April 1st, 2014 Pre-Opening Press Release Kai Matsumiya For Press inquiries: 153 ½ Stanton Street m. 617 678 4440 New York, New York 10002 w. 646 455 3588 www.kaimatsumiya.com
[email protected] Gallery Hours: Tue-Sat: 12-8pm Rainer Ganahl: El Mundo Saturday, April 19th – Saturday, May 24th, 2014 Inaugural Opening Reception: April 19th, from 7-9:30 pm Kai Matsumiya is pleased to announce its inauguration with an exhibition of Rainer Ganahl’s El Mundo. The original project, an ad hoc, classical music performance, staged at the now-defunct El Mundo discount store, encapsulates the history of an East Harlem building as it passes through diverse incarnations that trace economic, demographic, and cultural shifts on both the local and global scene. Reflecting on the event, Ganahl writes: “Many opera pieces bring us back to politics, to emerging working-class cultures in which slaves and exploited people play a role, mirroring the industrialization of Europe in the 19th century with the rather under-privileged context in which El Mundo was built and functioned in Spanish Harlem.” The exhibition reenacts the event through photographs and film and runs from, Saturday, April 19th through May 24th. The space at 153 1⁄2 Stanton Street retains the left-over remains of the former tenant, Rocksmith, which sold merchandise from the Wu-tang clan among the other hip-hop retail items. The back space is graced with a genuine graffiti tag by “Mathematics”, the producer at Wu-Tang, and other remnants. Ganahl’s El Mundo piece at Kai Matsumiya will include a film projection of the live performance, and photographs of El Mundo.