AESTHETIC JUSTICE
Alyse Emdur, Prison Landscapes, 2008-2011. Lynette Newson, Correctional Institution for Women Corona, California Collection and Correspondence. Courtesy the Artist
Organized by Provisions, Aesthetic Justice was a group exhibition at the Lambent Foundation in New York, featuring works by Alyse Emdur, Rajkamal Kahlon, Carlos Motta & Josué Euceda, and Larissa Sansour.
Introducing the concept of aesthetic justice, that is justice from an aesthetic perspective instead of a legal one, the exhibition underscored the transformative potential of linking these concepts. By displaying contemporary artworks critical to notions of fairness, interdependency, protection, and equality; the artists investigated the ways in which formal and conceptual strategies enhance an understanding of responsibility and responsiveness. Aesthetic Justice reflected upon the question of justice within the four specific socio-political contexts the artworks engaged: the plight of the Palestinian people, the US prison industrial complex, police brutalities in Honduras, and the torture of Iraqi and Afghan prisoners by the US government.
Aesthetic Justice, curated by Niels Van Tomme, Provisions’ Director of Arts and Media, was on view from March 2 – June 1, 2011.
Download catalogue and listen to symposium.
Learn more about the exhibit from the Lambent Foundation website.
THE SEMINAR
A seminar, curated by Thomas Keenan and Niels Van Tomme, was organized within the framework of the Aesthetic Justice exhibition. The seminar included a number of thought-provoking dialogues between the artists in the exhibition and renowned human rights practitioners, scholars, writers, and journalists. Participants included Sam Gregory (Witness), Daniel Karpowitz (Bard Prison Initiative), Amitava Kumar (writer and journalist), Todd Lester (freeDimensional), Shannon Brunette (Lambent Foundation), Thomas Keena (Human Rights Project), and Niels Van Tomme (Provisions Learning Project).
The exhibition, publication, and related events were made possible with the generous support of the Lambent Foundation.
Alyse Emdur. The Great Escape, 2010. Collection and Correspondence Courtesy the artist. David Wells documented the Great Escape Race in Jackson Prison in the mid-80′s. In our correspondence, he sent me several photographs of the race and other images he took of life in Jackson over the 10 years he was the prison’s inmate color lab technician.
Rajkamal Kahlon. from, Did You Kiss the Dead Body, 2010-11. Ink on Marbled US Military Autopsy Reports. Overall dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist.
Rajkamal Kahlon. from, Did You Kiss the Dead Body, 2010-11. Ink on Marbled US Military Autopsy Reports. Overall dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist.
Carlos Motta and Josué Euceda. Resistance and Repression, 2010. Single channel video, 4min 36sec, color, sound. Courtesy the artists.
Larissa Sansour. A Space Exodus. Single channel video 5min 24sec. Courtesy the artist.
Larissa Sansour. A Space Exodus, 2009. Hard vinyl, 30cm. Courtesy the artist.