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Electronic Arts Intermix invites Brooklyn-based haul gallery to transform its office into a multidisciplinary site of performance, video, and art installation. This program is a part of EAI’s ongoing public series inviting artists to convert our office into a performance environment, previously undertaken by Maggie Lee and Kristin Lucas. The evening will highlight haul's Raised-in-Brooklyn studio residency (RIB), showcasing contemporary artists from Brooklyn alongside works from EAI's collection. The event not only forms out of the participants' shared place of origin, but also centers how artists push against the increasingly hostile forces of gentrification and homogenization that Brooklyn faces.

From haul: Brooklyn was made, against its will, into the ur-gentrification capital. Even though its common aesthetic associations—exposed brick, expensive coffee, and a certain type of lightbulb—have nothing to do with Brooklyn as a place, the name itself has become a weapon against cities across the world. At this point, so-called Brooklyn has been a soft power export for long enough that it is now passé. This is for the best.

Brooklyn is a place with a sense-of-place. Phenomena happens there that doesn’t happen anywhere else, though it might not happen right off the L train. haul gallery started the Raised-in-Brooklyn studio residency (RIB) to better understand Brooklyn’s sense-of-place, through the artists that were raised there. Establishing a sense-of-place is a crucial project, no matter where you live. Online platforms remove us from our surroundings, but they also have the effect of turning our surroundings into a homogenized landscape. Kyle Chayka termed this “Airspace” in 2016. Silicon Valley’s dominant platforms have created a sterile environment in almost every city for the Internet-based tourist to enjoy – a diffuse collection of bars, coffee shops, and anonymous Airbnbs. Understanding where you live, through its recent and ancient history, beyond the platforms and below the TikTok hype, can prevent the creep of homogeneity.

This is not to say that we should be against technology—understanding your place is primarily a fight against alienation. There are processes aimed at our psyches, online and offline, which seek to make us forever confused, afraid, and alone. Being somewhere, really being somewhere, is the most potent antidote. For the RIB showcase at EAI, haul has invited artists raised in Brooklyn, and selected works from EAI's catalogue by Brooklyn-born artists, who engage with/against the power structures, culture, and people in Brooklyn. In doing so, we hope viewers can better engage with the actual Brooklyn-of-now, which persists from the Brooklyn-of-then, instead of the global brand imaginary.

Featured Artists:
Ilana Harris-Babou
Charlie Perez-Tlatenchi
juliana roccoforte novello
Martha Rosler
Shirt
Shelly Silver
Max Vélez
Tess Walsh

About haul gallery:
haul gallery is a 501(c)3-certified gallery in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Run by artists Erin Davis and Max C. Lee, haul intends to foster an alternative financial model to the blue-chip gallery system, supporting artists whose works defy classification and are often intentionally difficult to sell. Write Davis and Lee: “Our mission has always been to demystify how a gallery operates. We are not focused on enriching wealth-criminals. We are transparent about our finances: the cost of operation, who we sell to, and the percentage breakdown of sales. Overall, we view the wealth focused, blue-chip, mega-gallery art industry to be inextricably tied to global capitalist systems that are oppressive and violent. We seek to offer one alternative model.”

Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI)’s venue is located at 264 Canal Street, 3W, near several Canal Street subway stations. Our floor is accessible by elevator (63" × 60" car, 31" door) and stairway. Due to the age and other characteristics of the building, our bathrooms are not ADA-accessible, though several such bathrooms are located nearby. If you have questions about access, please contact cstrange@eai.org in advance of the event.