GALLERY
+ FORUM
WHAT WE DO
Relational Space produces immersive exhibitions where art and science come together in the service of community, especially marginalized and under-represented populations. Collaboration between science, policy, community and the arts present crosscutting opportunities for new artistic expression, critical thinking and innovation. We provide an inclusive space for creative expression and knowledge exchange where art is presented in relation to empirically supported ideas to promote equity, justice and transformational social change.
Relational Space provides integrated and immersive experiences featuring both contemporary art and scholarly forums connecting diverse media, disciplines, cultures and contexts. Relational Space strives to be a community leader of contemporary art, immersive installation and scientific knowledge, by producing crosscutting exhibitions and forums that explore emergent political, scientific and social themes.
Open calls are announced here for submission of works by artists and scientists for collaboration with, creation of and participation in Relational Space installations. We are also extending an invitation for partners and volunteers to join us in forging this initiative (please send a note to info@relational-space.org)
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OPEN CALL
Beyond Gender: The Future of Being Human
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Deadline to Submit: February 20, 2023
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Selected artists will be notified by March 5, 2023
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Exhibition dates TBA (Late Spring, 2023)
For the Open Call Relational Space recognizes the power of blending scientific knowledge with artistic expression to inform and inspire our global community. Cross-pollination quickens creativity and innovation. Relational Space brings scientist and artists together to collaborate around powerful data-driven narratives for knowledge exchange, new knowledge creation and to co-create immersive installations which are able to inspire and mobilize our global community.
Process
The Relational Space process is fully collaborative. Selected artists and scientists come together in three, 90-minute facilitated Zoom sessions where participants share expertise, blend elements and co-curate the installation. An asynchronous hub (Basecamp) is provided for ease of communication between sessions.
For this Open Call we invite artists and scientists to submit work that reflects and illuminates Beyond Gender: The Future of Being Human. Scholarly papers and art works, or well-developed ideas for creating those works, will be selected based on response to the Beyond Gender: The Future of Being Human narrative.
See Submissions page for more information.
Narrative
While our modern world is diverse and complex, the traditional gender binary assumes there are only two options for living in the world (male/female). In actuality, gender identity (a person’s internal, deeply rooted sense of self), gender expression (how a person externally expresses their gender identity) and sexual orientation (a person’s interest in people of the same/similar gender, different gender(s), or no genders) are diverse, dynamic and lie on a continuum. Further, a person’s gender experience is not always stable or linear throughout the lifespan. People are multi-faceted. Reducing our complexity to a binary identity diminishes our shared humanity.
Gender is a social construction that varies with culture, and historical era. The rigid expectations and lifelong influence of societal beliefs about gender deeply affects us all – for all of our lives. From birth, we are inundated with specific gender messages that define the prevailing gender hierarchy, oppress and disempower women and LGBTQIA persons, and bestow unearned privilege to cis-het men, as seen in the U.S. Supreme Court decision removing women’s bodily autonomy, a right that have been in place for nearly 50 years - with zero restrictions on men’s bodies ever being legislated. The gender binary plots out a trajectory for being cis-het men and cis-het women that are restrictive and unhealthy - that perpetuate inequality, oppression, violence, dissatisfaction and shame. For many people the gender ideologies that govern their thoughts, feelings and behaviors remain invisible.
What would a future look like where we were simply allowed to show up as we are? How would the human trajectory change with intersectional perspectives? We cannot tackle climate change if we don’t understand that 80% of the people displaced from its effects are women and girls. How can we advance women’s rights when women of color routinely confront racism, poverty and inequality’s other entwined injustices—and have been historically excluded from social movements, including feminism?
Currently, gender expectations do not allow flexibility in individual expression. People are constrained by gender stereotypes and must often disconnect from their authentic selves. The pervasive masculinity ideology says men must reject any part of themselves that does not meet up to the tough standard of masculinity. Globally, research shows strong correlations between gender role stress and violence against women and non-conforming peoples. Masculinity’s role in physical and gun violence stems in part from men’s difficulty identifying and describing their emotional experiences, learning instead to transform their vulnerable emotions into anger and aggression.
Unfortunately, attitudes about gender have become more polarized amid the pandemic resulting in the strengthening of regressive, stereotypic viewpoints regarding non-conforming identities, domestic violence, reproductive autonomy, and moreover, gender roles, resources and rights.
By embracing identities in all their forms, can we challenge and dismantle a power structure that stifles every person’s right to self-determination? What would be the impact of all humans learning to be emotionally connected and inclusive, irrespective of gender stereotypes? How would the world change if we were equal in our caregiving and power and revered a range of gender identities and human expression? How would society need to evolve for this transformation?
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PAST EVENTS
Long COVID – We Are Here!
Open Call 2020 for Artworks and Scientific Papers
Deadline to Submit: January 4, 2021
Virtual Show Dates: April 29 – May 30, 2021
Long COVID: We Are Here! brought together twelve international Scientists and Artists to blend talents and expertise in facilitated sessions and co-curate a virtual, immersive exhibition. This VR installation features new media formats that explore Long COVID’s debilitating effects on individual health and explores parallels with our society as a whole.
View the original Virtual (VR) Installation Here:
http://www.LongCOVIDWeAreHere.com
A real-time walk-through of the Virtual Reality Exhibition with a panel discussion with the Artists and Scientists who co-curate the show as well as a prestigious group of Long COVID medical experts - Clinicians and Researchers in the field of Long COVID and ME/CFS.
View a Recording of this Event Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H69vpmclRfY
This event is made possible by a City Artist Corps Grant presented - by The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and the NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), with support from the Mayor’s office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) as well as Queen’s Theater.
View Video Trailer for Event
(Trailer by Helen L. Collen; Voiceover by Phil Collen):
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Financial Documents
Financial Documents (Please clink here for Annual Report)
Relational Space, Inc. is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. Each year, Relational Space publishes an Annual Report that includes a Statement of Activities and Statement of Financial Position, as well as a list of donors. As part of our transparency efforts, these will be available upon request as are the most recent Form 990 (after March, 2020) and the IRS Determination letter either from Relational Space or from the New York State Attorney General's Charities Bureau: Charities Bureau, 28 Liberty Street, 15th Floor, New York, New York 10005.