First presentation covering artists such as Juan Betancurth, Daniel Neumann, Lady K Fever, Melissa Calderon, and Teresa Diehl AND…Bronx architects Michael John Garvin and Oscar Florianus Bluemner

1. MORRISANIA, BRONX NY

4. The Courthouse
once boasting
granite floors, lavish
stairways, and
bronze doors,
remains adorned by
a statue of Lady
Justice. Listed on
the National Register
of Historic Places in
Bronx County, the
Beaux Arts-style
building was
abandoned and
sealed in 1977.
The Old Bronx Borough Courthouse was built between
1905–1914 by architects Michael John Garvin and Oscar
Florianus Bluemner.

5. Michael
John
Garvin
Oscar
Florianus
Bluemner
• 234 Brook Avenue; 514,518, 522, 526,
530, & 534 East 138th Street (between
Brook Avenue and St. Anns Avenue -
seven buildings)
• 597, 601, & 605 East 138th Street
(between St. Anns Avenue and Cypress
Avenue - three buildings)
• 208 Willis Avenue & 401 136th Street
(these two buildings are found near the
Bertine Block Historic District)
• 602 East 139th Street (between St. Anns
Avenue and Cypress Avenue) (last
remaining building of a six building
construction)
• 570 St. Marys Street by St. Anns Avenue)
& 576 St. Marys Street (between St. Anns
Avenue and Crimmins Avenue)
• 328-340, 348, & 352 Beekman Avenue by
141st Street (between 141st Street and
St. Marys Street (143rd Street) - eight
buildings)
• 272 East 163rd Street at Morris Avenue
• 340 194th Street
• 351 W. 152nd Street by Cortland Avenue
• 429 East 157th Street by Elton Avenue
• 860 Hunts Point Avenue by Seneca
“Let us, here, make
progressive and best
painting, each one as he
is fit to do, and merely
ask: What and when is
painting, in a critical
sense?... How can the
people agree on what is
American style, if the
painters themselves, and
by their work, disagree
profoundly as to what
real panting itself is!“
Form and Light,
Motif in West New
Jersey (1914)

6. REVITALIZING
CHELSEA
MEATPACKING
COBBLE HILL, BK
EAST VILLAGE
CHINATOWN
FLATIRON
EAST HARLEM
GOVERNORS ISLAND
DUMBO, B
LOWER EAST SIDE
WEST VILLAGE
THE BRONX

7. REVITALIZING
NEW IMAGE!!
Photo credit: Tod Seelie / Gothamist

8. • A non-profit art organization.
• Widen the audience for contemporary art.
• Create site-specific exhibitions in non traditional vacant
spaces.
• Provide creative opportunities for artists to challenge
their practice.
• Offer free cultural and educational programming.
• Leave a legacy for the community.

9. The Old Bronx
Courthouse, which
has been closed for
37 years, serves as
the exhibition’s site
and theme. The
exhibition occupies
three floors and
includes the works
of 26 artists, 12 of
whom are from the
Bronx. In
collaboration with
community
partners, NLE is
hosting over 20 free
events with and for
the community.

10. When you cut into
the Present…
What kind of impression do
you get from this institution?
Naomi Hersson
Ringskig,
Executive
Director at No
Longer Empty,
shared that
“Our goal in
this project is
to increase
access to the
arts and to
reopen this
beautiful
building.”

11. Lady K Fever
All Rise
2015
Medium: mylar adhesive

12. Lady K Fever
All Rise
2015
Medium: mylar adhesive
Image of the actual work….

13. Lady K Fever
All Rise
2015
Medium: mylar adhesive
Image of the actual work….

14. Lady K Fever
Dubbed/In Pillar
2014
Medium: Mylar adhesive
“My reflective work is about bringing love and light and positive
energy to places that are dark and historically politically abandoned
or somehow disenfranchise in the city or in nature.”

15. Lady K Fever
All Rise
2015
Medium: mylar adhesive
Image of the actual work….

16. Lady K Fever
All Rise
2015
Medium: mylar adhesive
“My reflective work is
about bringing love
and light and positive
energy to places that
are dark and
historically politically
abandoned or
somehow
disenfranchise in the
city or in nature.”
Image of the actual work….

17. “I’m influenced by all cultures. I go through inspirational phases. I
love texture and color. I like to work with Indian, African and
Mexican fabrics and designs. Music is also an influence – its
sounds, beats and lyrics.”

