Strange Fruit

Floor 3, Theater

Over five years, Zoe Leonard (b. 1961) sewed together skins of fruit. Leonard chose not to preserve the resulting work, Strange Fruit, (1992–1997), intending for its decay to be on view. It has not been seen publicly since 2001. On the occasion of the work's appearance at the Whitney, a range of voices will reflect on Strange Fruit and its multiple historical inflections, its relevance and resonance today, and its very specific material existence.

Speakers include Gregg Bordowitz, Jonah Groeneboer, Katherine Hubbard, Fred Moten, Cameron Rowland, and Christian Scheidemann. Elisabeth Sherman, assistant curator, moderates the conversation. 

Gregg Bordowitz is a writer, AIDS activist, and film- and videomaker. He is the Director of the Low-Residency MFA Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is on the faculty of the Whitney’s Independent Study Program.

Jonah Groeneboer is a conceptual, interdisciplinary, transgender artist based in New York. His work—which includes sculpture, installation, drawing, video, and photography—addresses the politics of representation.

Katherine Hubbard is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice uses photography, performance, and text to explore the relationships between language, physical site, and political history.

Fred Moten is a writer and scholar focused in black studies, performance studies, poetics, and critical theory. Moten currently teaches in the Department of Performance Studies at New York University.

Cameron Rowland is an artist living and working in New York City. His practice combines research and strategic contractual agreements with the presentation of objects selected for their socially illuminating value. Rowland’s work was featured in the 2017 Whitney Biennial.

Christian Scheidemann is a conservator of contemporary art and the founder and president of Contemporary Conservation. He has lectured and published extensively on conservation and the meaning of material and process in contemporary art

Tickets are required ($10 adults; $8 members, students, and seniors). Members: please log in to reserve tickets. This event will be livestreamed on YouTube.