Paper Tiger Television
Paper Tiger Television covered the second night of the Artists Call Performance Festival (later billed “Dance and Performance Festival”) at the Franklin Furnace on January 14th. The video above contains and interview with Lucy Lippard about Artists Call as well as a recording of the performances by Lenora Champagne, Jerri Allyn, and the Smith Bros. Other performances on the billing
I've donated artwork to raise funds for Blue Mountain Center, a very special sanctuary space in upstate New York that is a year-round host to many artists/activist/organizers seeking refuge, rest, and time for self-care, healing, re-energizing, and even strategizing. (As a lead up to organizing with People's Cultural Plan-I've workshopped ideas on how to address the lack of diversity in NYC's museums and also on creating a commons of art and culture with other residents during my stay! ✊👀 )
Press Photos & Upcoming Events for “Art for the Future: Artists Call and Central American Solidarities” (2022)
ABOVE: Installation photo of “Art for the Future: Artists Call and Central American Solidarities”at Tufts University Art Galleries. Center: Image featured on the book of “Art of the Future” depicting an Artists Call 1984 march with banners, photo by Dona Ann McAdams.
It's been a difficult two years for many many people, my family and I are no exception. While my mind was in my sketchbook, there were a million things happening since the start of the pandemic, too many to list, which ultimately kept me from spending any time in a studio producing new work. Needless to say, I was slow to complete most of the projects as I envisioned for 2021. I am, however, very content to know that one of the new pieces I was able to complete is finally up and on display in the once-in-a-life-time exhibition Art for the Future: Artists Call and Central American Solidarities, at Tuft University Galleries, surrounded by other amazing works by Gregory Sholette, the late Ana Mendieta, et al.[...]
New Book: “Art for the Future: Artists Call and Central American Solidarities” (2022)
I'm very excited and honored to be included in “Art for the Future: Artists Call and Central American Solidarities”. This new book by editors Erina Duganne and Abigail Satinsky presents an in-depth historical and contemporary reflection on the 1980s campaign Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America.
In case you missed it, Extinction Rebellion NYC (XR) had an eventful post-pandemic reemergence on Occupy Wall Street's 10 year anniversary September 17 (S17) —I was excited to see XR doing direct actions throughout the city again. I love these blockades - those pyramid things always remind me of Mark Di Suvero— maybe we can get NYC's Department of Cultural Affairs, current Commissioner to support 50 of these blockades around the city as part of NYC's public art program??? Here is a decent round up of XR's activities throughout the day:
I’ve been hoping to write more this year (and last year too, to be honest) but with life's interruptions finding the time to write and then structure the writing in a meaningful way has been difficult. So maybe these first attempts seem fragmented and disconnected at the moment, but I felt it was better to get it out sooner while the thoughts are fresh in my mind. Maybe in the future I worry about stitching it all together in to a longer piece.
Perhaps the last time I was in free creative mode, ie before panic pandemic isolation, was when I was working on *480 Ma* a project for @freshkillspark alongside cohorts Sto Len and Jen Liu
480 Ma, is a new chapter in The Same Sun (Calendar) series that I had been on pause for too long.
Take What You Can't Get Panel Recording Now Online
The Zoom video recording for the panel "Fostering a Healthy Artworld Ecosystem" is now online. The panel was part of the exhibition "Take What You Can't Get" curated by Christina Freeman via the ABCnoRio Collective here in the East Village.
New images for the 2020 installation of Documents of Resistance—Our Oppressions are Connected
2020 was a year. Despite everything, I pressed forward to produce at least one exhibition of some of the new work that was to have been displayed at James Madison University, which as canceled due to covid-19. This new iteration was mostly virtual, although safety regulated appointments could be made to visit the display. As you can imagine the work presented in the exhibition is highly detailed and requires a lot of in person time to untangle and digest, but for now this virtual presentation and a few images in the Documents of Resistance project page would have to suffice for now.
I also held two online events, interviews with BIPOC artist to discuss the focus of the exhibition and either their relation or understanding about the history captured in the work and a presentation of their related work.[...]
Documents of Resistance—Our Oppressions are Connected, (September 18–October 18, 2020)
Documents of Resistance - Our Oppressions are Connected...
September 18–October 18, 2020
New York, NY
Exhibition • Discussions • Archive in Exile...
Our Oppressions Are Connected, the sixth iteration of Documents of Resistance, will focus on expanding content and context of the Third World Liberation Front Strikes (San Francisco State College 1968-9; University of California Berkeley 1969), and Detroit’s Revolutionary Black Workers Movement which happened [...]
Documents of Resistance—Our Oppressions are Connected, archive lab
Documents of Resistance - Our Oppressions are Connected... exhibition • discussions • archive lab... live ——>September 2020.
Image description: Image showing a photographing station for archival documents. The station consist of camera connected to computer on a table and lit by two lamps. Document on table is a booklet published in 1984 by the National Organization for an American Revolution. Title of the booklet is
Wrapping up new work for Documents of Resistance—To Date, upcoming solo exhibition
I've just finished framing 5 new photographs for Documents of Resistance—To Date, my upcoming solo exhibition at Duke Hall Gallery of Fine Art at James Madison University in Virginia. This piece is the central image of a photo triptych Chain Piece: Third World Liberation Front Strikes (San Francisco State College), 2020. The exhibition is scheduled for March 17–April 19, 2020.
