Our current exhibitions will close this Friday! During Spring 2021 exhibitions are only open to the Ithaca College campus community (students, staff, and faculty). A virtual gallery is available through a link on the gallery website.
do it (home)
February 24-April 9, 2021
Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist
In 1993, Hans Ulrich Obrist together with artists Christian Boltanski and Bertrand Lavier, conceived do it, an exhibition based entirely on artists’ instructions, which could be followed to create temporary art works for the duration of a show. do it has challenged traditional exhibition formats, questioned authorship, and championed art’s ability to exist beyond a single gallery space. Since do it began, many new versions have appeared, including do it (museum) , do it (tv) , and do it (in school) . Over time, do it has grown from 12 to over 400 sets of artists’ instructions, and has been shown in more than 150 art spaces in over 15 countries.
As social distancing requirements remain necessary, and many around the world are experiencing renewed calls to stay home, Handwerker Gallery is joining Independent Curators International (ICI) and over 50 art spaces around the world in sharing do it (home). A version of do it envisioned by Obrist in 1995, do it (home) assembles a set of artists’ instructions that can easily be realized in one’s own home. At the Handwerker Gallery directions have been selected from the compendium to be paired with works from our simultaneous permanent collection exhibition, A Closer Look. Visitors to the gallery can follow the directions at stations set-up throughout the gallery, or can participate remotely through the gallery Instagram account, where daily 'assignments' will be posted from the project while the exhibition is open.
To Obrist, “ do it has always been global and local, public and private — spheres of life that for many have coalesced in recent months.” do it (home) will take you away from your screens, and recreate an art experience at home. You will respond to the artists’ call, follow their lead, enter their world, and realize an artwork on their behalf. When you’re ready to return to the screen, share that you did it! Make connections with other doers on Instagram, #doithome
do it (home) is curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI),New York. do it (home) is made available to art spaces internationally free of charge, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, with the support of ICI’s Board of Trustees, contributors to ICI’s Access Fund, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and the Jeanne and Dennis Masel Foundation.
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The Handwerker Gallery is open Monday, Wednesday, & Friday from 10am-6pm; and Thursdays from 10am-9pm. The gallery is closed on Tuesdays and the weekends during Spring 2021. Class visits are encouraged to make reservations. Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Mara Baldwin at mbaldwin@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-3548. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.
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