Exhibition

Sylvia Palacios Whitman: To Draw a Line with the Body

Contact sheet of Change of Line (performance) from Clearview (one place at a time) (performance event), November 19-21, 1976. Sylvia Palacios Whitman Archive, Photo: Babette Mangolte

Contact sheet of Change of Line (performance), 1976

Sylvia Palacios Whitman: To Draw a Line with the Body

On view: through

Americas Society will present Sylvia Palacios Whitman: To Draw a Line with the Body the first solo exhibition and career survey of the Chilean artist in New York. Sylvia Palacios Whitman (b. Osorno, Chile, 1941) is a visual and performance artist, who has been experimenting with movement and contemporary dance since her moving to New York in the early 1960s. She became an integral figure of the experimental downtown arts scene in 1970s in New York, having collaborated with many American and international artists. In her solo and group performances, Palacios Whitman developed her own choreographic language, which privileged the participation of untrained performers, embraced humor and unexpected elements, and incorporated found objects and ephemeral props. Sylvia Palacios Whitman: To Draw a Line with the Body will revisit these landmark performances with never-before-seen material from the artist’s archives alongside sketches, video and photographic documentation, and new large scale works on paper. Central to the presentation will be the restaging of Palacios Whitman’s key historical works.

To accompany the show, we will present a series of public programs and publish a pocketbook.

The exhibition is co-curated by Aimé Iglesias Lukin and Rachel Remick

View gallery and visitors information here.

Image credit: Contact sheet of Change of Line (performance) from Clearview (one place at a time) (performance event), November 19-21, 1976. Sylvia Palacios Whitman Archive, Photo: Babette Mangolte

View a slideshow of the installation at Americas Society.
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Works in the Exhibition
Slingshot, 1975.

Slingshot, 1975.

Legs, 1975.

Legs, 1975.

Green Hands, 1975.

Green Hands, 1975.

Visit to See the Monkey and Other Childhood Stories, 1960-2019.

Visit to See the Monkey and Other Childhood Stories, 1960-2019.

Love of Tree, from Lee Towey, NY, at American Theatre Laboratory, 1980

Love of Tree, from Lee Towey, NY, at American Theatre Laboratory, 1980

Floor Drawing, 2020–2022.

Floor Drawing, 2020–2022.

Slingshot, 1975.
Legs, 1975.
Green Hands, 1975.
Visit to See the Monkey and Other Childhood Stories, 1960-2019.
Love of Tree, from Lee Towey, NY, at American Theatre Laboratory, 1980
Floor Drawing, 2020–2022.

Full work credits: 

  • 1. Green Bag, from Passing Through at Sonnabend Gallery, 1975. Photo: Babette Mangolte.
  • 2. Legs, from In Moving at Trish Brown Studio, 1975. Photo: Babette Mangolte. 
  • 3. Green Hands, from Passing Through at Sonnabend Gallery, 1975. Photo: Babette Mangolte. 
  • 4. Visit to See the Monkey and Other Childhood Stories, 1960-2019. Mixed media. Photo: Jacob Burckhardt 
  • 5. Love of Tree, from Lee Towey, NY, at American Theatre Laboratory, 1980. Photo: Nathaniel Tileston.
  • 6. Floor Drawing, 2020–2022. Mixed media on Kraft paper. Photo: Jacob Burckhardt

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Funders

The presentation of Sylvia Palacios Whitman: To Draw a Line with the Body is made possible by generous support from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional support is provided by the Ministry of Cultures, Arts, and Heritage of Chile. 

Americas Society acknowledges the generous support from the Arts of the Americas Circle contributors: Amalia Amoedo, Almeida e Dale Galeria de Arte, Estrellita B. Brodsky, Virginia Cowles Schroth, Emily A. Engel, Diana Fane, Isabella Hutchinson, Carolina Jannicelli, Diana López and Herman Sifontes, Antonio Murzi, Gabriela Pérez Rocchietti, Vivian Pfeiffer, Phillips, Erica Roberts, Sharon Schultz, and Edward J. Sullivan.

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