Scrapbook (or, Why Can’t We Live Together)
July 12 – August 19, 2019

Zoe Beloff, Bill Brand, MV Carbon, Diane Dwyer, Bradley Eros, foci + loci, Morrison Gong (w/ J. (Jialing) Shih), Tessa Hughes-Freeland, Marni Kotak, M. Lamar, Le’Andra LeSeur, Jeanne Liotta, Simon Liu, Bruce McClure, Julian Louis Phillips, Tenzin Phuntsog, Raha Raissnia

Opening Friday July 12, 6-9pm

Still from “Fallen Arches” (2018) by Simon Liu, 35mm film to HD video, 10 minutes 30 seconds – Image courtesy of the artist



Microscope is very pleased to present the group exhibition “Scrapbook (or, Why Can’t We Live Together)” featuring New York-based artists known for their work in live performance mediums including expanded cinema, sound, performance art, and others.

The exhibition — the title of which references Jonas Mekas’ recent “Scrapbook of the Sixties”, featuring among others the artist’s meticulous diary entries, Village Voice columns, and other texts and materials about the events, happenings, expanded cinema, intermedia and other performances in the city that decade — is interested in connections, relationships, and the community among artists currently working in mediums that are often overlooked, considered unrelated, and frequently defy traditional categorization.

“Beck-Malina theatre, environment, music (sound), and light-motion art. The edges of where a specific work of art begins and where it ends are blurred out.” — Jonas Mekas, 1965

The exhibition consists of a broad range of moving image works on video and 16mm film projected daily in the gallery, as well as a schedule of live performances by each artist. Works dating from 1971 to the present tend toward the personal, whether diaristic or dealing with broader subject matter such as race, identity, sexual orientation, climate change, gentrification, or formal artistic concerns.

Performance works take various forms, from political and/or feminist durational performances to expanded cinema, from individual experiences with the viewer wearing a “movie head box” to communal ones with the audience surrounded by a circle of screens, from open air actions documenting the sun’s effect on the artist’s skin to digital performances activated by playing modified Playstation games.

A related program of moving image works by each of the artists will be on view during the gallery’s regular hours. Additionally, visitors to the gallery may find artists setting up, preparing for, or otherwise interacting with elements of their performances.

Performances will take place on Fridays and Mondays, beginning with the first on Friday July 19th and ending on Monday August 19th.

The complete schedule of performances will be posted below shortly. Additionally, each week’s events will be featured on our Events page.

“Scrapbook (or Why Can’t We Live Together)” opens Friday July 12 and continues through August 19. For further information please contact the gallery at inquiries@microcopegallery.com or by telephone at 347.925.1433.


Upcoming Performances:

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Performance Schedule:

Friday July 19, 6:30-8:30pm
Diane Dwyer, “Official Climate Change Response Team / Equipo Oficial De Respuesta Al Cambio Climatico” (2018-19)
Marni Kotak, “Sewing My Herstory American Dream Flag” (2019)
Julian Louis Phillips, “1518” (2019)
Durational performances (simultaneous)

Monday July 22, 7:30pm
Tessa Hughes-Freeland, “INSTINCT” (2010) and “SALO REMIX” (2016)
Raha Raissnia, “Galvanoscope 4” (2019) and “Nadir” (2016)
Expanded cinema performances

Wednesday July 24 – Saturday July 27, 1-6pm
Tenzin Phuntsog, “My Skins” (2019)
Durational performance

Friday July 26, 6:30pm
Le’Andra LeSeur, “There are other hues of blue” (2019)
Durational performance

Monday July 29, 7:30pm
Bill Brand, “Pong Ping Pong” (1971)
Expanded cinema performance
RSVP recommended to rsvp@microscopegallery.com

Friday August 2, 6:30-8:30pm
Bradley Eros, “MovieHeadBox” (1983)
Expanded cinema experienced individually
RSVP required to rsvp@microscopegallery.com

Monday August 5, 7:30pm
Zoe Beloff, “LOST” (1995)
Jeanne Liotta, “Path of Totality” (2017)
Expanded cinema performances

Friday August 9, 6-9pm
Second Fridays: Open Late

Monday August 12, 7:30pm
Morrison Gong & J. (Jialing) Shih, “The Phoenix Lament / 百鳥朝鳳” (2019)
M. Lamar, “The Lynching Suite” (2019)
Expanded cinema / Live sound and visuals

Friday August 16, 7:30pm
foci + loci, “Affordable Engines” (2019)
MV Carbon, “The Muscle to the Woods and Back” (2019)
Live sound and visual performances

Monday August 19, 7:30pm
Simon Liu, “Highview” (2017)
Bruce McClure, “Hat in the Ring” (2019)
Expanded cinema performances

Past Performances: