Cambridge Arts Council: Common Exchange
Cambridge, MA
May 13 – September 30, 2017
Established in 1974, the Cambridge Arts Council is a city agency that promotes community-based arts programming. Common Exchange was their first major temporary exhibition of contemporary art oriented around the historic Cambridge Common. Co-organized by Dina Deitsch, independent curator, and Lillian Hsu, Director of Public Art, Common Exchange featured ten contemporary artists whose work addresses connectivity in the twenty-first century. VIA’s funding is directed to projects by artists Aki Sasamoto and Xaviera Simmons.
In collaboration with Radcliffe Institute’s Schlesinger Library for Women in America, Xaviera Simmons created a new series of performances in the Cambridge Common. She compiled multilingual scripts performed by local collaborators to explore how women’s struggles are shared across cultures. Aki Sasamoto presented Food Rental on the Common, featuring a custom-made food cart, operated by the artist, that offers a series of individually-ordered performances.
For more information, visit Cambridge Arts Council.
Images 1 – 6: Aki Sasamoto, Food Rental, 2017, Cambridge Common, Cambridge, MA. Photo courtesy of Cambridge Arts.
Images 7-11: Xaviera Simmons, Number 22 (Overlay), 2017, Cambridge Common, Cambridge, MA. Photo courtesy of Cambridge Arts.
Image 12: Xaviera Simmons, Overlay, 2017, Johnson-Kulukundis Family Gallery, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Image courtesy of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Harvard University.
