601Artspace

LAST DAY to see 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆 in person! Visit 88 Eldridge St today from 1 to 6pm to catch the show before it ends. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆 Curated by Sara Reisman @reismansara March 7 – May 17, 2026 Liz Magic Laser @lizmagiclaser Kameelah Janan Rasheed @kameelahr Aliza Shvarts #alizashvarts Jaro Varga @varga_jaro

Join us at 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆 closing event tonight and bring a protest sign home! As the exhibition draws to a close, artist Jaro Varga @varga_jaro is giving away the signs from his installation, “Our Silence Will Not Protect Us.” Participants in tonight’s workshop and discussion, 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗦𝗢𝗙𝗧 𝗣𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥 𝗜𝗦 𝗦𝗢𝗙𝗧 𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗗, are welcome to take a sign with them at the end of the event. The banners on display at 601Artspace were made in collaboration with students and faculty at Parsons School of Design/The New School. The signs are a mixture of Varga’s painted book titles, and students’ contributions, which also incorporate lines from manifestos, political quotations, and even a survey on the labor rights of non-citizens. If you are unable to join us for the event but would like to take a sign, drop by 88 Eldridge St this weekend from 1 to 6pm and ask the front desk!

Please join us TODAY from 6 to 8 pm for 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗦𝗢𝗙𝗧 𝗣𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥 𝗜𝗦 𝗦𝗢𝗙𝗧 𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗗, a workshop and discussion led by Elizabeth Larison @elizabazile , Director of Arts and Culture Advocacy at the National Coalition Against Censorship @ncacensorship . Presented as part of our current exhibition 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆, Larison will be in dialogue with Aliza Shvarts, one of the exhibiting artists and Director of the Low Residency MFA Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Sara Reisman @reismansara , the exhibition’s curator. 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗦𝗢𝗙𝗧 𝗣𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥 𝗜𝗦 𝗦𝗢𝗙𝗧 𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗗 will address how to identify censorship when it happens, how artists and other cultural producers might navigate institutional constraints against artistic freedom, and how to advocate for free expression when working with cultural organizations. The workshop is especially relevant to cultural producers who have experienced or witnessed censorship, making a distinction between direct censorship and more subtle forms of institutional suppression. Due to the sensitivity of the subject matter that will be discussed, we ask that all attendees agree to the “Chatham House Rules,” which allow participants to use information from the discussion without revealing the identity or affiliation of the speakers in the interest of confidentiality. Space is limited, please come on time! Image: Aliza Shvarts, “37 Illocutions (with this ring)” (2026). Engraved Wide-Shank Comfort Band Finger Gauge Set in stainless steel, 10” jailer’s keyring, mirror, and magnifying mirror. Dimensions variable. Photo by Etienne Frossard @etienne_fro

#601StudioVisit: Liz Magic Laser is a multimedia video and performance-based artist whose recent work explores the efficacy of new age techniques and psychological methods from both corporate culture and political movements. Currently on view at 601Artspace, “Power Moves” is a new video installation made in collaboration with Cori Kresge, which builds on Laser's ongoing investigation of oratorical gestures of politicians and business executives. This research informed her 2012 work “The Digital Face,” in which two dancers Alan Good and Cori Kresge replicated the gestural movements of presidents Barack Obama and George H. W. Bush in front of a live audience. In 2024, Laser collaborated with Kresge to present the interactive group performance “Clench,” leading audience members through movements inspired by both American politicians’s body language and somatic release fitness trends. In her 2023 solo exhibition “Convulsive States” at Pioneer Works, Laser explored the shaking body as both a symptom and a cure for psychic distress. “Exorcise 1 through 8” consists of eight films presented on mirrored monitors, riffing on the smart fitness mirrors. The audience’s reflections become superimposed onto the pulsating bodies of somatic practitioners, offering therapeutic movement exercises. Swipe through the post to learn more. Liz Magic Laser is one of the participating artists in 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆, on view at 601Artspace through this Sunday, May 17. Our gallery opens from Thursday to Sunday, 1-6pm.

