I’ve collaborated, with my pal Alexander Dwinell, on an installation for the final exhibition at ABC No Rio. The current building at 156 Rivington St will be torn down in the near future to make way for a new social center. The NY Times recently published “ABC No Rio Gears Up for a Razing and a Brand-New Home” for those whom may be unfamiliar with this bastion of counter-culture in the ever-changing NYC.
Alexander and I were asked to envision the future of ABC No Rio in 5, 50, 500 years into the future. Since our entry point to ABC No Rio was through the Saturday Hardcore Matinees we chose the booking collective’s office as the site for our installation. We’ve imagined band lineups for significant dates of the future, benefits for suspected political campaigns as well as, the expected, No Rio fundraisers. The handbill flyer is a significant component to the underground counterculture. Flyers left at record stores, on telephone poles, or any public surfaces were a resourceful medium of communication. They informed us on everything; wingnutty conspiracies, who had a moving van and where to find the punks. Even as social medias replace public commons, we still make “xeroxed” flyers. They are a powerful tool, that may seem outdated, but have the same utility as the hardcore punk that resounds every Saturday in the exhibition space.
Come out to the InFinite Futures and imagine the kind of ABC No Rio the marginal youth of NYC may inhabit. It opens tomorrow, Friday June 10th!
InFinite Futures + The Past Will Be Present
June 10 — June 24
OPENING Friday June 10 at 7:00pm
VIEWING HOURS Sundays 1:00 – 5:00pm
Tues, Wed, Thrs 4:00 – 8:00pm
InFinite Futures
Kevin Caplicki with Alexander Drywall, Peter Cramer + Jack Waters, Barrie Cline with Paul Vance, Jody Culkin + Christy Rupp, Mike Estabrook, Fly, Brian George + Kelly Savage, Julie Hair, Takashi Horisaki, Becky Howland, Vandana Jain, Mac McGill, Max Schumann, Noah Scalin, Amy Westpfahl, and Zero Boy.
“The Past Will Be Present”
Margarida Correia, Jade Doskow, Vikki Law and Chris Villafuerte
ABC No Rio is moving to the future. Soon the building we’ve danced in, sweated in, and fought for will be torn down and a new ABC will rise in it’s place!
Kevin and Alexander’s entry point to ABC No Rio was thru the Hardcore Punk Matinees which have been happening Saturday afternoons for over 25 years. In fact we realized we may have first met at a show there a decade before we got to know each other. When we envision ABC’s future we dream of the shows that will take place there 5, 10, 50, and even 500 years from now. As our contribution to InFinite Futures/The Past Will Be Present, the “final” exhibition to take over No Rio, we solicited and produced flyers for these upcoming matinees to cover every inch the Hardcore Booking Collective office on the second floor.
ABC exists because of all the people who participate in creating it and so we invite you to produce a flyer for a matinee show of the future. Think of the potential futures–the benefits, the political issues, the reunion & anniversary shows. Make a flyer for the awesome band name that never had a band or the anniversary lineup of your daydreams. We will be adding flyers until the building comes down.
Facebook event for InFinite Futures
