Thursday, October 17 | 6:00 PM
Location: Residency Unlimited
360 Court Street (main green church doors), Brooklyn NY 11231 (map)
In addition to taking place in-person at RU, this program will be streamed online via Zoom at this link.
Please join us for a conversation between RU resident artist Bianka Rolando and curator, producer, and writer Jesse Bandler Firestone. Together they will discuss Bianka’s mixed media practice that explores translation, freedom, and ambiguity. Through references to sci-fi movies, architecture, linguistics, and the artist’s work, they will probe questions surrounding ideas of meaning-making, nothingness, cosmic jokes, and the search for connection.
From 2:00 PM that day, selected works by the artist will be on view at the occasion of this talk.
About
Bianka Rolando is an artist, poet and professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. Her works have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, the Polish Institute in Rome, at the Kunsthalle Bratislava. She is an author of nine books of poetry. Her artwork combines different types of media in the unique language of artistic expression. In parallel to her artistic work, she writes – not commentaries on art, but rather foundations for her artistic projects. The works present dreamy afterglows, scenes from dreams, or frame reality in such a way that it turns out to be vague in its unveilings. The visual language that defines errors in defining what is depicted precisely so that a liberating poem emerges. They are not proof of achieving some goals but rather testify to the mere passion for traveling and transformation.
Jesse Bandler Firestone is a curator, producer, and writer specializing in contemporary art. He held curatorial positions at a diverse range of institutions, including The Shed, Montclair State University, Wave Hill Public Garden and Cultural Center, and Satellite Art Show, as well as various artist-run spaces and nonprofits. His research spans conceptual art, emerging trends, institutional critique, and exhibition-making as a form of social practice. As a curator, Jesse is committed to broadening artist rosters by incorporating intergenerational perspectives and amplifying diverse, often underrepresented voices. This includes artists who identify as LGBTQ+, BIPOC, as well as individuals with disabilities, neurodivergence, and chronic pain. The programs he has curated and the policies he has introduced reflect the needs and experiences of the artists and audiences he serves.
This program benefits from the support of the Polish Cultural Institute New York.
