Alan Michelson: Wolf Nation
Oct 25, 2019–Jan 12, 2020
Alan Michelson (b. 1953) has critically and poetically foregrounded Indigenous models of political, social, and environmental relationships for more than thirty years. A New York-based Mohawk member of Six Nations of the Grand River, Michelson draws upon historical memory and Indigenous philosophy to reveal and challenge disturbing colonial legacies. His methodically researched, site-based multimedia works uncover suppressed histories to envision more equitable relationships.
This exhibition, centered around Wolf Nation (2018), presents four works in video, sound, print, and augmented reality that investigate the layered histories of place through forms distilled from diverse sources such as wampum belts, moving panoramas, Indigenous horticulture, colonial maps, state historic markers, and scenic wallpaper. Each moving-image work is horizontal or circular in form, echoing Indigenous concepts of time and space: multi-perspectival and cyclical rather than singular and linear. By creating works that affirm Indigenous relationality and also survivance—a state of active presence and resistance—Michelson allows us to see the potent, parallel worldviews of Native cultures.
This exhibition includes two augmented reality works—one on Floor 5 and the other in the lobby.
Alan Michelson: Wolf Nation is organized by Chrissie Iles, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Curator, with Clémence White, senior curatorial assistant.
Support for Alan Michelson: Wolf Nation is provided by The Rosenkranz Foundation.
Town Destroyer
5
Town Destroyer is an augmented reality installation addressing the Sullivan Expedition, George Washington’s scorched-earth campaign against the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy of Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora Nations). When activated through the downloadable app, a bust of Washington—represented on a frieze of scenic wallpaper in his Virginia estate, Mount Vernon—becomes a screen onto which a challenging history unfolds.
Pressured to choose sides in the Revolutionary War, the Haudenosaunee fought alongside both British and American forces. Washington, known as Hanödaga:yas or Town Destroyer to them, dispatched armies who burned and plundered sixty of their villages, including hundreds of houses, farms, and orchards, forcing thousands to flee as refugees. In the aftermath of the war, the Haudenosaunee were dispossessed of millions of acres of their homelands, which were seized and incorporated into the bulk of what is now New York State.
This artwork was produced with artist Steven Fragale.
Events
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Sat,
Oct 26Contemporary Indigenous Art in a Global Context: Alan Michelson in Conversation with Wanda Nanibush and Richard Bell
4 pm
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Thurs,
Oct 24Opening Reception for Fall Exhibitions
8–10 pm
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Thurs,
Oct 24Member Preview Days for Alan Michelson: Wolf Nation
12–6 pm
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Wed,
Oct 23Opening Reception for Fall Exhibitions: Preview Night
7:30–10 pm
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Wed,
Oct 23Member Preview Days for Alan Michelson: Wolf Nation
12–6 pm
Essay
Perspectives
Explore works from this exhibition
in the Whitney's collection
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In the News
"[A]ugmented reality’s ability to show two realities at once can be a powerful storytelling approach, as demonstrated by the New York-based artist Alan Michelson’s show “Wolf Nation”" —The New York Times
"Through multi-sensorial installations, Alan Michelson holds genocidal colonizers accountable and affirms the continued survival of Indigenous people." —Hyperallergic
"Michelson’s new pieces are AR works at their best—they reveal the unpleasant realities of our own world that are often kept out of sight from many people." —ARTnews
"Alan Michelson’s multimedia works tinker at the reuleaux triangle where technology, tradition, and memory meet." —Bomb
“The planet is experiencing biological death on an accelerating scale, and Alan Michelson knows the power and magic that the threat of annihilation breeds.” —The Observer
"Wolf Nation is both an evocative affirmation of solidarity across species and a stark appeal to the forces responsible for their persecution." —Artdaily.org
"Alan Michelson: Wolf Nation is a compact yet impactful exhibition that encapsulates Alan Michelson’s (Mohawk) experimental, artistic practice." —First American Art Magazine