18. Graffiti Terms
Tags Throw Ups
Piece
(with burns, backgrounds
and characters)

19. Bombing: the act of making graffiti
Characters Stencils Wild Style
Toof Banksy Gano

20. Bombing: the act of making graffiti
Characters Stencils Wild Style
Toof Banksy Gano

21. Lady K Fever
Lady K-Fever (Kathleena Howie) is a New York
inter-disciplinary artist and curator from
Canada working with painting, installation,
photography, performance and public art
projects.
In 2003, she was invited as the first Canadian
woman to paint at the legendary Graffiti Hall
of Fame in East Harlem, New York.
“The artist’s role is to
tell stories through
personal and collective
reflections and
responses and to raise
questions. The artist is
a messenger of
universal truth who
challenges others to
see and acknowledge
what they might not
want to [to see].”

22. Make your
own tag!!
• Choose a name that suits
you, maybe something you
admire, or something
that’s a part of your
culture
• Or even just use nick
name!
• Early taggers in the Bronx
used numbers to associate
with the street they were
on

23. RETURN MY MARKERS

24. Melissa A. Calderón was born in 1974 and
attended CUNY Lehman College. A self-taught
artist, she has exhibited at El Museo del Barrio,
The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Queens
Museum, and many other places.
Melissa is a PEPATIAN artist; a South Bronx-based
contemporary multi-disciplinary art organization
founded by Pepon Osorio and Merian Soto.
Pepatian is dedicated to supporting Black and
Latino artists in the Bronx. They work with
everything from music and dance to painting and
site specific installations.
Along with Pepatian, Calderón is an advocate for
arts revitalization in the South Bronx.
WUOTEY QUOTE QUOTE
http://www.pepatian.org/

25. Melissa A. Calderón was born in 1974 and attended
CUNY Lehman College. A self-taught artist, she has
exhibited at El Museo del Barrio, The Bronx Museum of
the Arts, Queens Museum, and many other places.
Melissa is a PEPATIAN artist; a South Bronx-based
contemporary multi-disciplinary art organization
founded by Pepon Osorio and Merian Soto.
Pepatian is dedicated to supporting Black and Latino
artists in the Bronx. They work with everything from
music and dance to painting and site specific
installations.
Along with Pepatian, Calderón is an advocate for arts
revitalization in the South Bronx.
WUOTEY QUOTE QUOTE
http://www.pepatian.org/
What is
Revitalization?
Does the South
Bronx need it?
What other
areas need it?

26. Melissa Calderon
Benefit (my unemployed life series)
2011
Medium: mixed media with yarn
Faced with my own lack
of steady employment,
I decided to take up a
needle, channel my
grandmother, and make
work about my life of
right now. The series
took over a year, 6-9
hours each day, over
90,000 stitches.

27. Melissa Calderon
Luck (my unemployed life series)
2011
Medium: mixed media with yarn
Embroidery is a
women’s tradition that
is both aristocratic
enough for leisure and
common enough for
labor.

28. Melissa Calderon
Control (my unemployed life series)
2011
Medium: mixed media with yarn
My grandmother
worked as seamstress
in textile factories in
the 1940s. I had grown
up learning and
watching from her,
helping out when
needed. It was a
passion that stayed
with me in life and
translated into My
Unemployed Life series.

29. Have you witnessed unemployment
before?
…some folks receive “unemployment checks” IF and only
IF their job allows for it.
Unemployed folks require various services to find
EMPLOYMENT.
How does it affect people?
…”lapse” in employment (period of time when you
don’t have a job)
Frugal with money, try to get as much out of
products as possible (fiscally conscious),
frustrating to be stuck at home, not doing
anything, feeling of uselessness, depression
could set in.
What does unemployment look like?

30. Melissa Calderon
The Semper Washington (greedy
goods)
2014
Medium: mixed media
Referencing the 17thC.
Dutch Tulipmania as
relevant within the
current world economic
structure, the work
recreated the world’s
most expensive flower,
the Semper Augustus,
which caused the
world's first financial
bubble and market
crash. Hand
embroidered with the
infamous “broken tulip”
pattern which was later
determined by scientists
to be a caused by a
virus.

33. Melissa Calderon
The Semper Washington (greedy
goods)
2014
Medium: mixed media
Referencing the
17thC. Dutch
Tulipmania as relevant
within the current
world economic
structure, the work
recreated the world’s
most expensive
flower, the Semper
Augustus, which
caused the world's
first financial bubble
and market crash.
Hand embroidered
with the infamous
“broken tulip” pattern
which was later
determined by
scientists to be a
caused by a virus.
Artist unknown
(Norton Simon
Museum, California)
The Semper
Augustus
1640
Medium: Gouache
on paper

34. Original artist proposal:
Melissa Calderon will install colored
yarn into cracks and small hidden
areas throughout the building, as
related to her work on rivers running
through congested areas like blood
vessels. She will highlight parts of the
building’s potential wounds.

