A Particular Kind of Solitude

An exhibition inspired by the writings of Robert Walser for the Elizabeth Street Garden. Opening weekend and reception with the artists: Saturday & Sunday, May 10 - 11, 3:00 - 7:00 pm Artists in Exhibition: William Anastasi, Robert Barry, Lisa Blas, Dove Bradshaw, Emmy Catedral, Greg Colson, Peter Downsbrough, Satoru Eguchi, Joy Episalla, Thomas Evans, David Fenn, Alec Finlay, Aileen Frankel, Elana Herzog, Corinne Jones, Alison Knowles, Ruth Liberman, Tim Maul, Jeremy Millar, Kazuko Miyamoto, Jill O'Bryan, J Pasila, Janet Passehl, Michele Quan, Andrea Robbins and Max Becher, Michelle Rosenberg, Martin Roth, Antonio Rovaldi, Ethan Ryman, Kazumi Sakurai, Carol Szymanski, Elizabeth Tubergen, Merrill Wagner, Carrie Yamaoka The Elizabeth Street Garden is delighted to announce its first curated art exhibition organized by Serra Sabuncuoglu. A Particular Kind of Solitude is a site-specific exhibition engaging over 50 artists, writers, readers, musicians, dancers and filmmakers responding to the observations and writings of Robert Walser. The early twentieth century Swiss author has become something of a hero, or anti-hero for writers and artists over the last few decades. Much of his work and philosophies rest on the quiet magic and personal fulfillment of walking, roaming, and wandering about. The urban experience is full of such walks and it was on such an occasion that I first discovered the Elizabeth Street Garden. The garden encourages drifting and contemplation, a reprieve from our hectic structured lives. A rare gem with relics from another time and place, with an undetermined future in an ever changing city. Walser often wrote of ruins and artifacts steeped in their own personal history. He saw the gracefulness of crumbling palaces and the noble, proud melancholy of gardens once princely, now neglected. He himself was like an adventurer, always a strange and rare instance of humanity, who, since never conspicuousness but always the stream of experience only can be his concern, likes to make as little noise as possible. To be human means to look this way and that and to be searching and to persist in it. Walser was at once very modern with his unique voice and writing style but at the same time very much from another time, from a distant past - when people walked around rather than rode in moving vehicles. Having few possessions and living on the edges of existence and the periphery of acknowledgement, he whispered his way through life, nearly disappearing altogether had it not been for his supportive colleagues, a few publishers and enthusiasts. While artists make objects and put more physical things out in the world to comment on and illuminate the complexities of human existence, Walser's sublime reflections of walks in parks reveal the garden's purpose for city dwellers and provides us a frame to contemplate the work we make and observe in this outdoor setting. How is it that we are introduced to the work of Robert Walser, a name not nearly as familiar as Kafka or Walter Benjamin, but so admired by writers of this era and magnitude? Our timelines may differ and we may not recall with clarity how or when we first discovered his short stories, poems and select few novels, but we come to realize that it is Walser who finds us. He found me somewhere between fall and winter. Now that spring is upon us, he is a close friend, a traveling companion, a delirious ride through an ever elusive and yet relatable landscape of feeling and thought. As a participating artist said to me, we Walser fans, scattered and itinerant as we may be, manage to find our way to one another. And so I call upon my fellow artists, writers and performers to carry on a dialogue with Robert Walser's writings and engage with the unique environment of the garden. Reflect upon his solitary walks, his appreciation for nature and the surrounding landscape while also celebrating the fleeting and barely tangible experiences that surface in the texts. I invite the community and passersby to join us as we gather together in this peculiar and enchanting setting to discuss, praise, celebrate and banter about Walser, natural wonders and the lines of thought that may expand and branch off from that place. -Serra Sabuncuoglu Exhibition Programming: The Mound Speaks, confessional musical performance by a mound of dirt, with Alexandra Tatarsky: Sunday, May 11 at 5:00 pm Robert Walser: Nature and the City reading and commentary with Susan Bernofsky and Mina Pam Dick: Sunday, May 11 at 6:00 pm All This Can Happen, a film by Siobhan Davies and David Hinton, courtesy of the filmmakers and presented by Susan Bernofsky: Tuesday, May 13 at 6:30 pm Cinema Studies, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, 721 Broadway at Waverley Place, Room 670 Litany, a film projection by Raha Raissnia with musical accompaniment by Panagiotis Mavridis: Thursday, May 22 at sundown Last Minutes of the Robert Walser Society of Western Massachusetts with Jane Carver and others: Monday, May 26 at 7:00 pm Dance Performances: Elke Rindfleisch: Sunday, May 11 and Saturday, May 17 at 4:30 pm Ariane Anthony and Jeffrey Bauer: Saturday, May 17 at 5:30 pm Caroline Copeland and Friends: Saturday, May 24 at 3:00 and 4:00 pm Tamara Riewe and Friends, from Trisha Brown Dance Company, with a special reading of newly translated Walser works by Damion Searls on June 1 Musical Performances: Ben Russell: Thursday, May 15, 22 & 29 at 5:00 pm Deviant by Panagiotis Mavridis, Sebastian Mekas and Dalius Naujokaitis: Thursday May 15 & 29 at sundown Rock 'n' Roll Therapist and original songs by Paul McMahon: Sunday, May 18 at 2:00 pm Jane Carver: Monday, May 26 at 7:00 pm Additional Readings and Performances by Wayne Adams, Serra Sabuncuoglu, and others. All events and performances to take place in the Garden unless otherwise noted. Event information will be updated periodically and can be viewed at aparticularkindofsolitude.wordpress.com Curator Bio: Serra Sabuncuoglu is an artist and curator who orchestrates independent curatorial projects in offbeat and unusual spaces around the city. She has volunteered with the Elizabeth Street Garden since 2013 and organized this outdoor exhibition to bring awareness to the site by engaging contemporary artists, writers and performers in a dialogue with Robert Walser's writing. About the Garden: Since June 2013, local neighbors and businesses have come together to increase public access to the Elizabeth Street Garden with the mission to preserve this unique open green space. For information on how you can support the Elizabeth Street Garden, please visit www.elizabethstreetgarden.org

Visit

209 Elizabeth St

Downtown, NY