The Gallatin Galleries at NYU is pleased to present Going Extinct: Staying with the Trouble of the Archive, by the artistic duo nadahada (Juliana Fadil-Luchkiw and  María Paz Valenzuela Silva) from August 9-22, 2018. Going Extinct is a performance installation that enfolds the viewer in an uncanny parody–a darkly fantastical, natural history exhibition about intergalactic, humanoid creatures from the bottom of the sea that are about to become extinct.

The installation attempts to employ some of the typical elements of museum displays, such as detailed descriptive labels and carefully placed arrangements, but seeks to undermine their authority. Bringing in some of the wonder and mystery of curiosity cabinets—precursors of museums—it unfolds an allegory of colonization that is critical of systems of classification and the hierarchies of injustice they enforce. The subtitle of the project borrows the phrase “staying with the trouble” from Donna Haraway, which is a transdisciplinary practice of multispecies responsibility. The installation includes an excess of trash artifacts from the imagined civilization—all of which have been modified, made, or recycled by nadahada–as well as a live diorama of “two of the last remaining creature specimens,” housed in a circus tent.

While the exhibition stands on its own, it is meant to be experienced as a guided tour. The Sumerian goddess Ishtar acts as docent and spirit guide, taking visitors on a journey through the seven gates of the underworld, each of which is a separate section of the exhibition. Meanwhile, the lion-taming gallery guard tries, but fails, to keep order in the space. Upon entering the underworld, the creatures perform a “non-reproductive mating dance” ritual for viewers, a kind of multispecies drag striptease, in which the stripped garments become animated puppetry throughout the dance.

Performances by nadahada

Performance text written by Angelica Vice and nadahada

The Gallatin Galleries at NYU, 1 Washington Pl., New York, NY 10003

OPENING RECEPTION

August 9th, 5-7pm

with a performance beginning at 7pm

PERFORMATIVE GUIDED TOURS

Mon 8/13, 6pm

Tues 8/14, 6pm

Wed 8/15, 6pm

Thurs 8/16, 6pm

Mon 8/20, 6pm

Tues 8/21, 6pm

Wed 8/22, 6pm

This event is free.

*The Gallatin Galleries are accessible and benches exist throughout the gallery for those who need to sit during the tour.