Caesura : Architecture and Sound Installation opening at Harlem Arts Festival

"caesura: a forum" by Jerome W Haferd and K Brandt Knapp in collaboration with Jessica Feldman. Photo courtesy of the designers.

www.caesura.nyc http://www.harlemartsfestival.com/portfolio/feldman-haferd-knapp/ JESSICA FELDMAN, JEROME W HAFERD & K BRANDT KNAPP: caesura: a forum An Installation at the Acropolis of Marcus Garvey Park through October 31, 2015. Opening Receptions June 27 & 28, 3-6 pm; Community Talkback June 27 4pm & June 28th 5pm NYC Parks is pleased to announce the installation of caesura: a forum, a collaborative architectural and sound installation by artist Jessica Feldman and architects Jerome W Haferd & K Brandt Knapp. The installation will be on view through October 31, 2015 on the Acropolis at Marcus Garvey Park, a central Harlem park with a rich history in civic engagement, music, and performance. cae•su•ra: a forum is inspired by Marcus Garvey Park’s iconic antebellum Mount Morris Fire Watchtower, and by Harlem’s vibrant tradition of activism and rallies. The bell is silent now, as the tower was temporarily dismantled in 2015 as the first phase for its reconstruction. Simultaneously, Harlem is undergoing dynamic change and New York City is experiencing a resurgence of public culture. caesura seeks to temporarily fill an architectural gap – and create a social space – by echoing and inverting the form and function of the absent tower. Like the bell, caesura aims to call up the neighborhood, to preserve and revitalize Harlem’s histories, and to connect newer and older community members to each other, by reactivating this site for congregation, viewing, and listening. The installation will reframe history with a temporary structure and sound. A “caesura” is a break or pause, a place to catch your breath, most specifically in ancient spoken-word art. - Jessica Feldman is a Harlem-based artist with a background in sound, sculpture, and installation. She moves among the worlds of new media art, electronic music, academia, and activism. Her work considers the sensual body and discourse in public space. She is interested in using sound and computing to open up spaces for storytelling, exchange, and empathetic experiences; directing systems and objects of privatization and surveillance (walls, cameras, recordings) towards poetics of intimacy and community normally foreclosed. She has taught media and sound art at The New School and Temple University. She received an MFA in Intermedia Art from Bard (2007), an MA in Experimental Music from Wesleyan (2005), and a BA in Music from Columbia (2001) and is completing a PhD in Media, Culture, and Communication at NYU. www.jessicafeldman.org Jerome W Haferd & K Brandt Knapp are a Harlem-based practice whose projects include writings, drawings, presentations, and built work. Their collaboration began as graduate students at Yale School of Architecture. Performance and Play, Abstract vs. Built Form, Nature and Territory are some of the interests they have worked on in their collaboration. Trained architectural professionals from award-winning firms; the two have been exploring their interest in public space through experimental public projects since 2012. They have experience teaching and have recently been invited jurors at Yale, Ohio State, Wesleyan, and Columbia. Knapp and Haferd were the winners of the inaugural Folly competition hosted by the Architectural League of New York and Socrates Sculpture Park. caesura will be their third major public installation in New York City. www.caesura.nyc for more details on this project.