#601StudioVisit: Jaro Varga In the artist’s statement for his ongoing project “Library,” Jaro Varga writes: “I’m more interested in the books’ names, spines, and covers than the books themselves. They are the complement, the outside, the surface, the parergon*.” Varga extended this concept in his 2021 project “The Yellow Book,” a series of site-specific interventions in various libraries and reading rooms in Barcelona. He transformed the spaces into studios, wrapping selected bibliographic titles in transparent dust covers with drawings that referenced books from the artist’s personal library. Visitors were encouraged to suggest and contribute additional titles. “I Found It Somewhere, but I Cannot Find It” from 2018 is another interactive, site-specific project that took place in a former synagogue in Šamorín, Slovakia. There, The installation consisted of 2,700 ceramic tiles in stacks on the floor. Visitors were asked to help tile the floor such that its pattern mirrored the synagogue’s ceiling. Varga considers the former synagogue as a “site of the transmigration of the sentient body. Through the body that is the present, we desire to ‘smuggle’ the past into this brief moment. “ * Derrida defines the parergon as a "supplement"—”neither work (ergon) nor outside the work (hors d'oeuvre), neither inside nor outside, neither above nor below.” (The Truth in Painting, 1978) Swipe to learn more about Varga’s projects, and visit 601Artspace to see Varga’s works, “Library” and “Our Silence Will Not Protect Us,” in person. Both works are on view in our current exhibition 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆 through May 17.

#601StudioVisit: Aliza Shvarts #alizashvarts is an artist and theorist who takes a queer and feminist approach to reproductive labor and language. On view at 601Artspace, her 2017 work “Homage: Congratulations” belongs to a collection of takeaway works modeled on Adrian Piper’s “My Calling (Cards).” Offered as “digital takeaways,”“Homage: Dear Professor” and “Homage: Dear Students” are email templates that can be downloaded in order to send to one's professors or one's students. The templates are available on Shvarts’ website: /2017_homage-dear.html In Shvart’s recent work, she focuses on testimony and the circulation of speech in the digital age. An ongoing project that started in 2020, “Hotline” takes the form of a phone number: (866) 696-0940. By calling the number, viewers enter a “choose your own adventure”-type narrative distributed over a voicemail tree and can choose to leave a message, which will be made public as documentation of the work. Conceived in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the work considers “the hotline as a poignant example of intimacy without proximity.” Two works by Shvarts, “Homage: Congratulations” (2017) and “37 Illocutions (with this ring)” (2026) are on view at 601Artspace as part of 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆. The exhibition is open at 88 Eldridge St through Sunday, May 17. Gallery hours: Thursday-Sunday, 1-6pm.

Many of the signs on display in Jaro Varga’s “Our Silence Will Not Protect Us” were made in collaboration with students and faculty at Parsons School of Design @parsonsschoolofdesign in March. Special thanks to Parsons faculty members Shoshana Dentz and Tamar Ettun, and the students who participated in the workshops: Rosemary Chavez (“Pay for the Work We Do”); Milla Ehline (“Just because this sign is small doesn’t mean it can’t do big things”); Carly Han (“The Invincible Summer within Me”); Alma Hernandez-Reyes (“Our Wine is Bitter, But It’s Our Wine” - José Martí); Hwajung Koh (The Hungry Caterpillar”); Jasmine Wang (“Poppy and Memory”); Ava Rose Mendelson (“How to Murder Your Life” and “Gregorian Calendar”); Allen Lin (“I will do it myself”); Sarah Lynch (“All animals are equal but some animals more than others”); Ishika Patel (“Hate Never Made Anything Great”); Rhianna Romero (“Esperanza Will Rise”); Lucy Stander (“The Giving Tree”); Ellis Stolaroff (“The Only Thing Stronger Than Hate is Love”); Maylon Strait (“Men Who Hate Women”); Henna Khadijah Tahir (؟دا څه ډول ازادي ده - translated from Pashto: “What Kind of Freedom Is This?” and “Defy. Assert.”); Pearl Turowski (“People are crowdfunding your demise right now”); Judy Zhou (“Nothing Gained without Something Lost”). Two works by Jaro Varga, “Our Silence Will Not Protect Us” and “Library,” are included in 601Artspace’s current exhibition, 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆, on view at 88 Eldridge St through May 17. Gallery hours: Thursday-Sunday, 1-6pm. Image 1: Jaro Varga, “Our Silence Will Not Protect Us” (2024/2026). Cardboard, paint, wood, dimensions variable. Photo by Etienne Frossard @etienne_fro Image 2-6: Photos from sign-making workshops at Parsons School of Design. Image 7-8: Jaro Varga working in the gallery, making signs for “Our Silence Will Not Protect Us.”

𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗦𝗢𝗙𝗧 𝗣𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥 𝗜𝗦 𝗦𝗢𝗙𝗧 𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗗 𝗔 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘀 Friday, May 15th, 6-8pm 601Artspace 88 Eldridge Street Please join us at 601Artspace on May 15th for 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗦𝗢𝗙𝗧 𝗣𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥 𝗜𝗦 𝗦𝗢𝗙𝗧 𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗗, a workshop and discussion led by Elizabeth Larison @elizabazile , Director of Arts and Culture Advocacy at the National Coalition Against Censorship @ncacensorship . Presented as part of our current exhibition 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆, Larison will be in dialogue with Aliza Shvarts, one of the exhibiting artists and Director of the Low Residency MFA Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Sara Reisman @reismansara , the exhibition’s curator. 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗦𝗢𝗙𝗧 𝗣𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥 𝗜𝗦 𝗦𝗢𝗙𝗧 𝗖𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗗 will address how to identify censorship when it happens, how artists and other cultural producers might navigate institutional constraints against artistic freedom, and how to advocate for free expression when working with cultural organizations. The workshop is especially relevant to cultural producers who have experienced or witnessed censorship, making a distinction between direct censorship and more subtle forms of institutional suppression. Participants are welcome to submit a statement by 5/8 to [email protected] about an experience they've had with censorship that might inform the planning of the workshop’s content. Due to the sensitivity of the subject matter that will be discussed, we ask that all attendees agree to the “Chatham House Rules,” which allow participants to use information from the discussion without revealing the identity or affiliation of the speakers in the interest of confidentiality.

On view at 601Artspace: Jaro Varga, “Our Silence Will Not Protect Us” (2024/2026). Cardboard, paint, wood, dimensions variable. Jaro Varga’s “Our Silence Will Not Protect Us” is an interactive work that explores the transformative—and sometimes volatile—potential of both books and protests. This collection of protest signs and banners painted with selected book titles demonstrates how the initiative for social transformation can begin with something as simple as a gesture that moves language from private reading into shared responsibility. Originally presented in 2024 in a historic former synagogue on the outskirts of Bratislava, Slovakia, “Our Silence Will Not Protect Us” began with a workshop led by Varga in which participants made protest signs based on influential books of their choosing. Here at 601Artspace, the banners on display were made in collaboration with students and faculty at Parsons School of Design/The New School. The signs are a mixture of Varga’s painted book titles, and students’ contributions, which also incorporate lines from manifestos, political quotations, and even a survey on the labor rights of non-citizens. The title of Varga’s artwork is a play on Audre Lorde’s posthumously published volume of poetry “Your Silence Will Not Protect You,” in which Lorde warned against the dangers of remaining silent in the face of injustice. —Sara Reisman @reismansara Photo by Etienne Frossard @etienne_fro

