Ohio State Hosts IMPACT—Immigration Projects: Art, Culture, and Tradition

September 21, 2011

Ohio State Hosts IMPACT—Immigration Projects: Art, Culture, and Tradition

The Ohio State University is hosting IMPACT—Immigration Projects: Art, Culture, and Tradition, a series of exhibitions, events, and programs in conjunction with the Center on Ethics and Human Values’ year-longConversation on Immigration. IMPACT was initiated by the College of Arts and Sciences Swing Space Gallery in collaboration with the Hale Black Cultural Center, Ohio Union, and Ohio State’s Multicultural Center with special thanks to the Somali Cultural and Research Center and the Metro High School.

Thursday, October 6–Thursday, October 27: IMPACT

Swing Space Gallery, 1556 North High St.

This exhibition contains visual art, video, stories, poems, and performance from artists and writers who are immigrants or the children of immigrants, addressing their experiences of moving from or between one country, culture, or community to another or being raised within an immigrant family or community.

Artists in the exhibition include: Vita Berezina Blackburn, Lambertus van Boekel, Allison Davis, Mauricio Espinoza, April Felipe, Pamela Flynn, Camellia Freeman, Karen Frostig, Paula Gaetano Adi, Florence Gouvrit, Gelare Khoshgozaran, Jenna Kilic, Sophie Knee, Blazo Kovacevic, Regina Mamou, Monika Meler, Tony Mendoza, Takeshi Moro, Jen Pepper, Gabrielle Pescador, Juan Javier Pescador, Luis Porras Garcia, Ramon Ramirez, Abdi Roble, Theresa Rojas, Suzanne Silver, Vanessa Simmons, Sergio Soave, Alexis del Sol, Chanika Svetvilas, Mariana Tcherepanova-Smith, Sherwin R. Tibayan, Howard Tran, Duat Vu, Martin Meaipa Zeinway.

Curated by Swing Space Director/Curator Prudence Y. Gill and Department of Art Assistant Professor Suzanne Silver.

Thursday, October 6:

Swing Space Gallery

4-6 pm Pre-reception Arts Happy Hour @ Gooeyz—stop by the Swing Space Gallery or the Ohio Art League, get stamped, get 10% Arts Happy Hour discount on drinks at Gooeyz Upstairs Lounge.

4-6 pm OSU Multicultural Center’s Couch Project will be on site at the Swing Space Gallery patio collecting and documenting individual voices of immigration.

6-8 pm 2011 GCAC International Residency Reception: Join us at the gallery on the opening day of IMPACT in welcoming Dresden artist Paul Elsner.

Note: A complete list of related IMPACT events are below. All events are listed on the College of Arts and Sciences website, at artsandsciences.osu.edu

Thursday October 13, 5-7 pm

Reception-Hop: Bricker Hall, Hale Black Cultural Center and the Ohio Union

Bricker Hall, 190 N. Oval Mall:

  • The Essential Question: Metro High School Students were asked to reflect on the impact of immigration through a multi-disciplined focus: social science, art, math, and the sciences.
  • Also featuring Common Ground: an exhibition mapping immigration through intersections in ceramic history, curated from the Arthur E. Baggs Memorial Library Collection by Monika Laskowska, GTA, Department of Art. (On view October 13–27)

Ohio Union, 1739 N. High St.: (on view October 3-28)

  • Ohio Union Gallery: Receptions for Art and Artifacts of Somalia from the Collection of the Somali Cultural and Research Center, curated by Mohamud M. Diriye, director, SCRC, and Ruth Smith, GTA, Department of Art Education.
  • Ohio State Multicultural Center: Excerpts from photographer Steven Rubin's Phantoms of Lost Liberty, which brings forward personal stories and visual documentation of immigrant detainees across the country
  • Ohio Union Gallery: Select images from photographer Abdi Roble's Somali Documentary Project, currently touring the US.

Hale Black Cultural Center, 153 W. 12th Ave.:(on view October 3-28)

  • Issues of Immigration, from a series of public service posters designed by Dirios.

Tuesday, October 18:5-7 pm, Swing Space Gallery

Reading Immigration I: artists and writers, including Tony Mendoza, Jenna Kilic, Camillia Freeman and others will offer live readings of their short stories/poems based on their immigration experience, with a special performance excerpt from Living Out by Lisa Loomer. The play, currently in production with the Ohio State Theatre Department, addresses the imbalance of class through a dramatization of an illegal immigrant.

Tuesday, October 18:11:30 am

Ethnic Arts: A Means for Intercultural Communication; GTA Ruth Smith will hold an open-to-the-public class, beginning at the Swing Space Gallery, continuing at the Ohio Union and Hale Center.

Thursday, October 20: 11:30 am

Photographer Steven Rubin presents Artist's Talk: Phantoms of Lost Liberty with Tony Mendoza's Documentary Photography class beginning at the Swing Space Gallery, continuing at the Ohio Union/MCC. Open to the public.

Friday, October 21: 4-6 pm, Swing Space Gallery

IMPACT Artists Reception and “Immigration: What’s at Stake?” Conference Closing Reception—come meet the artists.

Ohio State Multicultural Center’souch Project will be on site at the gallery patio collecting and documenting individual voices of immigration.

Tuesday, October 25: 5-7 pm, Swing Space Gallery

Reading Immigration II: Members of Escritores Latinoamericanos de Columbus, including Mauricio Espinoza, Enrique Infante, and others will offer live presentations of their short stories, poems, and songs based on their immigration experience.

IMPACT—Immigration Projects: Art, Culture, and Tradition is presented in conjunction with the conference Immigration: What is at Stake? (October 20–21) at The Ohio State University.

IMPACT—Immigration Projects: Art, Culture, and Tradition is cosponsored by OSU College of Arts and Sciences, Center for Ethics and Human Values, OSU Multicultural Center, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Department of Art, Department of Art Education, and the Swing Space Gallery.

Visit: immigration.osu.edu for more information on the conference.