Gallatin Arts Festival 2019

April 8 – 12, 2019

A white background with various colored graphic boxes arranged on it, with "Gallatin Arts Festival" in black stylized font on top.

Download the 2019 Gallatin Arts Festival Catalog here.

Curators’ and Producers’ Statements:

“Gallatin students have a unique set of academic sources, knowledge, and experiences to draw from, leading to a vast range of concentrations in the community. The Gallatin Arts Festival demonstrates the ability of our students to translate their personal academic studies into works of art. This year’s artists address their personal experiences with trauma, relationships, and the desire to belong, as well as experiences with racial, cultural, and gender identity. The intimate explorations of each individual artist reflect the universal and complicated goal of trying to situate oneself within the world. Some of the artists use a wide array of mediums to depict this struggle, including video, performance, sculpture, digital art, painting, drawing, and embroidery. Others offer critiques of society and question problematic relationships, the natural environment, and technology. The art asks us to think critically about our actions and to connect to our surroundings in a more thoughtful and embodied way. The curation of the gallery was carefully thought out in order to invite the viewer to immerse themselves into the small detached environments. Though Gallatin students present a diverse range of topics in their art, the Gallatin Arts Festival brings works of different disciplines and subjects together to create a dialogue and nurture a sense of community.”

– Andrea Meyer (’19), Emily Cunningham (’19), Laura Rendon (’22), and Teresa Wang (’20), Curators

“Welcome to the 2019 Gallatin Arts Festival! We invite you to join us on this week-long journey to forge new paths and explore performing arts terrain beyond traditional borders and genres. Throughout this week, you’ll encounter works that interrogate how our bodies inhabit space, respond to sound, and contend with legacies. Our interdisciplinary artists work within and outside conventional forms of dance, theater, music, and performance art, bringing you works that include physical installations, artificial intelligence, the natural world, and more. From musical comedy to performative research projects, GAF 2019’s artists boldly investigate how we’ve come to be who we are and where we are, embracing the tensions that emerge from our constantly evolving selfhood and refusing to shy away from difficult realities. In the words of Adrienne Maree Brown, writer, social justice facilitator, and inspiration for the GAF 2019 team: “The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.” For us, this means art for revolution and art as revolution. This means a reverence for the process. This means art that both expands and dismantles genre. This means art that pushes against spatial limitations. This means art that engages in acts of radical imagination. This means art that envisions alternate futures. We hope that the pieces in this year’s Festival spark inquiries into what it means to be a spectator of performance and how your presence as an audience member enlivens the work of these dedicated artists. We can’t wait to engage with the conversations, questions, and ideas that these galvanizing performative works will inspire as our artists explore alternative ways of seeing and being in this world together. We hope you enjoy the Festival!”

– Cheryle Chong (’19), Ellie New (’20), Maria Sofia Hernandez (’19), and Mouli Ghosh (’21), Producers

Installation view of the gallery from the sidewalk with text reading "Gallatin Arts Festival"

Someone is taking a photo on their cellphone of works of art.

Installation view of the gallery from the sidewalk with three photographs of women doing dramatic poses

A multimedia sculpture is in the foreground of a green bulb on a white contraption while a white mannequin figure is in the back

A woman facing away from the camera takes a photo on an iphone of a group of girls standing in front of art.

Image of drawings on the wall in the foreground and a painting on the wall in the background with a chair under it

A woman is sitting on the floor with a set of cups and paint

wall of show which shows a video of an animated character and photos underneath

Image of a sculpture on a pedestal of a pack of cigarettes and playing cards

Six performers stand in a descending line. They are wearing different colored turtlenecks and standing on a stage in front of a screen.

Two people are performing in front of a screen.

Artists:

Matías Alvial, Ingrid Apgar, Evan Thomas Berk, Audrey Burt, Johnny Butler, Lisa Cooley, Sylvia Coopersmith, Stasia de Tilly, Michael De la Flor, Aleyna Dogan, Iyanna Dorsey, Lavonnie Downer, Ebru Eltemur, Ava Finger, Zainab Floyd, Emma Forstenhausler, Ayaka Fujii, Dylan Garcia, Donna Gary, Scott Alan Greenberg, Perry Gregory, Imara Ikhumen, Sophia Isidore, Scherina Jade, Michelle Johnson, Nic LeBrun, Havana Liu, Kyle Livsey, Findlay McCombe, Miiv (Amina Odogba), Aine Nakamura, Mamoun Nukumanu, Sally Oh, Kasey Oldford, John Prothro, Nunnapat (Spencer) Ratanavanh, Andreas Rommel, Carley Santori, Nyelah Sawyer, Matthew Scott, Mackenzie Shrieve, Blair Simmons, Sarah Smith, Chloe Troast, Rita Wang, Lauren Wootton, Michael Zalta, Xinxin Zhang, Howard Zheng

Student Leadership Team, Faculty, and Staff:

Andrea Meyer, Ashley Dart, Cheryle Chong, Ellie New, Emily Cunningham, Laura Rendon, Maria Sofia Hernandez, Mouli Ghosh,Teresa Wang, Cheyenne Myrie, Keith Miller, Kristin Horton

Photographer:

Alex Mawe

About the Gallatin Arts Festival:

MISSION

The Gallatin Arts Festival is a week-long, community-wide celebration of the unique artistry and interdisciplinary scholarship of students at NYU’s Gallatin School. The festival features student work in the visual and performing arts and serves as a galvanizing force and springboard for action and discussion through the creation and presentation of artistic work.

HISTORY

The Gallatin Arts Festival originated in 1992 as a collaborative effort between Professor Laurin Raiken and graduate student Barry Spanier. Under Professor Raiken’s guidance, Spanier developed the festival as part of his master’s thesis. Since then GAF has expanded into the largest public event sponsored by the Gallatin School. GAF provides hands-on opportunities for students to gain knowledge of the process required to produce a multidisciplinary arts festival. Under guidance from members of the arts faculty and student affairs, the Student Leadership Team serves as the primary support for the festival. GAF is a learning experience emphasizing the development of ideas and collaborative innovation.