The Armory Show has revealed the public art installations of Armory Off-Site, the third edition of the art fair’s outdoor art program, which brings large-scale artworks to New York City’s parks and public spaces.
In addition to partnering for the second time with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to present three large-scale sculptures at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center during the US Open, The Armory Show is partnering with Times Square Arts on the organization’s Midnight Moment program. Each Off-Site work will be on view during The Armory Show, which takes place at the Javits Center this September 8th–10th, and many will remain in place for the rest of the year.
Installations at the US Open will be on view for the duration of the tournament, from August 22nd through September 10th, 2023.
The featured artists and locations are Ayesha Singh (Nature Morte) at Astor Place; Taram Ettun (Dreamsong) at Bella Abzug Park; and Shahzia Sikander (Sean Kelly) with a special video presentation in Times Square as part of Times Square Arts’ Midnight Moment program. These three Armory Off-Site works are exhibited in tandem with the fair’s three sculptures at the US Open, presented as part of The Armory Show’s second edition of Armory Off-Site at the US Open program, featuring David Roy (56 Henry), Allen Golder Carpenter (No Gallery), and Zizipho Poswa (Southern Guild).
This year’s edition of Armory Off-Site is ambitious and innovative. Highlights include the program’s first-ever solo performance, by Tamar Ettun in LILIT; Shahzia Sikander’s video presentation in Times Square; and David Roy’s sculpture Danger Noodle V w/ LS 98, which doubles as a functional rocket and will launch after The Armory Show concludes.
The Armory Show is excited to bring back Armory Off-Site for a third consecutive year with a new group of extraordinary installations
said The Armory Show Executive Director Nicole Berry.
Though each Off-Site work brings a unique perspective, the projects are united by a shared urgency to communicate important narratives to the public. We would like to thank our esteemed exhibitors and artists, as well as each of the New York City organizations that make this program possible by graciously offering publicly accessible space so that a wider audience can experience contemporary art.
Presentation Details:
Astor Place Ayesha Singh, Continuous Coexistences I, Part 2 Nature Morte (New Delhi)
Continuous Coexistences I, [Part 2] is part of Ayesha Singh’s series of “Hybrid Drawings” (2015–ongoing), sculptural translations derived from sketches of imagined structures, drawing upon the motifs of Gothic, Indo-Saracenic, Victorian, Mughal, and brutalist motifs. Each form points toward histories of the movement of peoples via anappropriation of regional architectural forms, combining markers of kingdoms, colonies, and localities that exist today. Referencing various histories, geographies, and cultures, the sculptures present a unification of the transcultural identity. Viewers are invited to navigate the three-dimensional world of these realized drawings, alighting upon new architectural forms as they move through the space. Presented in partnership with the New York City Department of Transportation’s Art Program (NYC DOT Art) and the Village Alliance.
Bella Abzug Park Tamar Ettun, LILIT (2023) and The Wave Caves (2022–2023) Dreamsong (Minneapolis)
In two performances of LILIT, Tamar Ettun will conjure and inhabit the persona of Lilit, an aerial spirit demon with origins in Sumerian, Akkadian, and Judaic mythology. In the 2nd to 7th centuries, artist healers created spells, drawings, and talismanic objects to trap demons like Lilit, who was characterized as a dangerously sexual female entity, and appeared frequently on incantation bowls used in protective rituals. Enthralled by the images inscribed on these ancient objects, Ettun studied their vocabulary and developed her own language to revive the tradition through a contemporary feminist lens, subverting Lilit’s misogynistic archetype and revamping her image as an Empathic Demon. LILIT shares her origin story from a feminist perspective, inviting the audience to participate in somatic movement exercises to connect with their bodies and befriend their inner demons. As part of this multi-disciplinary project, The Wave Caves (2022–2023) creates a safe haven for Lilit, who was banished for pursuing independence. This monumental work, constructed of painted, hand-dyed, and hand-stitched boat sails, references the
medieval myth in which Lilit escapes to the Red Sea.