35. Melissa Calderon
The Bronx River
2015
Medium: 3 panels of plywood, embroidery
thread, and tar
NEW ART STUFF…

36. Melissa Calderon
The Bronx River
2015
Medium: 3 panels of plywood,
embroidery thread, and tar
NEW ART STUFF…

37. Melissa Calderón
42nd Injustice
2015
Birchwood, black and white
embroidery thread, caulk, tar, lead
eagle feathers
Melissa Calderón
South Bronx Gold Rush of 2015
2015
Birchwood, gold embroidery
thread, tar

38. VIDEO PIECE:
https://vimeo.com/42477238
Moar new art??
THERE WAS THIS MAYOR OF A
TOWN CALLED BARCOLONETA
AND HE ESSEPNTIALLY SAID THAT:
NOW THAT THERE’S NO
CHILDREN, THE WOMEN GET TO
WORK IN THE FACTORIES AND
THE MEN GET TO DO WHAT THEY
LIKE TO DO, WHICH IS HANG OUT
ON THE STREET AND TALK.

39. In the year 1930, a full thirty U.S. states had laws advocating for the
sterilization of the criminal, the mentally-ill, and the mentally-retarded. At
this time, dozens of other countries had similar laws in places regarding
eugenics, including China, Canada, Japan, India, Israel, Peru, South Africa,
and Sweden.
.
Theories were circulating expressing the general idea that economic
problems in underdeveloped countries were really problems of too many
people; if only the population growth could be controlled, the standard of
living would rise.
.
Between 1920-1950, many Puerto Rican doctors were pro-sterilization
rather than other forms of birth control. Many physicians thought that
contraception methods are too difficult for lower class Puerto Ricans. Some
hospitals would refuse medical service to women who had three or more
children unless they underwent sterilization surgery. Employers would also
“recommend” sterilization, offering working incentives if women
participated.
www.uic.edu and www.Stanford.edu
35% of Puerto Rican Women Sterilized in the mid-1900’s

40. • What is the women’s high-heel shoe a symbol
of?
• Confidence
• Classy
• Independence.
• A sign of maturity and womanhood (as different from girl-
hood?)
• Limitation….largely associated with women (not most men) .
But a female is expected to wear heels at certain place. This
is worn despite its discomfort.
• Putting up with discomfort in the place of being aesthetically
pleasing for yourself and others.
• Teacher, or someone with a nice profession, someone with
authority.

41. • What is the women’s high-heel shoe a symbol
of?
• …thrown under desks at work. Symbol of hard work,
depending on how worn down the shoes are.
• Sexualized, fetishized.
• Removing a distinction of class.
• Pretty. it’s nice. Fashionable.
• Pain!!!! Dude they are very tight!
• “walk in someone else’s shoes.”
• power! Super heroes that wear them (despite being
impractical for crime fighting.
• EMPOWERING!

42. VIDEO PIECE:
https://vimeo.com/42477238
Moar new art??
May 11, 2011
Artist seeking shoes for large
scale sculpture.

43. Question: Are there any laws
restricting certain types of arts?

44. Question: Are there any laws
restricting certain types of arts?
StellarcRose Bochovski, Second Life, 2010. I

45. Question: Are there any laws
restricting certain types of arts?
Chris Ofili
Holy Virgin Mary
1996

46. Question: Are there any laws
restricting certain types of arts?
Frederick MacMonnies, Copley
Square, 1894.
Drunken Indecency!!

47. TOTALLY LEGAL, APPARENTLY.

48. Question: What if your lawyer does
you dirty, and does not support you?
• Legal Malpractice claims can be brought
against a lawyer for…
– Lack of communication
– Dishonesty and incompetence
• Misusing your money
• Failing to show up a court hearing
• Lying to you or a judge while under oath
• Participating in a criminal endeavor

49. Question:
What if
your
lawyer
does you
dirty, and
does not
support
you?

50. Teresa Diehl
All Over
2010
glycerin soap, monofilament (fishing
line)
VIDEO PIECE

51. Teresa Diehl
A Delicate Balance
2012
glycerin soap, monofilament, resin,
plexiglass, two microphones with live
feed and south interface, lights
VIDEO PIECE

52. Teresa Diehl
A Delicate Balance
2012
glycerin soap,
monofilament,
resin, plexiglass,
two microphones
with live feed and
south interface,
lights

