(PDF) (DOC) (JPG)October 14, 2022

MAHWAH, N.J. — Give it Back: Stage Theory, an innovative exhibition in various media by New Red Order (NRO), will open in the Berrie Center Kresge and Pascal Galleries on the campus of Ramapo College on Wednesday, November 2, with an opening reception from 5-7 p.m. The exhibition continues on view through December 9.

Give it Back: Stage Theory plays on conflations of ontogeny and phylogeny, two different branches of biological study—the former focused on individual developments and the latter on the evolution of groups. The project brings together variations of two ongoing series, Give it Back (2020–) and Never Settle (2018–).

Employing real estate tactics to advance new collaborative formations in the ongoing development of a long-term Indigenous led movement, Give it Back activates new avenues for instantiating the transfer of land back to Indigenous people. Never Settle, an in-progress induction video and recruitment station, lures initiates—amid planetary destruction and underground group therapy sessions—with promises of decolonization and settler remediation.

NRO is a public secret society collaborating with networks of self-described “informants” and “accomplices,” to interrogate individual and collective desires for indigeneity. Since 2014, the amorphous group has deployed elements of time-based media including video and sound, along with sculpture, installation, and performance in order to shift potential obstructions to Indigenous growth and create grounds for Indigenous futures.

Core contributors are Adam Khalil (Ojibway), Zack Khalil (Ojibway), and Jackson Polys (Tlingit). Past exhibitions, performances, and events include NEW RED ORDER PRESENTS: One if by Land, Two if by Sea, Kunsthal Charlottenborg (2022); New Red Order: Feel at Home Here, Artists Space (2021); CULTURE CAPTURE: TERMINAL ADDDITION, Light Work’s Urban Video Project (2019); The Savage Philosophy of Endless Acknowledgement, Whitney Museum of American Art (2018); and Unholding, Artists Space (2017).

Developed through conversations with Sydney Jenkins, Director of the Art Galleries, and Robert Modafferi, Chief Art Handler/Registrar, from Ramapo College of New Jersey, Give it Back: Stage Theory is facilitated by curators Julia Eilers Smith and Drew Kahuʻāina Broderick, recipients of the 2019 Ramapo Curatorial Prize. Established in 1996 and awarded annually to a graduating student at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, this is the first time that the prize has supported a collaborative project between two graduates.

Give it Back: Stage Theory is accompanied by a public program, Mergers, which interweaves performance works by NRO + Kite, an Oglála Lakȟóta artist, composer, and academic. This event is scheduled to take place in the Adler Theatre, Berrie Center for Performing and Visual Arts on November 16 at 6:30 pm.

This project is supported in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for Arts. Additional support is provided by the Ramapo College Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Compliance.

Gallery hours are Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 1-5 p.m. and Wednesday from 1-7 p.m.

For further information, contact Sydney Jenkins at 201-684-7147.

###

About Ramapo College

Ramapo College of New Jersey is the state’s premier public liberal arts college and is committed to academic excellence through interdisciplinary and experiential learning, and international and intercultural understanding. The comprehensive college is situated among the beautiful Ramapo Mountains, is within commuting distance to New York City, was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America by CondeNast Traveler, and boasts the best on-campus housing in New Jersey per Niche.com. Established in 1969, Ramapo College offers bachelor’s degrees in the arts, business, data science, humanities, social sciences and the sciences, as well as in professional studies, which include business, education, nursing and social work. In addition, the College offers courses leading to teacher certification at the elementary and secondary levels, and offers graduate programs leading to master’s degrees in Accounting, Applied Mathematics, Business Administration, Contemporary Instructional Design, Computer Science, Creative Music Technology, Data Science, Educational Leadership, Nursing, Social Work and Special Education, as well as a Doctor of Nursing Practice.

Press Release Archives

| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 |