About The Event
River (2023), a newly commissioned performance by Every Ocean Hughes (b. 1977), reimagines mythological crossings through song, text, choreographed movement, and set design. Hughes merges the trope of descending into the underworld—a recurring motif in ancient mythologies—with the porous, transcultural frame of the “crossing.” She emphasizes the term’s dual meanings, the ability to travel between one world and another and the thresholds that permit entry and return. To situate this thinking, the artist turns to a longstanding interest: the piers that lined the West Side of Manhattan, a gathering spot for queer and other marginalized communities, and the pilings that remain of them today. Within this multivalent context, this performance addresses the closely entwined themes of legacy, loss, and inheritance through its cast of characters, which includes two protagonists, chorus-like figures, and a banjo player. River is the third and most recent installment in Hughes’s multidisciplinary series inspired by death care.
About The Organizer
s the preeminent institution devoted to the art of the United States, the Whitney Museum of American Art presents the full range of twentieth-century and contemporary American art, with a special focus on works by living artists. The Whitney is dedicated to collecting, preserving, interpreting, and exhibiting American art, and its collection—arguably the finest holdings of twentieth-century American art in the world—is the Museum’s key resource. The Museum’s flagship exhibition, the Biennial, is the country’s leading survey of the most recent developments in American art.
Designed by architect Renzo Piano and situated between the High Line and the Hudson River, the Whitney’s current building vastly increases the Museum’s exhibition and programming space, providing the most expansive view ever of its unsurpassed collection of modern and contemporary American art.
Please Note
This performance will take place on the third floor of the Whitney Museaum of American Art, John Hess Family Gallery and Theater. March 24th at 7pm March 25th at 4pm and 7pm March 26th at 4pm ASL interpretation will be offered during the Sunday, March 26th performance. If you have any other access-related questions, please contact us at accessfeedback@whitney.org or (646) 666-5574. Tickets will be availbe soon
Event Location
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