Andrea Geyer (b. 1971) was born in Freiburg, Germany, and lives and works in New York. She is Associate Professor of New Genres at the Fine Arts program at Parsons School of Design, where she has taught full-time since 2009. Working across text, photography, painting, sculpture, video and performance, Geyer’s multi-disciplinary practice is research-oriented and unearths marginalized histories and narratives. Her practice has focused on women’s roles within institutional contexts, and brings to light their often overlooked legacies. This strand of her practice originated with her 2012-13 research fellowship at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where she created the works Revolt, They Said and Insistence, which reveal the networks of women who shaped contemporary culture. Through installation and performance works at the Whitney Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Geyer has also explored the legacy and archives of the women who founded these museums.
Geyer’s site-specific and permanent installation Anemoi was commissioned by The New School Art Collection Advisory Group on the occasion of The New School’s centennial in 2019. The project looks at the past 30 years of the School’s history, from 1990-2019, and celebrates individuals who identify, or at some point in their lives were identified, as women or female and who have worked to foster a sense of care and community within the institution. Through research in The New School’s Archives, and a survey through which students, faculty and staff recommend individuals for recognition, this project makes visible these networks of individuals whose labors, sometimes unseen and unrecognized, are rooted in generosity and potentiality.
Consisting of twenty hexagonal photo-based portraits on felt, Anemoi is installed throughout the university in various campus locations including the University Center, and Lang College of Liberal Arts. These portraits can be linked to each other in a modular hive-like arrangement, and reconfigured in varied constellations. In addition, single portraits will be installed in less public spaces throughout the university, inviting viewers to imagine the works’ infinite growth throughout the space of the institution.
The accompanying website, anemoinewschool.wordpress.com, enables viewers to learn about the individuals depicted in the work, and others who were identified through the community survey for inclusion in the project. The survey will remain active until February 2020, so that students, faculty and staff can continue to recommend individuals for inclusion on the website, or as potential future portraits.
Please visit anemoinewschool.wordpress.com for more information about this project and www.andreageyer.info for more about the artist.