That's a Wrap! Documents of Resistance: Our Time at Loisaida 2018
Just completed the final report for the project Documents of Resistance: Our Time at Loisaida September 14—November 30, 2018. Images above are from a class visit from Argentina! We had a great time. For the entire run of the exhibition I gave several exhibition tours. The material and history is so dense and rarely discussed that tours are a valuable part of reaching people and bringing to life this important history.
Image above: Antonio Serna with Carlos Alvarez and his students from Argentina. October 16, 2018.
Flushing Queens, New York – The Lewis H. Latimer House Museum is pleased to present Antonio Serna: Lloyd x Latimer and The Energy of Place, a solo exhibition of new work by Antonio Serna.
Under the umbrella project Documents of Resistance: Artists of Color Protest (1960s–present), Mexican-American artist Antonio Serna
has been creating artwork in the form of visual-research related to the history of art and activism by artists ofcolor
. The story of the Latimer House is connected to this history through the efforts of Tom Lloyd, an African-American artists and activist [...]
‘Our Time’ Exhibition Extended + Final Walk-Thru with the Antonio Serna
Antonio Serna
‘Documents of Resistance: Our Time’ Exhibition extended to Friday November 30th.
**Final exhibition walk-thru with artists Antonio Serna will be held Wednesday November 28 at 5:30pm. (Just before the panel @6:00 PM)**
Loisaida Center Inc.
710 East 9th Street, NYC (google map) | Monday–Friday 11 AM–5 PM
‘Documents of Resistance: Our Time’ has been extended until the end of November. The extension will coincide with another relevant panel at the Loisaida Center. On Wednesday, November 28th, Nandini Bagchee will be discussing her new book Counter Institution: Activist Estates of the Lower East Side. Relevant to ‘Documents of Resistance’ is her research on CHARAS/El Bohio,
Thursday October 25, 2018
Panel Discussion: 7:00–8:30 PM*
*Pre-Event: 6:15 PM Exhibition Walk-thru with artist Antonio Serna
Loisaida Inc.
710 East 9th Street, New York, NY (google map)
Panelist: Macarena Gómez-Barris,
J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, and
Conor Tomás Reed Moderator: Patrick Jaojoco
Since the 1960s, students of color have fought to decolonize campuses across the Americas. One of their goals was to introduce studies related to their own experiences and include their history outside of the dominant Eurocentric lens. We will discuss some of the original demands and achievements, and compare them to the current wave of decolonizing academia.
Secondly, one of main concerns in the project Our Time is to highlight the racism in the arts as affecting all people of color across America. We ask, what can we gain from a comparative ethnographic analysis of this history? What are the limits and pitfalls of such study? How does it affect the visual arts and visual cultural studies in general (framework of research, production, participation, and consumption)?
Announcing ‘Documents of Resistance: Our Time’, a Solo Exhibition By Antonio Serna
Loisaida Center Inc. is pleased to present Documents of Resistance: Our Time, a participatory exhibition and residency of new work by Antonio Serna.
How do we give contours to an art history that remains unwritten, scattered across archives, and siloed in scholarship? How can we begin to reconnect the struggle for civil rights across all artists of color and their fight for inclusion in our cultural institutions? How can we being to reflect on the complexity of artists of color and their unique experience, political actions, and artistic production as part of the art history in America? In the exhibition, Documents of Resistance: Our Time, Mexican-American artist, Antonio Serna is hoping to take us down a visual path to consider these and many other questions in regards to the important but often overlook contributions of artist of color.
New Memories for Tomorrow (Screening and Artists Talk)
New Memories for Tomorrow (Screening and Artists Talk)
Thursday, February 8, 2018
6:30 pm–8:00 pm | Doors open at 6:00 pm
Tiger Strikes Asteroid New York
1329 Willoughby Ave #2A, Brooklyn NY 11237
Screening of TimeTraveller™ by Skawennati and The Same Sun/Calendar by Antonio Serna
Artists talk to follow
Join us this evening for a screening and artist talk as we near the end of The Same Sun. For this special event exhibiting artist Antonio Serna has invited Skawennati, a Mohawk multimedia artist, to present a selection of videos from her TimeTraveller™ (2008–2013) series in conjunction with the videos from The Same Sun/Calendar. Following the video program the artists will open up to a dialogue on their respective journeys and processes, and take questions from the audience.
‘The Same Sun’, Solo Exhibition at Tiger Strikes Asteroid NY
Antonio Serna: The Same Sun
January 5th - February 11th, 2018
Opening Reception: Friday, January 5, 2018, 6-9PM
Special Screening and Arist’s Talk: Thursday, February 8, 2018, 6-8PM
*** TSA NY will be open Thu - Sun 1-6pm for the duration of this exhibition *** “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” – William Faulkner
Brooklyn, New York – Tiger Strikes Asteroid NY is pleased to present The Same Sun, a solo exhibition of new works by Antonio Serna.
Serna’s videos, photographs, and documents focus on unraveling the narratives that form our understanding of history. The Same Sun refers to the star that has been the center of our solar system for billions of years, is the lone witness to all history, and might be the only one capable of comprehending the complete story of our time.
