a grammar of attention

Opens May 9

Abstract black and white artwork with swirling lines and textured patterns in a black frame.
Abstract black and white artwork with swirling lines and textured patterns in a black frame.

Zalika Azim, Gathering #3 (Double Dutch Study), 2021, Charcoal on paper, 32 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches

May 9–18, 2025

2025 ISP Curatorial Exhibition: a grammar of attention

The Ramscale Penthouse
463 West St Penthouse, New York, NY 10014
Between Bank Street and Bethune Street
Take elevator to penthouse floor (13th Floor)

Opening: Friday, May 9, 2025 6–8 pm 

Exhibition Hours:
Wednesday–Sunday: 1–6 pm 
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays

It takes intention to notice what half a century ago Gordon Matta-Clark and, almost four decades later, David Hammons carried out on the Hudson River. Situated in a space that offers a singular view of Day’s End (2014-21), this exhibition acknowledges the contiguous gestures as an invitation to attend to places, infrastructures, and social relations. Invoking the spirit of Hammons and Matta-Clark, a grammar of attention gathers artistic practices that attune themselves to the material realities that mark our worlds. The exhibition unfolds as a resonant chamber through a program of performances, installations, and workshops. a grammar of attention is both an invitation and an offering: to bear and build witness to that which is fraught, incomplete, unauthorized, unsettled yet tethered to our present.  

Admission to the exhibition is free. All performances are free and RSVP is required due to limited capacity. Ticketing links coming soon.


Opening Reception

An opening reception for this exhibition will be hosted on Friday, May 9, from 6-9 pm at The Ramscale Penthouse located on Floor 13. The elevator is at the 463 West St entrance, between Bank Street and Bethune Street.


Artists 
Zalika Azim
Fadl Fakhouri, Noel Maghathe, and Fargo Nissim Tbakhi
the.black.gaze in collaboration with Cierra Michele Peters and Rai Terry 
Haitham Haddad
Fatemeh Kazemi
Arnold J. Kemp
Christian Nyampeta  
Luvuyo Equiano Nyawose 
Rafael Sánchez
Asia Stewart

2024-2025 Whitney Independent Study Program Helena Rubinstein Curatorial Program Fellows 
Bea Ortega Botas  
Kennedy Hollins Jones  
Tamara Khasanova
Ntshadi Mofokeng


Performances

Asia Stewart
cat got your tongue
Saturday, May 10,  1–6 pm
Durational performance

Fadl Fakhouri, Noel Maghathe, and Fargo Tbakhi  
No Aesthetic Outside My Freedom: Mourning, Militancy, and Performance
Wednesday, May 14, 6–8 pm
Performative interpretation of scores

Fatemeh Kazemi
Nān o Neshān / نان و نشان” (Bread and Sign / Trace)
Thursday, May 15, 6–8 pm
Durational performance

Arnold J. Kemp
February 14
Saturday, May 17, 2–2:30 pm
Staged reading

Rafael Sánchez
Bookstand
No RSVP.  
Friday, May 9, 3-7 pm 
Sunday, May 11, 6 pm-late 
Wednesday, May 14, 3-7 pm 
Thursday, May 15, 3-7 pm 
Friday, May 16, 3-7 pm 
Sunday, May 18, 6 pm-late 

Weather permitting. Outside 579 Hudson St, New York, NY 

All performances are free and RSVP is required due to limited capacity. Ticketing links coming soon.


Wheelchair Accessibility  
The venue includes elevated platforms and a terrace which can only be accessed by short flights of stairs. There is an accessible bathroom. 

About the Independent Study Program  
Founded in 1968, the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program (ISP) is an experimental study community dedicated to fostering critical thinking, cross-disciplinary scholarship, and multimedia artistic practices. The ISP cultivates a rigorous intellectual environment where participants are encouraged to engage deeply with contemporary issues through extended conversation and collaboration. Through seminars, reading groups, workshops, screenings, performances, poetry readings, studio visits, and an array of collaborative endeavors, the program nurtures and challenges the creative processes of artists, curators, and scholars who are committed to innovative, sustainable, and activist practices. 

Support:  
Major support for the Independent Study Program is provided by Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo, the Elaine Graham Weitzen Foundation for Fine Art, the Dorothea L. Leonhardt Foundation, and the Helena Rubenstein Foundation.

Generous support is provided by the Whitney Contemporaries through their annual Art Party benefit. 

Additional support is provided by an endowment created by George S. Harris, Gloria H. Spivak, and the Teiger Foundation.


On the Hour

A 30-second online art project:
Maya Man, A Realistic Day In My Life Living In New York City

Learn more about this project

Learn more at whitney.org/artport

On the Hour projects can contain motion and sound. To respect your accessibility settings autoplay is disabled.