Jeffrey Gibson, BECAUSE ONCE YOU ENTER MY HOUSE, IT BECOMES OUR HOUSE | 10 July 2020 - 14 March 2021

Overview

As the country grapples with both a deadly pandemic and the tragic consequences of systemic racism, Socrates Sculpture Park will open an exhibition of new outdoor monuments this summer. MONUMENTS NOW seeks to address the role of monuments in American society––some of which have been removed in recent days––and presents artist-envisioned monuments highlighting underrepresented histories including queer, Indigenous, and diasporic narratives. Socrates Sculpture Park, as with all NYC Parks, has been open and operating during the pandemic. With Phase I reopening of the city, Socrates will begin installing and presenting MONUMENTS NOW with the initial installation and presentation of Jeffrey Gibson’s project, Because Once You Enter My House, It Becomes Our House on July 10th.

MONUMENTS NOW will evolve over three phases as a cumulative exhibition. Part I opens this summer with major new commissions for monuments by acclaimed artists Jeffrey Gibson, Paul Ramírez Jonas, and Xaviera Simmons. For Part I, artist Jeffrey Gibson––a recipient of a 2019 MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant”––will present a monument to inclusion and diversity: Because Once You Enter My House, It Becomes Our House. Drawing from Indigenous Mississippian culture, architecture, activist graphic traditions, and queer performative strategies, the large-scale public sculpture projects a future vision of the world that embraces complexities within collective identity. Gibson has also curated a series of performances from Indigenous artists. These performances will be filmed onsite and made available to the public online.

PROGRAMMING:
Gibson has curated a series of events for Because Once You Enter My House It Becomes Our House, including three performances by Indigenous artists that will take place on and around the artwork’s ziggurat structure.

Socrates Sculpture Park Official Site

INSTAGRAM LIVE TOUR WITH JEFFREY GIBSON

Thursday, July 16, 12pm
On @socratespark Instagram