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Blackout Poetry with Chemi Rosado-Seijo
Aug 18, 2017

  • A person making art in a classroom.

    A workshop participant from The Door creates blackout poetry. Photograph by Filip Wolak

  • A teacher puts art on a wall.

    Museum educator Manuela Gonzalez hangs works in Rosado-Sejo’s installation. Photograph by Filip Wolak

  • An artist creating a work in a classroom.

    Artist Chemi Rosado-Seijo creates blackout poetry. Photograph by Filip Wolak

2017 Biennial artist Chemi Rosado-Seijo joined youth from The Door, one of the Whitney’s community partners, to create blackout poetry on April 4. The task: use black ink and rollers to cover sections of text in newspaper articles, emphasizing some words and obscuring others to change or reiterate meaning. For example, if we blackout parts of this introductory paragraph:

2017 Biennial artist Chemi Rosado-Seijo joined youth from The Door, one of the Whitney’s community partners, to create blackout poetry on April 4. The task: use black ink and rollers to cover sections of text in newspaper articles, emphasizing some words and obscuring others to change or reiterate meaning. For example, if we blackout parts of this introductory paragraph:

The program took place at the Museum in Rosado-Seijo’s installation Salón–Sala–Salón (Classroom/Gallery/Classroom), 2017. For the Biennial, the artist had a gallery from the exhibition “moved” to the Lower Manhattan Arts Academy (LOMA), a school on the Lower East Side, and a classroom from the school was moved to the Whitney. LOMA students attended art class at the Museum, and their classroom at school showed works by Biennial artists Sky Hopinka and Jessi Reaves.

The blackout poetry making took place in Rosado-Seijo’s installation Salón–  Sala–Salón   (Classroom/Gallery/Classroom), 2017. For the Biennial, the artist swapped a classroom at Lower Manhattan Arts Academy (LOMA) with a gallery in the Museum. LOMA students attended art class at the Museum, and their classroom at LOMA showed Biennial works by Sky Hopinka and Jessi Reaves. Students and community partners alike made and hung art in the sala  (salón?) throughout the run of the exhibition, while museumgoers could see Biennial works in the salón  (sala?) at LOMA, complicating and emphasizing distinctions between the two spaces.

Students and community partners alike made and hung art in the sala (gallery) throughout the run of the exhibition, while museumgoers could see Biennial works in the salón at LOMA, complicating and emphasizing distinctions between the two spaces.

By Justin Allen, Assistant to Access and Community Programs