Yes We Cannibal, an institution for experimental art and social practice at 1600 Government St., is showing the exhibit, “Emptiness Ecologies,” through Feb. 4.
This multimedia show features new works of art and writing, including two small installations by multimedia artist Dawn Dedeaux, three collages by artist and Houma nation storyteller Monique Verdin, as well as work by national and international figures, including a video piece by Duke and Battersby of Syracuse, New York, two paintings by Tokyo native Chihiro Ito of Brooklyn, New York, new work from Brazilian bio-artist Clarissa Ribeiro of Fortaleza, Brazil, and an experimental film by Anna Scime of Buffalo, New York.
A still from Anna Scime’s 2019 video, ‘Dear Deer,’ featured in Yes We Cannibal’s multimedia show, ‘Emptiness Ecologies.’
The exhibit also includes new and original thematic writings from such Louisiana figures as communitarian activist and philosopher John Clark and curator and environmental humanities scholar Courtney Taylor, as well as translator and novelist Laura Marris of Buffalo.
Yes We Cannibal calls this its most ambitious gallery show yet. In recent years, Ecology has become an effusively privileged nexus ostensibly offering new ways to speak about social and environmental relationships and events. This show was crafted and curated by Yes We Cannibal to serve as a creative audit of that trend. Over the course of six weeks, it builds a critical space within which to explore those questions and current moment, taking stock of the conceptual uses of ecology and the nature of reality, itself.
Chihiro Ito’s 2022 painting, ‘Reversible Flower and Rainbow line, Arrows — Send Love to Club Q’ is featured in Yes We Cannibal’s multimedia exhibit, ‘Emptiness Ecologies.’
The show explores its theme through:
- Explorations of the nature of phenomena drawn from Buddhist philosophy.
- Cognitive dissonance in a moment of stunted political life and ecological cataclysm, including living through the sixth great extinction.
- Emptiness as that which is not transactional or celebrates reciprocity and gifting, especially as drawn from indigenous cosmologies.
Also, during the month of January, regular programming will supplement the show and its themes. Most events will be in person as well as livestreamed at twitch.tv/yeswecannibal. Please verify streaming in advance by emailing meetmeat@yeswecannibal.org.
Scheduled programming includes:
- Sunday, Jan. 8, 4 p.m.: Simon Berz and Bill Kelley, in the performance video documentation, “Tectonic.” Following the video, Kelley, a musician and longtime Zen practitioner, will give a talk introducing the philosophist Buddhist concept of emptiness or Śūnyatā, with some simple meditation incorporated.
- Sunday, Jan. 15, 4 p.m.: Austin Franklin in a musical performance of “Terra,” a work created in response to the electronic album written by Mort Garson titled “Mother Earth’s Plantasia.”
- Saturday, Jan. 21, 8 p.m.: Serpentine Choir of New Orleans. The vocal ensemble is based out of Bulbancha. Through sound installation and the creation of activated space, Serpentine collaborates with spirit, and with community, to facilitate places for transformation and healing.
- Sunday, Jan. 22, 4 p.m.: The Infernal Grove, an interview with Emily Duke and Cooper Battersby. Duke and Batterbsy describe the project as an “unsystematic structural analysis of drug use, addiction and recovery (not necessarily in that order).” Infernal Grove Study Groups bring together artists and writers with lived experience of drug use who have a range of relationships to sobriety and its alternatives.
- Sunday, Jan. 29, 4 p.m.: A conversation with John Clark and Dawn Dedeaux with moderator Allison K. Young. Clark and Dedeaux are both longtime residents of New Orleans who have made vast contributions to the Gulf coast as well as their respective fields of writing and visual art.
- Saturday, Feb. 4, 7 p.m.: Closing reception.
Gallery hours are noon to 6 p.m. Saturdays, noon to 3 p.m. Sundays, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays or by appointment.
The show also will include a high-quality exhibition catalog that will be available for sale by pre-order only throughout the duration of the show. For more information, call Liz Lezzner at (240) 644-2038 or Mat Keel at (240) 595-9421 or email meetmeat@yeswecannibal.org.
