Karthik Pandian has held solo exhibitions at, amongst others, the Whitney Museum of American Art; Bétonsalon, Paris; Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis; and White Flag Projects, St. Louis. His work was featured in the inaugural Made in L.A. at the Hammer Museum and in La Triennale: Intense Proximity at the Palais de Tokyo as well as in group exhibitions such as Adventures of the Black Square: Abstract Art and Society 1915–2015 at Whitechapel Gallery; Film as Sculpture at Wiels Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels; and the 4th Marrakech Biennial, Higher Atlas. In 2016, he premiered his first stage performance, Atlas Revisited, a collaboration with choreographer Andros Zins-Browne, at EMPAC in Troy, NY. Pandian holds an MFA from Art Center College of Design and a BA from Brown University. He lives and works in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he teaches video, sculpture, and performance at Harvard University.
Andros Zins-Browne is an American choreographer who lives in Brussels. After receiving a degree in Art Semiotics from Brown University, he went on to study dance at PARTS in Brussels and in the fine arts department of the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. His work consists of live and hybrid environments at the intersection of installation, performance, and conceptual dance, exploring how images, movement, and matter interact until they begin to take on each other’s properties. Zins-Browne’s performances cross between stage and exhibition spaces including Centre Pompidou, Paris; ICA, London; HAU, Berlin; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; DeSingel, Antwerp; EMPAC, Troy, NY; Kaaitheater, Brussels; and the Impulse Festival, Düsseldorf where he received the Goethe Institute Award for The Host. His solo Already Unmade, a commission by The Boghossian Foundation, has recently been performed at the BOZAR Museum, Brussels; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City; and the Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai.
Cast of Builders:
Tasha Vorderstrasse is a Near Eastern archaeologist who focuses on questions of cultural identity and exchange.
Carris Adams is a visual artist whose practice visually investigates markers of “domesticated space”.
Anthony Adcock blends his unique experiences working as a Local One Ironworker, collegiate instructor, and as an artist to create works that focus on the relationship between labor and value.
Jared Brown is an interdisciplinary artist and founder of CENTRAL AIR RADIO on WHPK, 88.5 FM based in Chicago’s Southside.
The Design Apprenticeship Program (DAP) is a mentorship program of Arts + Public Life directed by Gabriel Moreno that asks teenagers to craft their communities’ physical and social conditions through design. Taught by Sherry Diaz, DAP II designers participating in this project are Alisia Knox, Milik Clay, Vinesha Johnson, Angelica Kula, Jamaia Johnson and Antaja Johnson.
Jane Foley is an experienced, accredited conservator of structural archaeology, sculpture and objects.
Sami Ismat is a theatre and performance maker from Damascus, Syria currently living in Chicago as a refugee.
Mohammad Miah is a professional tailor from Myanmar and has lived in Chicago since 2015. He is on the board of the Rohingya Culture Center and represents the seniors in the community.