Internationally Renowned Artists Ilya & Emilia Kabakov To Present The Ship Of Tolerance On September 27, 2013 In Brooklyn Bridge Park

Global Consulting Communication Services – New York, June 3, 2013

Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, in a joint collaboration with Studio in a School, will present The Ship of Tolerance, in Brooklyn Bridge Park on September 27, 2013 as part of the 17th annual DUMBO Arts Festival. The work will remain on view on the Brooklyn waterfront until October 8th.

The Ship of Tolerance is a globally celebrated project dedicated to educating and connecting children from different continents, cultures, and identities through the universal language of art.  It successfully first launched in Siwa, Egypt in 2005 and was then created in Venice, Italy; San Moritz, Switzerland; Sharjah, UAE; Miami, FL; and Havana, Cuba.  The Ship of Tolerance will also premiere in Moscow in early September. This project was awarded the prestigious Cartier Prize for the best art project of the year in 2010.

“We are thrilled to work with Brooklyn Bridge Park and include The Ship of Tolerance at this year’s festival, to highlight the importance of the Kabakovs’ message and bring this very special project to the Brooklyn waterfront,” said Lisa Kim, Director of the DUMBO Arts Festival.

Under the direction of the Kabakovs and project director, Yulia Dultsina, the Studio in a School art instructors led workshops for hundreds of students, ages 5 through 13, in public schools throughout the five boroughs.  By July, more than 500 children will have made paintings expressing their interpretations of tolerance.  An additional 100 paintings will be created

in drawing sessions in city parks on Staten Island and Brooklyn hosted by Studio in a School and The Noble Maritime Collection. A selection of 150 student paintings will be sewn together to create the sail for The Ship of Tolerance. The remaining paintings will be on display throughout the city.

“Children understand tolerance amazingly well. They are mostly unspoiled by the prejudice often carried by the adults.  If we listen to them, perhaps, we can alleviate some of the oppression we witness every day,” commented Emilia and Ilya Kabakov.

Agnes Gund, founder of Studio in a School, states, “Sharing one’s ideas and creations with others is an important part of the creative process, and it is a core value at Studio in a School. Children from 18 Studio sites loved making sails and learning about diversity in the process.”

Over a period of two weeks preceding the unveiling at the Dumbo Arts Festival, the Ship will be built at Miller’s Launch on Staten Island by a team of carpenters from Manchester, UK, lead by David Harold.  Originally modeled after an ancient Egyptian sailing vessel, the Ship is constructed with a wood frame and measures approximately 66-feet long by 23-feet wide. 

“The Ship of Tolerance is a unique public art experience because of its placement in the East River, and its collaboration with Studio in a School and dozens of schools throughout the five boroughs,” said Regina Myer, President of Brooklyn Bridge Park. “It is such a wonderful and thoughtful addition to both the festival and the park experience and we are proud to be hosting it beyond the festival weekend.”

The Ship will be launched on September 27, 2013, at 12 p.m. at a celebration which will bring all the children who participated in the project to join in a sail raising ceremony and, for the first time, see which paintings were chosen to create the sail. In addition, The New York Historical Society will present a free Ship of Tolerance concert, on September 27th at 7:30 pm, featuring children performers from La Guardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York, the Spivakov Foundation in Moscow and Havana.

On September 28th, the Manhattan Sailing Club will host a Regatta where members will sail their boats from Battery Park to meet The Ship of Tolerance.  The sails boats will also carry children’s drawings symbolizing New York as a port city, which welcomes individuals from all countries, faiths, and races.

The Ship of Tolerance will remain in DUMBO for one week.  On October 8th it will travel on a barge around Manhattan to Staten Island and, from October 11-13, it will be at the Atlantic Salt Yard.

“The Ship of Tolerance is a globally recognized work by world-renowned artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov that creatively engages our schoolchildren to further spread the positive message of tolerance in our community and beyond.  We look forward to inviting visitors and locals to see this attraction as part of New York City’s DUMBO Arts Festival this fall,” said NYC & Company’s CEO George Fertitta.