Performances will be held at 11am on Friday, September 8, and 5pm on Saturday, September 9. The installation will be on view from 11am to 7pm on Friday, September 8, and from 5 to 7pm on Saturday, September 9. Presented in partnership with NYC Parks & Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance.
Times Square, Shahzia Sikander, Reckoning (2020) Sean Kelly (New York, Los Angeles)
Shahzia Sikander’s video work Reckoning (2020) will be on view each night in September across the 90-plus electronic billboards of Times Square, as part of Times Square Arts’ Midnight Moment program. Presented in partnership with Sean Kelly and Times Square Arts, Reckoning is an intricate animation made from multiple layered drawings that restage an imaginary historical Indo-Persian-Turkish miniature painting. The work depicts a dramatic, choreographed sequence of events featuring warrior-like figures entangled in joust, creating inflection points that embody a moment of reckoning. These fluid and perpetually fighting forms are juxtaposed against an abstract flowering landscape, mirroring the conceptual, political and physical tensions that exist within broader global relationships, such as migrant and citizen, woman and power, and human and nature. Reckoning will be on view from September 1 to September 30, from 11:57pm to midnight. On Thursday, September 28 from 11:30pm to midnight, Times Square Arts will host a live musical performance to accompany Sikander’s Midnight Moment on the
Broadway pedestrian plaza between 45th and 46th Streets. The performance features Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Du Yun, vocalist Zeb Bangash, and violinist Eddy Kwon. Presented in partnership with Sean Kelly and Times Square Arts.
Armory Off-Site at the US Open
The Armory Show will partner for the second time with the USTA to present three large-scale sculptures at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center during the US Open, August 22–September 10, 2023. Building upon the USTA’s “Be Open” social impact campaign, the presentation champions artists from underrepresented backgrounds. The partnership is grounded in the USTA and The Armory Show’s shared vision for creativity, inspiration, and equity.
David Roy, Danger Noodle V w/ LS 98 (2023) 56 Henry (New York)
David Roy will fabricate a new rocket sculpture updating a mold from the artist’s ongoing “Gravity Monster” series. Making its debut at the US Open, the not-yet-shown sculpture will draw on the visual language of rocket science, as Roy deploys durable materials common to the aerospace industry, such as fiberglass, resin, and Kevlar. The sculpture, Danger Noodle V w/ LS 98, will be displayed on a launch pad; following the exhibition, Roy plans to launch the fully functional rocket.
Allen-Golder Carpenter, Foundation 6 (2023) No Gallery (New York)
Allen-Golder Carpenter’s sculpture includes stacked concrete casts of Nike “Air Force” soles, inspired by a passage in the essay collection The Black Aesthetic, describing how Nike intended to discontinue the shoe until Black individuals influenced the company, by writing letters, to bring it back. This revival allowed the shoe to become a foundation in modern street style, symbolizing the foundational role of Black people in shaping culture. Carpenter, as a Black individual, incorporates ancestor worship into his work, and Foundation 6 functions as an altar, honoring those who have passed and immortalizing cultural moments, without requiring them to be ancient.
Zizipho Poswa, Mam’uNoBongile (2023) Southern Guild (Cape Town)
Zizipho Poswa’s monumental sculptures are inspired by the spirituality and traditions of her Xhosa culture. They explore the physical and metaphorical acts of bearing the load, paying homage to the women within the artist’s extended community. Mam’uNoBongile is titled after a matriarch named Bongile (meaning “to praise or give thanks”) in Poswa’s home village of Holela in South Africa’s rural Eastern Cape province. The work’s depicted load, an ample stalk of bananas, honors the women of West Africa, for whom bananas are a vital source of economic empowerment. The work is a monument to sustenance and sacrifice, and its presentation in bronze—a material associated with the memorials to colonial and Apartheid-era patriarchs—invites us to explore an alternative framework for respect, recognition, and remembrance.
The Armory Show, VIP Preview Day (by invitation only) Thursday, September 7th, 2023, Public Days September 8th– September 10, 2023 Javits Centre