Stop by 601Artspace TODAY, May 1st from 6 to 8 pm to receive your 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐒 from Liz Magic Laser @lizmagiclaser and Cori Kresge @corikresge ! Inspired by their current installation "Power Moves," Laser and Kresge will consult with visitors and determine a customized empowerment gesture for each person based on their current needs, during "office hours" from 6-8pm. Liz Magic Laser’s research into oratorical gesture began while studying how contemporary politicians perform authenticity on camera. In past works such as "I Feel Your Pain"(2011) and "The Digital Face" (2012), she examined the rise of emotionally expressive political performance in the age of reality television and teleprompters. "The Digital Face" featured Kresge and fellow Cunningham dancer Alan Good performing gestural choreography with rigorous mechanical precision. Laser and Kresge have continued to develop this inquiry into a contemporary somatic training method for public address. "Power Moves" adapts François Delsarte’s nineteenth-century system of oratorical gesture into a sequence of codified actions: gestures for setting boundaries, taking control, cutting through noise, and stirring up a new message. Packaging political body language as a self-empowerment regimen, the work guides viewers through a set of gestures that place the decor and body language of political authority in conversation with the aspirational interiors of wellness culture. "Power Moves" is part of our current exhibition 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆, curated by Sara Reisman. The gallery is open today from 1 to 8pm. 601Artspace is proud to participate in #FallOfFreedom, a nationwide cultural movement uniting artists, institutions, and communities in celebration of creative expression and solidarity. Follow @falloffreedom to learn more.

“The Committee” is a work of satire inspired by current events. It draws on classroom dynamics and firsthand accounts, but all dialogue is dramatized and the characters are composites or inventions. The script was developed through creative writing and interview exercises and reimagined with AI voice generation, blending lived experience with artistic imagination. The result is not a factual record but a performative inquiry into speech, power, and pedagogy.” —Note from the artists, “The Committee” In Act 1 of Liz Magic Laser’s satirical radio play “The Committee”, Committee Chair Donald Trump and his resurrected counsel Roy Cohn interrogate Laser about her pedagogical methods. Act 2 turns to the students’ testimonies, developed in collaboration with Giorgia Alliata di Montereale, Mason Harper, Hana Kim, Yshao Lin, Nico Vale, Maya Love Shkolnik, and Nat. All evidence referenced in the testimonies are either contained in a binder or displayed as part of the installation, accompanied by an “evidence logging” video made by Laser and collaborator Nazareth Hassan. The staged hearing-room scenario invites visitors to take a poll (using the QR code in the three-ring evidence binder; slide 3), to survey their opinions regarding Laser’s guilt and potential punishment, which will serve as research for Hassan’s forthcoming Act 3 script. “The Committee” is on view at 601Artspace as part of 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒆. Visit us at 88 Eldridge St from Thursday to Sunday, 1-6pm, through May 17. @lizmagiclaser @naznaznazznaznaznazz @star.man.mua @yshaolin @mayashkolnik @youkyoungcho_ @zigzak_draws @thehoffmanlawfirm See full caption in the comments.

Created by Liz Magic Laser and playwright/director Nazareth Hassan, “The Committee: Virtual Hearing Room Set” (2026) is an installation that simulates a U.S. government official’s desk. The two headphones on the right side of the desk transmit Laser’s recent radio play, “The Committee” (2025), an imagined congressional hearing investigating her conduct as a performance art professor at Columbia. On trial in “The Committee” is the dialogical and somatic nature of Laser’s practice as an educator, and the political implications of her curriculum. With AI voice synthesis and student testimonies, the project operates as a “collective autofiction”—part psychodrama and part political farce—that mirrors the rhetoric of McCarthyism and the spectacle of modern-day reality television. On the left side of the desk is a video documenting performance artwork by one of Laser’s students, YouKyoung Cho, which was produced in the class under review by the committee. Other testimonies and evidence displays of art ephemera were developed in collaboration with Giorgia Alliata di Montereale, Mason Harper, Hana Kim, Yshao Lin, Nico Vale, Maya Love Shkolnik, Nat, and art lawyer Barbara Hoffman. —Sara Reisman @reismansara See full caption in the comments. @lizmagiclaser @naznaznazznaznaznazz @star.man.mua @yshaolin @mayashkolnik @youkyoungcho_ @zigzak_draws @thehoffmanlawfirm Photo by Etienne Frossard @etienne_fro