Saturday May 31, 2025
12:00 – 5:00pm (House opens at 11:00 AM)
Location: RU House at Colonels Row, Building #404B on Governors Island (map)
Ferry information | Video directions
Current and Alumni resident artists Rosario Aróstegui, Dana Nechmad, Asia Sztencel, Rory Torstensson, and Ibtisam Tasnim Zaman invite you to discover their works in progress inside their studios so please join us on Saturday May 31 at this occasion!
Rosario Aróstegui’s art evolves around the crossing points between urban topics, human beings and nature. As an artist whose travels shape her practice, she is biking extensively in New York CIty, photographing shadows, symbols, and hidden stories, while also collecting objects, sounds, and materials. These elements will be incorporated in a new project reflecting her outsider impressions of NYC, including its huge socioeconomic inequality—from the homeless and migrants to expensive, empty office spaces.
Dana Nechmad will present a series of drawings and embroidery works created over the past year. Each work continues an ongoing narrative that explores the themes of motherhood, femininity, decay, and the power struggles woven into our personal and collective experiences. The thread serves as a symbol of connection, fragility, and endurance, while the drawn images capture the depth of our emotional and psychological states. Please note that on June 28th, Dana will be conducting an Exquisite Corpse workshop at the RU House on Governors Island.
Brooklyn-based Polish-American social practice artist Asia Sztencel currently explores the emotional landscapes of immigrants’ memories through a series of paintings inspired by soap opera scenes. Soap operas, with their evolving social and cultural narratives, contrast with the unchanging landscapes that serve as backdrops—these static settings evoke a deep sense of nostalgia for immigrants. By repeatedly painting and abstracting these landscapes, she aims to dissolve them into collective, layered memories. Visitors are invited to share titles of their favorite series, allowing her to incorporate landscapes from their countries into the project, fostering a shared space for reflection and connection.
Known for her figurative and narrative paintings that center on themes of belonging, loss, and relationships, Rory Torstensson is expanding her research into the rhythms and textures of the sea. Presence on Governors Island—surrounded by water and steeped in maritime history, provides a rich, immersive environment for her to gather visual and material inspiration and deepen her exploration of the ocean as a vital force in both personal and collective memory. The residency is not only supporting her artistic process but also offering a physical and conceptual space where her ongoing dialogue with the ocean can evolve.
Ibtisam Tasnim Zaman will be experimenting and expanding on her sculptural practice. She will explore the relationship between her sculptures and paintings. Her focus will be creating a prototype of a larger installation surrounding identity, grief, and resistance to empire.
RU is grateful for the partnership with Governors Island Arts.
