October 12, 2023 – March 30, 2024
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 12, 2023
Hunter College Art Galleries: Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Gallery
Hunter West Building
132 East 68th Street (enter between Park and Lexington Aves.)
New York, NY
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 12–5pm
Curated by Daniela Mayer
In the mid-1960s, Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica (1937-1980) began embracing joyously transgressive modes of performance, film, and installation to champion marginalized persons and their culture. The original Cosmococas began as a series of five immersive installations, made in collaboration with Brazilian filmmaker Neville D’Almeida (b. 1941) while Oiticica was self-exiled to New York during the 1970s. Formally known as Bloco-Experiências in Cosmococa–Programa in Progress (Block Experiments in Cosmococa–Program in Progress), these works operate on many levels to transform pop and underground culture into an explosive supra-sensorial experience. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Cosmococas, the artist’s nonprofit foundation, the Projeto Hélio Oiticica, based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Lisson Gallery have organized a year-long celebration for 2023 during which the series will be installed in cities around the world.
The Hunter College Art Galleries have joined the 50th anniversary initiative and will present Cosmic Shelter: Hélio Oiticica and Neville D’Almeida’s Private Cosmococas at the Leubsdorf Gallery. This exhibition will present the United States premiere of two private Cosmococas and will also include archival material to provide historical context for the layers of political commentary imbued into the subversive, psychedelic series of Cosmococas.
More info: www.leubsdorfgallery.org
