Always the innovators, never the intimidators, and twenty-five years later still the renegades. What or who is this? It is the one and only EXIT ART, which since its founding in 1982 by directors and co-curators Jeanette Ingberman and Papo Colo, has been a seminal art gallery and exhibition place for artists, creative thinkers, performers and the like, revealing the work of under-recognized artists and experimenting with emerging art forms and the union of film, video, performance art, music, design, and visual art in its programming.
EXIT ART's mission is to create and present exhibitions and programs that explore the diversity of cultures and voices that continually shape contemporary art and ideas in the U.S. This mission is exemplified in its most recent installation, RENEGADES: 25 Years of Performance Art at EXIT ART, on view until January 27 at its Tenth Avenue location in New York City. This exhibit presents myriad art forms and works from their archives, as well as newly commissioned art by emerging and established artists. It includes a documentation of a 1985 recreation of a 1922 Constructivist play by Mastfor II directed by Mel Gordon; early performances by artists such as Patty Chang, Sue de Beer, and Adam Putnam; Let the Artists Live!, a documentary featuring 15 artists who lived in the gallery for five weeks; live performances; and exhibits by the likes of Suzan Lori-Parks, Ogechi Chieke, and many more.
RENEGADES is more than a bird's eye view into the history and relevance of EXIT ART as a whole; it is a story of culture and life converging to unearth the written and unwritten histories of contemporary art and culture. We say watch and learn all that there is beyond the EXIT.
