Opening: Launch Pad Projects & Art Inspired by The Day of the Dead

Sunday, November 1, 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm, 2009

Launch Pad Projects, November 1, 2009-March 13, 2010

Join us for the unveiling of three new artist projects that invite viewers to explore the connections between history, construction, and recycled materials:

Daneil Bozhkov: The Republic of Perpetual Reconstituion & Rebuild

Duke Riley: Those About to Die Salute You

O Zhang: Cutting the Blaze to New Frontiers

Get into the action with these special events for the opening:
3-6pm: Queens Teens help you construct imaginary national pavillions in conjunction with O Zhang’s project.

4:30 pm: Lara Allen delivers her rendition of the National Anthem for Duke Riley’s Those About to Die Salute You

5:00 pm  Daniel Bozhkov’s Republik of Perpetual Reconstitution and Rebuild presents: “Composition for Viola, House Painters and Well Tempered Juke Box”
Music: Cello Suite #6 in D Johann Sebastian Bach
Viola: Sam Quintal
House Painters: Richard Simmons, Emil Bakalli, and Daniel Bozhkov

Also Opening in our Partnership Gallery:
Art Inspired by The Day of the Dead / Dia de los Muertos. On View Nov 1-15, 2009

Installation by the Death Collective

QMA’s New New Yorkers Program and Local Project presents a tour by four different artists and their perspective of Heaven, Purgatory, Hell and Earthly Existence. The resulting collaborative installation results in a contemplation about destiny and choice. Death Collective is: Miguel Luciano, Carla Torres, Calder Zwicky and Riley Hooker, and the exhibition is curated by Carolina Peñafiel, Director of Local Project.

Visions of Death Photo Expo v. 2

QMA, in conjunction with the International Day of the Dead Festival (FIDM) in Paris, presents an exhibition of the best photos submitted through an open call exploring the theme of mortality.

Selections from “A Book About Death” is an artists’ collaborative project conceived by collage artist Matthew Rose for the Emily Harvey Foundation in New York City where the original exhibition took place from September 10 - 22, 2009. Over 500 artists contributed 500 postcards each created from artworks made especially to create an unbound book about memory and death.

The exhibition has since traveled to the Otis College of Art and Design in LA, and to the Mobius Gallery in Boston, MA, as well as becoming part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the LA County Museum of Art Research Library. The Queens Museum is presenting a selection of cards from the exhibition and are also asking the public, both with mailed submissions and in an artist-led workshop, to create their own postcard about death and add it to the exhibition which runs from November 1 to 15, 2009.

QMA’s Day of the Dead Celebration is supported by the Altman Foundation, Deutsche Bank of the Americas Foundation, TD Bank, MetLife Foundation, J.M. Kaplan Fund, Leveraging Investments in Creativity funded by the Ford Foundation and Verizon. Additional support provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.