Peter Clough - The Unspeakable: A Dark Show

Erin Davis / Max C Lee are pleased to announce The Unspeakable, the twenty-third iteration of Re: Art Show, curated by Peter Clough.The Unspeakable is a large group show in a defunct portion of the former Pfizer Pharmaceutical factory in Bedstuy, Brooklyn, opening on September 22. The space is wild and strange, and not at all like a traditional gallery. Old industrial equipment has been left behind, disused debris scattered across the floor, in a labyrinthine layout of strange rooms and spaces. Works are installed inside industrial freezers, mounted directly to stainless steel mixing vats, and projected inside disused sanitation booths. The show is presented in total darkness, and viewers are invited to explore this massive exhibition by way of flashlight.

The Unspeakable features works by more than 40 artists focusing on taboo, transgression, desire, and the body—and on experiences of the body that fall outside our collective capacity for communication, comprehension, and language. These topics are linked closely to our current political moment and the works that emerge here are urgent, angry, gooey, messy, divulgent, sexy, and maybe a little embarrassing. Durational performance is a focus, as strange creatures carry out their obsessive fantasies in this dark and brooding space. Sound, smell, video, sculpture, installation, drawing, painting, and photography are all included as well.

In Samuel R. Delany’s incredible On the Unspeakable, a theory text set in a porn theater written as a mobius strip, Delany characterizes the unspeakable like this: “[It] is always in the column you are not reading. At any given moment it is what is on the opposite side of the Mobius text at the spot your own eyes are fixed on. The unspeakable is mobile; it flows; it is displaced as much by language and experience as it is by desire.” The artworks in The Unspeakable function according to this logic: they flow; they “recede before us as a limit of mists, and vapor.”

The Unspeakable is the twenty-third iteration of Re: Art Show, an ever-evolving, recurrent, curatorial project spearheaded by Erin Davis and Max C Lee. Roving within sections of the former Pfizer Pharmaceutical factory in Brooklyn, Re: Art Show brings together an abnormally wide breadth of artists in an abnormal environment. Existing mostly outside of established art institutions and embracing a DIY aesthetic, this space can be a platform to present works that might not be possible to present within mainstream museums and galleries. DIY is a form of resistance to dominant norms and conventions. Through the embrace of chance, ad-hoc adaptation, and experimental collaboration (both with the environment and the artists themselves), each iteration acts as a fluid network of ideas whose connections are, at once, coincidental and directed. For every iteration, another Re: is added to the show’s title.

The Unspeakable is curated based on a text by Samuel Delany called "On the Unspeakable" from his book, Shorter Views.

The Unspeakable features works by:

Vanessa Albury

Marcel Alcalá

Fred Attenborough

Dan Bainbridge

Tor Erik Bøe

Carina Borealis

Jennie Bringaker

Peter Clough

Keren Cytter

Damien Davis

Erin Davis / Max C Lee

Jason Elizondo

Lindy Erkes

Delphine Fawundu

Jeff Grant

Jennifer Gustavson

Ilana Harris-Babou

Ryan Hawk

Taylor Hawkins &

Sarah Dames

iris yirei hu

Bryan Jabs & Rachel Stern

Peter Kalisch &

Raegan Holiday

Jon Kessler

Jarrett Key
Paul Legault

Mekia Machine

T. Chick McClure

Patrick McNabb

Stephen Morrison

Samantha Nye

Justin O'Brien

Jeremy Olson

Phoebe Osborne

Ariel Reynolds Parkinson

Suso Phizer

Adam Putnam

Kyle Quinn

Rachel Rampleman

Max Razdow

Marval .A. Rex

Michael Stablein, Jr. &

Noah S. Thompson

Vincent Tiley

Lorenzo Triburgo &

Sarah Van Dyck

Meg Turner

Exhibition Documentation

Exhibition documentation by Peter Clough

Performance documentation shot at the opening by by Bryson Rand

Additional documentation by Erin Davis and Max C Lee

Ryan Hawk

Jon Kessler

Installations views with Vanessa Albury, Jennifer Gustavson, T. Chick McClure, and Michael Stablein, Jr.

Jennifer Gustavson

T. Chick McClure

T. Chick McClure and Vanessa Albury

Vanessa Albury

Michael Stablein, Jr.

Jeremy Olson

Adam Putnam

Lorenzo Triburgo & Sarah Van Dyk

Patrick McNabb

Mekia Machine

Samantha Nye, Dan Bainbridge, and Bryan Jabs & Rachel Stern

Bryan Jabs & Rachel Stern and Ariel Parkinson

Bryan Jabs & Rachel Stern

iris yirei hu

Samantha Nye

Lindy Erkes

Meg Turner

Peter Clough

Marval .A. Rex

Marcel Alcalá

Suso Phizer

Jason Elizondo, Delphine Fawundu, and Stephen Morrison

Stephen Morrison

Delphine Fawundu

Vincent Tiley

Jennie Bringaker

Jason Elizondo

Jeff Grant

Max Razdow

Taylor Hawkins & Sarah Dames

Ilana Harris-Babou

Kyle Quinn

Jarrett Key

Dan Bainbridge

Meg Turner

Live Erotic Tintype Photographs shot in her photo booth at the opening on The Unspeakable

Michael Stablein, Jr. & Noah S. Thompson

Damien Davis

Phoebe Osborne

Erin Davis & Max C Lee

Justin O'Brien

Peter Kalisch & Raegan Holiday

Tor Erik Bøe

Keren Cytter and Vincent Tiley

Vincent Tiley

Keren Cytter

Rachel Rampleman

Fred Attenborough

Carina Borealis

Carina Borealis and Kyle Quinn

Carina Borealis

Paul Legault

Carina Borealis

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