53. Teresa Diehl
L-Alber-Into
2015
Video and Sound
installation

54. Teresa Diehl
L-Alber-Into
2015
Video and Sound
installation
This piece is a combination of precise film
editing and its projection on the
sculptural structure, which is made of
fishing line that’s been dipped in layers
of adhesive. This forms semi-transparent
“screens” that resuls in multiple layers of
superimposed imagery. This is combined
with an even more haunting layered
soundtrack.
Photo credit: Gissell Espinoza

55. Teresa Diehl
L-Alber-Into
2015
Video and Sound
installation
This piece is a combination of precise film
editing and its projection on the
sculptural structure, which is made of
fishing line that’s been dipped in layers
of adhesive. This forms semi-transparent
“screens” that resuls in multiple layers of
superimposed imagery. This is combined
with an even more haunting layered
soundtrack.
Photo credit: Mr. Kozak

56. Teresa Diehl
L-Alber-Into
2015
Video and Sound
installation
VIDEO PIECE….
Her work is a hallucinatory feast for the
senses – smell, texture, sound, touch, are
stretched and played before the viewer. The
body is emphasized in strangely unfamiliar
ways to both seduce the viewer into the
closeness of the encounter yet cause
discomfort for the utter unknown of the body.
Diehl’s sculptural installations continue the
sensual challenge of her work where the
material confronts the form.

57. Teresa Diehl was born in
Tannourin, Lebanon; she grew
up in Caracas, Venezuela and
currently resides in Miami,
Florida.
Since the late 1990’s her work
has explored the fine line that
exists between intimacy and
discomfort, private and public,
pleasures and terrors. Since
2003 her work has focused
primarily in video, sound and
interactive installations; for
Diehl the Art experience
involves all the senses.
HW:
Describe a situation or moment
When your senses were
SEDUCED.

58. HW:
Describe a situation or moment
When your senses were
SEDUCED.
BACON EGG AND CHEESE (ohhh, that smell!)
CINNAMON ROLLS (yo dun, it’s that smell again!)
OH LOLA! PERFUME (smell so good, it makes me wanna hug!)
MAC AND CHEESE(5 CHEESES) AT MAX BRENNER (heavenly
first bite, eyes rolled back, it was amazing!)
CALMING MUSIC, CLASSICAL BACKGROUNDS, I went on a little
trip away from reality, happy childhood)
IN BRAZILLIAN RESTAURANT…CHEESECAKE!!!! One bite melted
inmy mouth, so nice and creamy and delicious, it was so so so
so so so so so so so good.
Chess BOARD DESIGN, exquisite details of overwhelming
carvings. PAWNS have power!! Queen rules the board
GUM THAT CURED THE BAD BREATH FROM STEAK, WHITE
RICE, AND MAD ONIONS…
P8

59. HW:
Describe a situation or moment
When your senses were
SEDUCED.
NETFLIX BINGING (LOST)
FOOD (LASANGNA) (ARROZ CON POLLO) nostalgic and
enchanting!
MUSIC …AND BREAKFAST. Enticing, creates
environments
TYLER PERRY MOVIE (temptation)
CARIBBEAN WATER – Crystal clear with sandy water
SWIMMING -
P3

60. Teresa Diehl was born in
Tannourin, Lebanon; she grew
up in Caracas, Venezuela and
currently resides in Miami,
Florida.
Since the late 1990’s her work
has explored the fine line that
exists between intimacy and
discomfort, private and public,
pleasures and terrors. Since
2003 her work has focused
primarily in video, sound and
interactive installations; for
Diehl the Art experience
involves all the senses.
HW:
Describe a situation or moment
When your senses were
SEDUCED.

61. Are we doing anything illegal daily?
• Connecting to unsecured Wifi
– Goes against the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
• Singing “Happy Birthday To You in public
– Time Warner owns the rights to this song, and has brought legal action
against TV shows and Girl Scouts unless they pay royalties to use the song.
– Christmas songs and the Macarena are also illegal to sing in public.
• Using a fake name on the internet
– Goes against the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
• Jaywalking – tickets for up to $190
• Dog Licensing – costs about $8.50 per year if
spayed/neutered, or $34 if not spayed/neutered.
Caught without a license for your dog? That ticket is
$120!
NYC.gov, Business Insider, Telegraph

