LONG ISLAND CITY, NY – Curated by Eirini Linardaki and Jenny Marketou, the art exhibition Interdependency Now runs February 21-April 3 at Radiator Arts, 10-61 Jackson Avenue in Long Island City. The exhibition opening takes place on Friday, Feb. 21, 6-9 PM.

During several discussions Linardaki and Marketou, co-curators and participating artists, discussed terms of interdependency, participation, performance, and collaboration in relation to art and social practice. They began by asking how they could bring together sustainable relations among themselves, the artists/curators, and most importantly with their audiences from the diverse communities across the five boroughs of New York City. They reflected on artistic actions as political and social forms in the context of contemporary art discourse, as well as, within their work and the works of other artists. They envisioned Interdependency Now being an exhibition based on the potential of participatory, performative, and socially engaged practices. Interdependency means to learn from one another; to take care of one another; to cultivate human exchanges; to change perspectives; to overcome differences in experiences of everyday life. One of the things contemporary art can help make visible is how creativity resides within our society in multiple ways. Our connectivity with each other. Our environment is not a linear process of development, as it is a process in which we are all relational and interdependent beings. As Judith Butler, American philosopher mentions the idea of Interdependency establishes a principle of equality and connectedness (Judith Butller and Athena Athanasiou, Dispossession: The Performative of the Political, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2013).

Interdependency Now brings together the works of artists who contribute to this participatory experience which takes place from February 21-April 3 at Radiator Gallery in Long Island City.

Linardaki and Vincent Parisot are creating a common installation titled “Monkey meets war.” They are combining magnetic fragments of drawings and collages both from previous explosions and faux marble drawings of dismembered monkeys. The fragments can either be assembled into separate drawings or be messed up to create abstract collages.

For a long time, the artists thought about the techniques each one is using in their installations. Parisot practices drawing and painting inspired by intriguing objects interrogating our perception of heritage and nature. Linardaki works with patterns from countries in war and is using imagery from disasters and explosions to speak about our human condition, tragedy and our psyche in war. Under the auspices of interdependency, they have decided to join their works in one installation, intertwining their materials, techniques and practices. They are displaying them in a way that the visitors become the authors of the images that are created anew from their fragmented artworks.

More information about the exhibition is available online: http://www.radiatorarts.com/interdependency-now/.

Additional information about Parisot and Linardaki’s work is also available online: https://linardakiparisot.wixsite.com/linardaki-parisot.