- This event has passed.
The “States of Incarceration” project brings together over 500 people in 20 US cities, who together created a traveling exhibition on the past, present, and future of mass incarceration in their communities. Stories range from Angola’s slave plantation-turned-prison in Louisiana, to the legacies of the Dakota Wars for Native American incarceration in Minnesota, to immigration detention at Ellis Island and Elizabeth, New Jersey.
For its staging in New York City, the exhibition includes a focus on Rikers Island, developed by New School students in collaboration with The Fortune Society.
The exhibition is on view from from April 3-21, 2016 at The New School’s Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries before traveling to partner sites across the country.
This launch event is on Thursday, April 14, 2016 at 6-8 p.m. at the Auditorium, Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall 66 West 12th Street, New York, NY 10011.
The event will bring together the people who worked on the project to share stories from around the country, and open dialogue on national criminal justice reform.
Schedule:
6-7:30pm
The Auditorium, Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall, 66 West 12th Street
Join a conversation on remembering Rikers Island between:
- Glenn E. Martin, founder and president of JustLeadershipUSA, (JLUSA), a national advocacy organization that empowers people most affected by incarceration to drive policy reform.
- Venida Browder, mother of Kalief Browder, whose son’s arrest for allegedly stealing a backpack, and his subsequent suicide, sparked national conversation on Rikers’ Island.
7:30-8:30pm
Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries, 66 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street.
Exhibition launch and reception, with exhibition tours led by project members.
The launch event is followed by a conference on April 15 and 16, which includes active participation through interactive installations, live polling, and small group discussions.
“States of Incarceration” is presented by the Humanities Action Lab. HAL is a collaboration of 20 universities, led by The New School, working with issue-based organizations and public spaces to foster new public dialogue on contested social issues, through public humanities projects that explore the diverse local histories and current realities of shared global concerns.
Co-sponsored by the Humanities Action Lab, JustLeadershipUSA, the Center for New York City Affairs, Create Forward, and Theatre of the Oppressed NYC.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Endowment for the Humanities, Whiting Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and TenLegs.