Crescendo: How Art Makes Movements (1981-1999) is a historical survey of multidisciplinary art projects created between 1981 and 1999, intersecting with Asian American social movements. Largely inspired by Jazz and improvised music that were central to the Black Arts Movement, the artists featured in the exhibition used music as a vehicle to build solidarity beyond races and ethnicities.
This Multimedia exhibition is divided into three sections that trace different collective projects: Asian Improv aRts/Records, The Afro Asian Music Ensemble, and The East Side Band. The Main Gallery space will provide a wide range of archives including memorabilia, personal ephemera, video/audio documentations, and publications that illustrate collaborative explorations specifically intended to redefine the presence of Asian American and broaden their aesthetic horizon beyond the politics of representation.
The Storefront Gallery showcases a library where viewers are encouraged to browse and engage with a curated selection including catalogs, artist monographs, interview scripts, and related scholarly texts–some of them are written by the participating artists of Crescendo. Alongside the books, Asian Arts Initiative is presenting two artistic projects by Philadelphia-based artists. The first is a collaboration piece between Theodore Harris and Amiri Baraka, the founder of the Black Arts Movement. Amiri Baraka responds to Theodore Harris’ collage pieces in poetry. Together, they examine the politics of Black aesthetics. On the other side, there are five sets of Annotated Readers (2021) by Fortune, an artist collective consisting of Andra Palchick, Heidi Ratanavanich, and Connie Yu. Focusing on specific themes including queer movements, affordable housing, and civil rights, the work comprises a collection of queer Asian archival materials from 1971-2003 with annotations added by writers from the community.
Crescendo: How Art Makes Movements (1981-1999) brings into focus the root of the rich artistic tradition developed by artists of Asian descent and their roles in creating a collective identity that has not yet been fully recognized nor discussed. By looking to the past, the exhibition provides the opportunity to probe the impact of shared belief born out of art-making and activism and how it has positioned the work of the next generations of artists and influenced their practices.
Gallery is open on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays 2-6PM. The gallery hours will extended on 4/27 (Crescendo Symposium), 5/9 (AAI Annual Benefit), and will be closed on 6/19 (Juneteenth)
This exhibition is curated by Joyce Chung with a curatorial assistance from Cole Roberts and Liz Karceswki. Exhibition design by Stephanie Lee. Installation by Matthew Belknap, Mark Knobelsdorf, Steve Koteff, and Misha Wyllie with support from RichArt Graphics. Exhibition graphics design by Lucy Price.
Funding for this exhibition was provided in part by The Mellon Foundation, William Penn Foundation, Ford Foundation, and National Performance Network.