ABOUT ILYA AND EMILIA KABAKOV

Ilya (b. 1933) and Emilia (b. 1945) Kabakov are Russian-born, American-based artists who collaborate on environments which fuse elements of the everyday with those of the conceptual. While their work is deeply rooted in the cultural context in which the Kabakovs came of age, their work is possessed of universal and utopian significance.

The Kabakovs’ work is included in the permanent collections of institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Tate, London; and, Pompidou Centre, Paris; in addition to the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, the Sprengel Museum, Hanover, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Van Abbemuseum, the Netherlands, and the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. They have had exhibitions at venues including the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany; Documenta IX, Kassel, the Whitney Biennial in 1997 and the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

In 1993, they represented Russia at the 45th Biennale di Venezia with their installation The Red Pavilion. The Kabakovs have also completed many important public commissions throughout Europe and have received a number of honors and awards, including the Praemium Imperiale Award, Tokyo, in 2008; the Order of Friendship, Moscow, 2008; the Oskar Kokoschka Preis, Vienna, in 2002; and the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, Paris, in 1995. In 2004, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov became the first living Russian artists to have their work exhibited in the Hermitage Museum. The Kabakovs live and work on Long Island, New York. www.Ilya–Emilia–Kabakov.com

UPCOMING KABAKOV EXHIBITIONS

El Lissitzky / Ilya & Emilia Kabakov will be on view from June 28 – August 21 at The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg and then travel to Moscow where it will open at the Multimedia Museum on September 16th. Pace Gallery New York will present its first exhibition of the work of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov in November.  In May 2014, the Kabakovs will present a solo show at the Grand Palais, Paris for Monumenta 2014.

STUDIO IN A SCHOOL

Studio in a School is a model not-for-profit organization that has worked for more than 35 years to improve and support visual arts education both in and outside schools. Founded by Agnes Gund in 1977, Studio has enriched the lives of almost 800,000 children throughout all five boroughs with the creativity of the visual arts. Studio’s artist/instructors serve public schools, day care centers, and community-based organizations by leading classes in painting, drawing, printmaking, collage, 2D applied design, media tech, and sculpting. Studio regularly exhibits artwork in its Gallery at 1 East 53rd Street. The gallery is open to the public Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information visit www.studioinaschool.org.

THE DIMENNA CHILDREN’S HISTORY MUSEUM AT THE NY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The DiMenna Children’s History Museum—the first-ever children’s museum bringing American history to life through the lives and times of children of the past — is a new museum-within-a-museum and occupies the New-York Historical Society’s entire lower level. It covers 350 years of New York and American history and includes character-based pavilions, interactive exhibits, digital games, and the Barbara K. Lipman Children’s History Library. Families explore and learn together, through visiting the museum and through participating in our intergenerational family learning programs. For a schedule of family programs, please visit DiMennaChildrensHistoryMuseum.org.

DUMBO ARTS FESTIVAL

Set amid the backdrop of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan skyline in one of the city’s most culturally vibrant neighborhoods, the DUMBO Arts Festival is in its 17th year, transforming the streets, parks, buildings and waterfront into a free art gallery accessible to all. From huge projections across historic buildings to interactive performances, the DUMBO Arts Festival attracts 200,000 visitors over 3 days with the participation of over 500 artists from a variety of disciplines, 100 open studios, 50 galleries and stages and 100 programming partners. This year, the festival will take place September 27-29, 2013.

www.dumboartsfestival.com

BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK

Brooklyn Bridge Park is the not-for-profit entity responsible for the planning, construction, maintenance and operation of Brooklyn Bridge Park, an 85-acre sustainable waterfront park stretching 1.3 miles along Brooklyn’s East River shoreline. The self-sustaining park was designed by the award-winning firm of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. and features expansive lawns, waterfront promenades, innovative playgrounds, a greenway, sports facilities and the popular Jane’s Carousel.

NYC & COMPANY

NYC & Company is the official marketing, tourism, and partnership organization for the City of New York, dedicated to maximizing travel and tourism opportunities throughout the five boroughs, building economic prosperity and spreading the positive image of New York City worldwide. For the official source of all, there is to see and do in New York City, go to nycgo.com.

For further information, please contact Ali Price, Director of Client Relations, GCCS, aprice@gccsadvisors.com, 646-753-9060.