Retrospective at Artists Space Marks 25 Years Since Cha's Retrospective
The exhibition runs through November 21 and features the artist's 1982 book Dictee alongside multimedia installations.
By Talia Bennett ·
New York art institutions have long grappled with the legacy of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, a figure whose work defied simple categorization. A new exhibition at Artists Space, titled Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Multiple Offerings, brings that body of work back into public view after a twenty-five year hiatus from major retrospectives. The show, which runs through November 21, was organized by the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. It serves as the first comprehensive look at Cha's career in a quarter of a century.
Cha moved from South Korea to the United States in 1962 at the age of eleven. Her artistic practice explored the intersections of language and culture, utilizing video, performance, and multimedia installations. The current presentation focuses on how these different media amplify one another. The curatorial team arranged the placement, context, sound, and moving images to create a holistic portrait of the artist. This approach emphasizes Cha's dual devotion to both image and language.
The exhibition highlights Cha's 1982 book Dictee, a work that features numerous women speaking. The voices in the text range from the historical figure Joan of Arc to Cha's own mother. Cha's mother lived through the period of Japanese rule in Korea, a time when the Korean language could not be spoken in public. In the book and in her performances, the voices of these women emerge from bodies that have experienced oppression. The result is a sense of wholeness and truth. The show includes many of these performances, allowing viewers to witness the interplay between text and movement.
Cha's life was cut short by tragedy in 1982. She was murdered shortly before her first exhibition at Artists Space was scheduled to open. At the time of her death, she was working on a series of photographs documenting her time working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The exhibition at Artists Space serves as a direct response to that early history. It reunites the artist with the institution that was to be her first venue.
The show invites viewers to consider the singularity of Cha's work. It evokes a strong emotional response, combining a sense of beauty with an anger over her untimely death. The physical space of the gallery is designed to immerse the audience in her specific linguistic and visual world. The arrangement of the materials creates a continuous dialogue between her written words and her performed actions.
Other cultural events in New York this week include the New York debut of Adaku, a dance-theatre trilogy. The work, by Okwui Okpokwasili and Peter Born, explores a speculative vision rooted in a pre-colonial African village. The performance at BAM Fisher runs from November 11 to 15. It traces the lineage of a lost daughter through embodied memory and ritualistic movement.
Paul Taylor Dance Company is presenting a diversified repertory at the David H. Koch Theatre through November 22. The season includes rare revivals of Arabesque from 1999 and Byzantium from 1984. The company also features new pieces by resident artists Robert Battle and Lauren Lovette. One notable performance pairs movements from Schubert's Death and the Maiden quartet with a bright palette of movement.
Roundabout Theatre Company is staging a revival of Molière's The Imaginary Invalid at the Haimes Theatre through November 22. Bill Irwin stars in the lead role, which he adapted from Doug Skinner's translation. The cast includes Crystal A. Dickinson, Rachel Bloom, and Brooks Ashmanskas. The production runs for ninety minutes and focuses on the exploitation of a healthy hypochondriac by greedy physicians.
The musical Midnight is running at DR2 through January 3. The show, written and directed by Todrick Hall, follows an enslaved Black man and a white man who swap social placements in the second act. Kennedy Caughell and Charlotte Odusanya are featured in the cast. The production addresses themes of racial legibility and manipulation through its song structure and narrative arc.
Films and music events also populate the cultural calendar. The film Zi, directed by Kogonada, is screening at Metrograph through November 15. The movie stars Michelle Mao as a violinist awaiting test results for a possible brain tumor. In music, the band Sweeping Promises is performing at Baby's All Right on November 11. The duo, consisting of Lira Mondal and Caufield Schnug, releases new music on their album You Say I Romanticize.
