I am fertile ground at The Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn NY.

On view:

Saturdays and Sundays

10:30am - 4:30 pm

September 21-December 1, 2019

I am fertile ground opened on September 21, 2019, at The Green-Wood Cemetery. The project centers on a site-specific installation in the Cemetery’s Catacombs with an accompanying series of events and workshops.

For nearly three decades, Janine Antoni has used the body, most often her own, as a tool to produce her sculptural, photographic, and performative work. I am fertile ground continues and expands on this theme in her practice, connecting Antoni’s study of emotionally resonate gestures with artworks inspired by religious icons. Each object on display pays reverence to a gesture Antoni has amplified through her body and that of others, rendering the body as both exalted and fragile.

Built in the 1850s, the Catacombs – one of the Cemetery’s oldest structures – is an underground building containing thirty burial vaults and a long central hallway.

Harry J. Weil, Green-Wood’s Director of Public Programs and Special Projects, and curator of I am fertile ground, said, “For nearly thirty years, Antoni has been exploring the value of loss, whether it is creating objects that wash away or are eaten as in Lick and Lather, or the ghostlike impression of her body in Saddle. I am fertile ground doesn’t tether itself to the absence often associated with loss, but rather the potential for reflection and revelation.”

The project is generously supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

EVENTS AND PROGRAMS ACCOMPANYING THE INSTALLATION:

Movement Meditation Class: Awakening Inner Wisdom

Peter Fodera will guide a 5Rhythms movement meditation class focused on awakening and listening to the body’s inner wisdom and the stories that are locked within. In dancing the 5Rhythms you can track perceptions and memories, seek out gestures and shapes and tune into instincts and intuitions. The 5Rhythms is a dynamic movement practice that ignites creativity, connection and community. No experience is necessary.Comfortable clothing and footwear is recommended.

Friday, September 20, 2019; 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. Event has passed

Saturday, November 2; 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. Event has passed

Location: Meet at the Gothic Arch

Film Screening: Spirit Labour

Participants will enjoy an outdoor screening of Spirit Labour. In this moving and poetic film, Hugo Glendinning and Adrian Heathfield follow the creative practice of sculptor and performance artist Janine Antoni: her collaborations and conversations with the choreographer Anna Halprin and the writer Hélène Cixous. Spirit Labourtraces the trans-generational connections between these artists who work with the female body and the natural elements. It asks: what kind of labor is it, to dedicate your life to working with the movements, expressions and affects of others?

Saturday, September 21, 2019; 7 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Event has passed

Artist Talk with Janine Antoni

Janine Antoni will discuss her nearly thirty year career and what inspired her creation of I am fertile ground. Attendees will drink tea that the artist has made from leaves harvested at Green-Wood.

Monday, October 21, 2019; 6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. Event has passed

Thursday, November 14, 2019; 6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m. Event has passed

Location: Meet at the Gothic Arch

Performance

Eleven performers will bring to life the gestures depicted in the artworks of the exhibition I am fertile ground in Green-Wood’s Catacombs. A map with a detailed walking route will be available at the cemetery’s main entrance at 25th Street and 5th Avenue.

Saturday, November 16, 2019; 2 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Event has passed

Location: At the Catacombs. Please note: the walk takes 15-20 minutes, and there are no facilities at the Catacombs, so please use those at the main entrance.

Caption for image above:

Janine Antoni, I open the gates, 2019, Mixed media gilded with 24 karat gold leaf, 15 1/2 x 33 x 1 1/2 inches