a grammar of attention
May 9–18, 2025
Zalika Azim, Gathering #3 (Double Dutch Study), 2021, Charcoal on paper, 32 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches
2025 ISP Curatorial Exhibition
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
Gallery 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 6–8 pm at The Ramscale Penthouse located on Floor 13. The elevator is at the 463 West St entrance, between Bank Street and Bethune Street.
Performances
Asia Stewart
cat got your tongue
Saturday, May 10, 1–6 pm
Durational performance
RSVP here
Program
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
Program
All performances are free and RSVP is required due to limited capacity. Ticketing links coming soon.
Participants
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
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.
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.
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.