On view through December 6, 2020

How we live

Selections from the Marc and Livia Straus Family Collection

How does production, from household items to artistic creation, become a product itself of the lived experience? Moving past depictions of the human form, How We Live uses sculpture and video to explore the creativity and production of humanity across a multitude of geographies, cultures, and times.

Thirty-seven artists representing twenty-one countries showcase the unique heritage and cultures of our planet by focusing on the minutiae, the personal, and profound, exchanging a non-hierarchical fluidity with their surroundings that resembles the age-old chicken and egg debate. This exhibition explores the ways in which artists simultaneously bring the world around them into their practice, while in turn influencing the world and environment with their work.

Each work can be read as an exploration of an artist’s life through the lens of their own culture, a testament to the ways in which culture manifests in creation, both consciously and subconsciously. Continuing the conversation begun through Death is Irrelevant, How We Live examines the immortalization of cultural traits, values, and habits rendered not through the depiction of the human form or body, but through the habits of said body as it enacts the processes of living.

How We Live combines the curatorial vision of Omar Lopez-Chahoud, Independent Curator and Artistic Director and Curator of Untitled, Art, and Nicola Trezzi, Director and Chief Curator of the Center for Contemporary Art Tel Aviv, in collaboration with the Marc and Livia Straus Family. How We Live follows the exhibition Death is Irrelevant, a show of contemporary figuration from 17 countries which celebrated the 15th anniversary of Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, and marked its renaming as Hudson Valley MOCA.

Featured Artists

Janine Antoni (the Commonwealth of The Bahamas), Richard Artschwager (United States), Tamy Ben-Tor (Israel), Katinka Bock (Germany), Louise Bourgeois (France), Michael Brown (United States), Dan Flavin (United States), Tom Friedman (United States), Jeffrey Gibson (United States), Robert Gober (United States), Sonia Gomes (Brazil), Kristján Guðmundsson (Iceland), Rachel Harrison (United States), Jenny Holzer (United States), Yu Honglei (China), Alex Hubbard (United States), Danielle Kraay (the Netherlands), Annika Larsson (Sweden), Lynn Hershman Leeson (United States), Maria Marshall (United Kingdom), Haroon Mirza (United Kingdom), Ciprian Muresan (Romania), Bruce Nauman (United States), Paulo Nazareth (Brazil), Jong Oh (South Korea), Claes Oldenburg (Sweden), Nam June Paik (South Korea), Magali Reus (the Netherlands), Anne Samat (Malaysia), Ben Schumacher (Canada), Jeanne Silverthorne (United States), Michael E. Smith (United States), Susana Solano (Spain), Moffat Takadiwa (Zimbabwe), Rachel Whiteread (United Kingdom), Bryan Zanisnik (United States), Chen Zhen (China)

About the Curators

Nicola Trezzi (Magenta, Italy, 1982) is an educator, exhibition maker and writer, currently director of the Center for Contemporary Art in Tel Aviv. 

From 2007 to 2014 Nicola was US editor at Flash Art International, and his writings appeared in Flash Art Italia, Flash Art CZ&SK, artnet News, artpress, Il Sole 24 Ore, Monopol, White Fungus. He also served as head of the MFA program at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Jerusalem and he previously lectured at Yale University School of Art (New Haven CT), SIAC (Chicago), iCI (New York), the Indonesian Institute of the Art (Yogyakarta), and The Faculty of Arts - Hamidrasha at Beit Berl College (Israel). 

A staff member of the Prague Biennale Foundation from 2007 to 2014, Nicola co-organized the following exhibitions: “Painting Overall” at the Prague Biennale 5, “Four Rooms” at the CCA in Warsaw, “Modern Talking” at the Muzeul National de Arta Cluj-Napoca, “Circa 1986” at HVMOCA (formerly HVCCA) in Peekskill NY, “Champs-Élysées” at Palais de Tokyo in Paris, “Diagonal Histories—Imre Bak, Peter Halley—” and “Yael’s Dreams (and Nightmares),” both at Art+Text Budapest, “Yael Efrati: Eva and Emerick,” MNAC in Bucharest, “KEDEM–KODEM–KADIMA” and “Laurent Montaron: Replica,” both at CCA Tel Aviv.


Omar López-Chahoud (Havana, Cuba) has been the Artistic Director and Curator of Untitled, Art since its founding in 2012. As an independent curator, López-Chahoud has curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions in the United States and internationally, including the Nicaraguan Biennial in March 2014. López-Chahoud has participated in curatorial panel discussions at Artists' Space, Art in General, MoMA PS1, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. López-Chahoud earned MFAs from Yale University School of Art, and the Royal Academy of Art in London.

Watch a Panel Discussion with "How We Live" co-curators Nicola Trezzi and Omar Lopez-Chahoud, moderated by Hudson Valley MOCA co-founder, Marc Straus!

Moffat Takadiwa, The Chief Justice (3), 2018

Moffat Takadiwa, The Chief Justice (3), 2018

Rachel Harrison, The Honey Collector, 2002. Courtesy the artist and Greene Naftali, New York. Photo: Oren Slor.

Rachel Harrison, The Honey Collector, 2002. Courtesy the artist and Greene Naftali, New York. Photo: Oren Slor.

Press release


Interactive Digital Exhibition

 
 

Selected WORKS