Terry Berkowitz: Endless Bardo, Meditations on Living in a Time of Uncertainty
Proyectos Raul Zamudio and Empty Circle are pleased to present a solo exhibition by Terry Berkowitz
TERRY BERKOWITZ Endless Bardo/meditations on living in a time of uncertainty
June 3 – July 2, 2023. Opening Reception: June 3 6-9pm
Bardo, a Tibetan word, most commonly refers to the gap between death and rebirth. It can also be used to describe moments in which quotidian life can become suspended. As Francesca Fremantle wrote in her article, The Luminous Gap in Bardo for Tricycle, the Buddhist Review in 2001: “Bardo can have many implications, depending on how one looks at it. It is an interval, a hiatus, a gap. It can act as a boundary that divides and separates, marking the end of one thing and the beginning of another; but it can also be a link between the two: it can serve as a bridge or a meeting place, which brings together and unites. It is a crossing, a stepping-stone, a transition.... It is a highlight or peak point of experience, and at the same time a situation of extreme tension, caught between two opposites. It is an open space, filled with an atmosphere of suspension and uncertainty, neither this nor that. In such a state one may feel confused and frightened, or one may feel surprisingly liberated and open to new possibilities where anything might happen.”1
For Terry Berkowitz, the concept of bardo perfectly expresses the psychological and emotional state that was a constant during the CoVid pandemic. The works shown are meditations on solitude and reflections on our current peculiar and frightening milieu.
Terry Berkowitz (born: Brooklyn, NY; lives: Jersey City/Barcelona) has worked mainly with installation for more than four decades. Dealing with social and political problems that were, for the most part, invisible at the time, she was a pioneer in working with social injustice of all types. The works often include interviews as a main component. Berkowitz has traveled extensively to research subjects as wide-ranging as the lives of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, rape and its resonances in the lives of those who have been attacked, and forced expulsions around the world.
Solo and two person exhibitions include: the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas; The Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; Museo do Pobo Galego, Santiago de Compostela, Spain (in collaboration with Francesc Torres); Magda Bellotti Gallery, Madrid; Metrònom Rafael Tous Art Contemporary Foundation, Barcelona; The Alternative Museum, NY; PS1 in Long Island City; 112 Greene Street Workshop in New York; etc. Group exhibitions include #1, the 1st Biennial of Cartagena de Las Indias, Colombia; ‘Cárcel de amor’, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Colecionar, Clasificar’ (Collect, Classify), El Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (CAAC), Seville, Spain; ‘Concept, Performance, Documentation, Language’, Mitchell Algus Gallery, NY; ‘El mediterráneo como frontera,’ CAAC, Seville; ‘Mujeres vs. opresión (Women vs. Oppression), Casa Sahara Aminetu Haidar, Seville; Four Houses, Some Buildings and other Spaces, 80WSE Galleries, NY; Portraits, Western Sahara, invited by Robin Kahn and La Cooperativa Unidad Nacional Mujeres Saharauis as part of The Art of Sahrawi Cooking, dOCUMENTA 13, Kassel; Artifariti Art Festival, Sahrawi Refugee Camps, Tindouf, Algeria.
Terry Berkowitz has received grants from the NEA, CAPS, NY, NYFA, NYSCA and the Jerome Foundation. As well as being a Fulbright Scholar, she has curated exhibitions (The Alternative Museum in 1985 and 1983. Berkowitz has written reviews and articles and lectured extensively internationally. She is Professor Emeritus of Art, Baruch College/CUNY.