Past Exhibitions
Root Systems: Artist Collectives in NYC
July 14 – 30, 2022
Amos Eno Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Curated by Audra Lambert, with curatorial assistance by Yamile Baez
ROOT SYSTEMS: ARTIST COLLECTIVE explored the legacy and evolving practices of artist collectives in New York City, presenting archival materials, ephemera, and contemporary works that reflected the role of collaboration in shaping artistic and social movements. Organized by Culture Push, the exhibition underscored the enduring influence of collective action in sustaining the city’s creative and civic landscapes.
Works on view included archival posters and documentation from ABC No Rio, tracing decades of radical art and cultural organizing; participatory installations and printed materials from Southeast Queens Artist Alliance (SEQAA), highlighting community-based arts education, an interactive symposium on civic engagement facilitated by Culture Push, and visual and textual materials from Amos Eno Gallery, emphasizing its long-standing commitment to artist-led initiatives.
RE-TOOLING
March 11 – April 12, 2020
Abrazo Interno Gallery, Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural Center, New York
Curated by Culture Push
RE-TOOLING was a participatory exhibition featuring artist-created “practical tools” for social change, developed through the Fellowship for Utopian Practice. The exhibition explored how creative methods can serve as replicable tools for civic engagement, connection, and transformation across communities.
Featured works included Dances for Solidarity by Sarah Dahnke, connecting individuals in solitary confinement through shared choreography; Become Together Freedom School by Sonia Louise Davis, using improvisation as a method for collective liberation; Dominicans Love Haitians Movement by Clarivel Ruiz, promoting anti-colonial healing and solidarity; and The Bed-Stuy Social ‘Photo’ Club by Hidemi Takagi, honoring neighborhood identity through free portraiture in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn community.
Curated by Culture Push
CITIZEN PARTICIPATION: DIAGRAMS AND DIRECTIVES brought together artist collectives to examine how power and participation function within structures and in civic life. Drawing on Sherry Arnstein’s “Ladder of Citizen Participation,” the exhibition featured installations, performances, videos, and interactive works that explored the politics of collaboration and community engagement.
Participating groups included SPAN, Occupy Museums, Harem Haram Hamam, Feminist Art Group, Social Health Performance Club, Workers Art Coalition, Chinatown Art Brigade, and Culture Push. Programming included self-guided mediated walks that invited the public to consider “how to be in place,” along with performances, interviews, and events in collaboration with artists and community partners.
The Archive of Affect
March 17 – April 16, 2017
NURTUREart, Brooklyn, NY
Presented by NURTUREart and curated by Culture Push
THE ARCHIVE OF AFFECT featured artists from the Fellowship for Utopian Practice to explore the archive as a living, political space. The exhibition examined how artists challenge official histories and make space for often left-out voices through installations, ephemera, and participatory works.
Projects included Dances for Solidarity by Sarah Dahnke, created with people in solitary confinement; The Free Black Women’s Library by Olaronke Akinmowo; and a physical installation of a feminist forum by Liz Linden and Jen Kennedy. Other participating artists included Workers Art Coalition, Lise Brenner, and Chloë Bass, whose work addressed labor, displacement, and local knowledge.
Curated by Madelyn Ringold-Brown and Culture Push
ARTIFACTS & AFTER EFFECTS brought together past and present work from the Fellowship for Utopian Practice. The exhibition combined documentation and ephemera from previous fellowship projects with live events that revisited and reactivated elements of those works. Through installation, performance, and public programming, the show explored how artists engage with civic life, community building, and imaginative approaches to social change.
Featured artists included Sarah Dahnke, Olaronke Akinmowo, Chloë Bass, Nancy Nowacek, Lise Brenner, Go! Push Pops, James Andrews, Alicia Grullon, Barrie Cline, Aricoco, Jen Kennedy & Liz Linden, and others. Their work addressed various themes, including protest and resistance, labor and solidarity, feminist media critique, urban transformation, and the power of local storytelling.
Curated by Linda Griggs and Yona Verwer
ALL | TOGETHER | DIFFERENT brought together eight projects from Culture Push’s Fellowship for Utopian Practice to explore how artists use creative tools to build community, challenge dominant narratives, and imagine new forms of civic participation. The exhibition honored the Lower East Side’s long history of art and activism, showcasing work by artists who continue that legacy through collaboration and social engagement.
The show featured ephemera, documentation, and objects from projects that addressed public space, labor, environmental justice, feminist discourse, and neighborhood identity. Contributors included Nancy Nowacek, Chloë Bass, Go! Push Pops, Alicia Grullon, Esther Neff, Benton Bainbridge, Liz Linden and Jen Kennedy, and Barrie Cline with Sol Aramendi. Together, their work reflected a shared belief in art as a tool for collective reflection, empowerment, and action.