March 29—May 30, 2021
THE EXHIBITION:
ACCESS: Art is an online group exhibition curated by Amanda Contrada that explores topics of access and audience through artistic practice. The nine artists in the exhibition, all recipients of the 2020 Red Bull Arts microgrant, approach the idea of democratizing art through public installations, performance, live streaming, and digital platforms, and explore use of public space both virtual and physical.
Artists include: Allison Maria Rodriguez, Basil El Halwagy, Benny Sato Ambush, Callie Chapman, Chanel Thervil, Cindy Lu, Hector René Membreño-Canales, Julian Shapiro-Barnum, and Ngoc-Tran Vu.
THE ARTWORK:
The artists in ACCESS: Art approach the idea of democratizing art in both new and existing work. Documentation of public installations and performances, music and theatrical works presented on free digital platforms, painting and dance premiered on social media, and photography of public interventions and monuments show the breadth of tactics that artists can use to invite an audience into their practice and provide access to their art.
The photo above is a still from the 2020 Zoom performance of playwright Anthony Clarvoe's The Living, as directed by Benny Sato Ambush and captured by screenshot. It is on view as part of the digital exhibition ACCESS: Art, presented by Boston Center for the Arts across multiple platforms, including FOSEL’s Local/Focus window display on Tremont Street.
BOSTON CENTER FOR THE ARTS (BCA):
Boston Center for the Arts, founded in 1970, is recognized as a leading force in the City’s cultural community, and has supported thousands of individual artists, small organizations and performing arts companies, who add depth and dimension to the Boston arts ethos. Through innovative and critically acclaimed programming and residencies in its Mills Gallery, Plaza Theaters, and Artist Studios Building, BCA serves as an epicenter for an expanding cohort of artists working across all disciplines, and has catalyzed careers by providing fertile ground for experimentation and artistic risk-taking.
Located at 539 Tremont Street in the South End, BCA is widely known for its signature historic Cyclorama, a 19th-century domed structure that serves as a popular home for events and activities including Taste of the South End, the annual Boston Art Book Fair, and community events.