62. Is Justice Equality?

63. What is the experience?
• JPIZZLE: a bit scared, we are passing through a jungle, running from a creature, one of us
has just been EATEN! But we must move on. And we turn around and face DARKNESS
ITSELF!
• Javier: An adventure that you’re on ALONE…trying to overcome the Fear. You want to be
better than that, you want to succeed.
• Enrique: Scared but running through my PAST! All those ghosts and bad memories, it felt
lonely.
• LOGOS: Serene feeling with hellish noises in a cave or creepy rainforest. What you see vs.
what you hear.
• Your experience is the marriage of sight, and hearing (multiple senses.
• Luis: some kinda movie, about to go through some death-like experience. We all take our
turns to die.
• Edgar (good twin): When imagination becomes UNCONTROLLABLE. And it distorts clarity in
thought.
• Guzzy: dejavu moment! Like walking into a dark room and turning on a single light.
• KD’s long dark journey down the hallway running to her bedroom so the monsters don’t
eat her.
• Loops!: Halloween MAZE (not corn)
• MIXTURE OF SCARY AND BENEVOLENT RESPONSES.
• GREG: like a massage parlor, with incense in the air, smoky foggy effect.
P8

64. Why is being illegal such a bad thing?
• Finding a job - totally legal to discriminate
against former felons
– Only 40-60% of former prisoners are able to find
employment, many end up back in jail.
• MUCH more limited financial aid for college
(especially for drug offenses, including marijuana)
• Who wants to go to jail anyway?
– Three meals a day, a place to sleep and shelter.
– Constant threats of violence from prison gangs.
– Rapes and assaults
– Degrading conditions: inhumane treatment,
mental, physical, emotional.

65. Juan Betancurth & Daniel
Neumann
Breaking the Cycle
2015
Mixed media with sound
Light
Sound!
Space!
Creating an
experience!!

66. Juan Betancurth & Daniel
Neumann
Breaking the Cycle
2015
Mixed media with sound
Light
Sound!
Space!
Creating an
experience!!

67. Juan Betancurth & Daniel
Neumann
Breaking the Cycle
2015
Mixed media with sound
Light
Sound!
Space!
Creating an
experience!!

68. Juan Betancurth & Daniel
Neumann
Breaking the Cycle
2015
Light
Sound!
Space!
Creating an
experience!!

69. Juan Betancurth & Daniel
Neumann
Breaking the Cycle
2015
Light
Sound!
Space!
Creating an
experience!!

70. Juan Betancurth & Daniel Neumann
Light
Sound!
Space!
Creating an
experience!!
Juan Betancurth was born in Columbia in 1972.
He currently resides in NYC. His practice is about
blurring boundaries between subjects and
mediums; and his work explores dreams,
memory, and the present day through sculpture,
installation, and performance. He is especially
interested in themes of family tradition, power,
and submission, in particular as they relate to his
personal experiences. To explore these ideas,
Betancurth crafts meticulous, immersive
installations, filled with sculptures and props that
set the stage for his strange and enigmatic work.
Daniel Neumann is a Brooklyn-based
sound artist and audio engineer,
originally from Leipzig, Germany. In his
artistic practice he is using conceptual
and mostly collaborative strategies to
explore sound and sound material and
it's modulation through space and
media. Pieces are developed in different
formats and variations as ongoing
processes, which can result in
performances, installations, or radio
shows amongst others.

71. Juan Betancurth &
Daniel Neumann
Breaking the Cycle
2015
Mixed media with
sound
Light
Sound!
Space!
Creating an
experience!!

72. Juan Betancurth & Daniel
Neumann
Breaking the Cycle
2015
Mixed media with sound
Light
Sound!
Space!
Creating an
experience!!
Juan Betancurth is an artist who
works with found sculptural forms,
and he has collaborated with
Daniel Neumann, a sound artist, to
create a site-specific installation. It
is an atmospherically charged
sound environment that derives its
sound from the building over a
period of time. The sculptural
elements are designed to
reference control, power, and
liberation. Neumann on the other
hand, works with sound as a
material force inherent in objects.
Together, their work speaks
directly to the visceral experience
of sound and matter.
This is their third collaboration.

74. How is Law and Justice in major
countries statistically?

75. How is Law and Justice in major
countries statistically?

76. Safest countries in the world…
• 10. Singapore
• 9. Norway
• 8. Japan
• 7. Canada
• 6. Georgia
• 5. New Zealand
• 4. Austria
• 3. Denmark
• 2. Taiwan
• 1. Iceland
Economics and Peace, and Global Peace Index

77. Most dangerous countries in the
world…
• 10. Pakistan
• 9. Israel
• 8. Central African Republic
• 7. North Korea
• 6. Russia
• 5. Democratic Republic of Congo
• 4. Iraq
• 3. Sudan
• 2. Afghanistan
• 1. Somalia
Economics and Peace, and Global Peace Index