Opening reception: Saturday, June 9, 1 pm – 4 pm
Special Flux Thursday: June 14, 8 pm
Reclaiming Vacant Land workshop: Wednesday, June 20, 7 pm – 9 pm

Flux Factory is proud to present Bionic Garden, an exhibition that unveils the diversity of ways in which humans have adapted to grow plants in the most unlikely of ways and places. Works will be displayed in a range of environments that reflect the (often) limited environments that New Yorkers have to work with when it comes to exercising their own green thumbs: the Flux Factory gallery (naturally dark, concrete, drywall, insular), on its roof (unpredictable, exposed, bright), and reaching out into the community of Long Island City.

Viewers can expect to see indoor lawns, lofted vegetable gardens, crops that tweet when they’re in need of water, mobile gardens, new ways to subvert the homogenization of seed production, vines that have something to say, vertiginous grass, creepy containers which crumble as the fruits of their existence take over, and even use a spa getaway for their own tired, limp houseplants. Additionally, guest speakers for related events will share what it takes to create a real, sprawling rooftop farm; how to transform a dreary neighborhood plot into something more pleasant; and the importance of preserving indigenous trees in a concrete jungle.

In Bionic Garden, Flux Factory invites viewers to re-imagine urban spaces both private and public in an effort to bring resourcefulness and ingenuity to urban communities.

Participating artists: Autumn Workshop, Kim Beck, Michele Brody, Marco Castro, Daupo, Eating in Public, Feedback Farms, Sunita Prasad, Mike Smith, and Aliya Bonar. Curated by Jean Barberis and Elizabeth Larison.

For press or general inquiries, please contact christina@fluxfactory.org.

The exhibition is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Opening Reception: Friday, May 18th, 6-9 pm
Gallery Hours: May 19 – 29, 12-6 pm

Flux Factory is pleased to present Wojciech Gilewicz, Residency Unlimited, a solo exhibition by our latest resident through Flux Factory’s partnership with Residency Unlimited. During the course of two months, Gilewicz cleaned Flux Factory as a way to explore the overlap of immigration status and the paradoxes of artistic success. The artist has written the following statement about his project at Flux Factory:

As a Polish immigrant, I have always had to face the truth about the most popular jobs for first generation Polish immigrants in the US, namely cleaning and construction. As an artist, I have firsthand experience with these jobs, in order to secure funds for my living expenses and – above all – for the production of my artworks. As Wojciech Gilewicz, a private person, I have always sought cleanliness, order, and harmony.

In March and April 2012 I cleaned the Flux Factory building, to explore the intersection of immigrant labor and artistic practice. My goal was not to play the role of a cleaner but to really become a cleaner. I decided to start my project as an anonymous person, working in a building as a sort of a trade worker. In fact I was also trying to limit theoretical approach of any kind to my project and concentrate instead on the simple physical action of changing and organizing the space.

Could cleaning be seen as a tool for beautification and changing reality, in a way that art can sometimes do? How would this project be perceived in terms of art? Can you judge cleaning and its outcome in the same way you judge art? Can a cleaner become an artist as much as an artist can become a cleaner?

My project in Flux Factory, as a two month part-time unpaid job, and the exhibition “Residency Unlimited” were made possible thanks to a grant from the Polish Ministry of Culture. This adds yet another layer to the discussion about the paradoxes of the art system today, its institutions, networks and possibilities that artists have to create and exhibit their work.

In addition to video of his cleaning project, Gilewicz will also show two other video works, Bat-Yam (2009) and Shanghai (2008). Wojciech Gilewicz’s residency in New York is supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. For more information on the artist, visit his site.

Flux Factory is pleased to present its latest edition of Flux Death Match, an initiative that takes online debates into real-space at the Flux gallery. Four highly opinionated panelists will illustrate their arguments with images, web references, and other materials in a rapid-fire way that challenges convictions on critical issues. Audience members can expect spontaneous responses, frustrated rebuttals, and even permitted “smack down” sessions.

In this second Flux Death Match, our panelists will argue over The New Aesthetic – a recent visual culture meme born of a Tumblr account by James Bridle last year, and propelled into heated on- and off-line discussions by a SXSW panel in March, an essay by Bruce Sterling on his Wired.com blog, and subsequent responses on The Creators Project. It has been visually documented through fashion, architecture, and technological artifacts, and described as “an eruption of the digital into the physical” and “an attempt to understand not only the ways in which technology shapes the things we make, but the way we see and understand them.”

Artist, technologist, and NYU ITP Resident Researcher Greg Borenstein; media artist Kyle McDonald; interdisciplinary artist Carla Gannis; and architecture, tech, and media historian Molly W. Steenson will converge at Flux Factory in order to duke out the finer points of NA. Namely: is it really a new thing and how important is it? What are its boundaries? And, is James Bridle’s recent closure of his New Aesthetic Tumblr account the NA death knell?

The event starts at 8:00 pm with an open bar and reception for the panelists and audience members. The debate begins at 8:30 sharp and will be followed by a Q&A session, after which the audience will determine the winner.

Flux Death Match: The New Aesthetic is organized by Fluxers Douglas Paulson & Christina Vassallo and moderated by Julia Kaganskiy of The Creators Project.

The Flux Death Match series is generously supported by our main sponsor AT&T. Additional funding is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Flux Factory is pleased to present The Future of Your Neighborhood: Who Decides?, a series of monthly workshops that discuss how members of the public can actively engage in neighborhood development. The objective of this series is to inform New Yorkers about strategies for self-organizing to enact positive change in their neighborhoods and in the city as a whole.

The program kicks off on May 16 with the workshop Affordable Housing: How Do We Get What We Need?  Have you ever wondered just what “affordable” housing is, anyway?  Or how you can get involved in bringing more affordable housing to your neighborhood?  Jackie Moynahan of the north Brooklyn-based advocacy group Neighbors Allied for Good Growth (NAG) will help you navigate the complexities of New York City housing, and learn how to become an effective advocate for better affordable housing options in your neighborhood.
When: Wednesday, May 16, 7 – 9pm
Where: Flux Factory, 39-31 29th St., Long Island City

In conjunction with Flux Factory’s Hanging Gardens exhibition in June, we’ll present Reclaiming Vacant Land for Community Use with Paula Z. Segal of 596 Acres.  The 596 Acres project focuses on identifying vacant City-owned property and working with communities on coalition building, political action, and ultimately, influencing the City to turn over control of this property for use as gardens and open spaces. Learn how to find that special lot in your life and where to go from there.
When: Wednesday, June 20, 7 – 9pm
Where: Flux Factory, 39-31 29th St., Long Island City

The Future of Your Neighborhood: Who Decides? will continue in future months with workshops on: urban agriculture, historic preservation, sustainable transportation, and other topics near and dear to New Yorkers.  If you have an idea for a workshop, please email christina[at]fluxfactory[dot]org.

This educational initiative is organized by Christina Vassallo, Douglas Paulson and Lacey Tauber. It is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

*top image by Nick Normal, bottom image by Christina Vassallo