Close to Reality: ICP-Bard MFA Class of 2018 Group Thesis Exhibition
On View: April 14–May 20, 2018
Opening Reception: Friday, April 13 | 6–8 PM
Location: ICP School, 1114 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY
The International Center of Photography, the world’s leading institution dedicated to photography and visual culture, presents its 2018 ICP-Bard MFA class’ group thesis exhibition. Slated to open on Saturday, April 14, the exhibition, Close to Reality, explores photography’s relationship to reality through points of intimate connection.
Over the past year, the terms “fake” and “real” have come to exist as mere indicators of political position. As actual facts erode and become conflated with rhetoric, the members of the ICP-Bard MFA class of 2018 focused on the question, “What use is it to consider photography in proximity to reality?”
Through their work, students encourage viewers to ask themselves which world they want—the world as they find it or the world they wish to leave for others.
“Artists are the architects of our future reality, photographers no less than any others,” explains ICP Bard-MFA Chair Nayland Blake, who oversees the program. “The artists in this show are building those futures, through revealing the points of intimate connection that we name family or community. They are exploring the many ways that people come together to give sustenance to each other. They are blending mediums and crossing borders between nations to point to the ways that our sense of home resides not in a location, but in a sense of interpersonal value.”
The show is curated by and features the work of the second-year ICP-Bard MFA students: Timothy Briner, Nicole Bull, Naima Green, Kaz Senju, Tino, Daniel Valentin, and Naiwen Zhang. Each student has multiple pieces in the show.
Close to Reality is on view Saturday, April 14 through Sunday, May 20 between 10 AM and 6 PM at the ICP School’s Rita K. Hillman Gallery (1114 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036).
About the ICP-Bard MFA Program
The ICP-Bard MFA program offers an exploration into the ways in which the photograph operates in society, emphasizing creative vision and openness to examining the many iterations of the image, from photography to digital imaging, installation, and video. By considering how photographs are created, presented, discussed, used, and documented, students gain an intimate knowledge of the ways in which images increasingly structure modern society and consciousness.
About ICP
The International Center of Photography (ICP) is the world’s leading institution dedicated to photography and visual culture. Founded by Cornell Capa in 1974 to preserve the legacy of “concerned photography”—images created as a means of action and social change—ICP’s mission endures even as the medium and practices of imagemaking have changed. Through its exhibitions, school, public programs, and community outreach, ICP offers an open forum for dialogue about the role that photographs, videos, and new media play in our society. To date, ICP has presented more than 700 exhibitions and offered thousands of classes, providing instruction at every level. ICP brings together photographers, artists, students, and scholars to create and interpret the world of the image, exploring photography and visual culture as mediums of empowerment and as catalysts for wide-reaching social change.
Contact
Meryl Cooper, 917.974.0022, press@icp.org