Emanativ rendering: Michael DiCarlo
Emanativ
Spring 2024-Ongoing
As a part of our commitment to support Artists of the Global Majority in the development of new work, Hi-ARTS is thrilled to partner with Eto Otitigbe on a series of community-centered programming that will culminate with the installation of Emanativ, a public artwork to be installed at the Manhattan Greenway Harlem River in 2026.
Continue reading to learn more about Eto and this project’s programming.
Programming
Abandoned Orchestra # Ehran (3)
August 5, 2024 — Spring 2025
AAbandoned Orchestra is a series of sculptures made from repurposed organ pipes that once produced sound and originated from the serendipitous discovery of abandoned instruments on a farm in Ghent, NY. Now clustered to evoke a gathering of voices, # Ehran (3) is the third in this series of sculptures; Ehran is the Urhobo word for the number ‘three’. Abandoned Orchestra # Ehran (3) (2024) intersects collaboration, climate concerns, and improvisation that resonates with the upcoming public installation of Emanativ (2026) in the Manhattan Greenway at East Harlem. Emanativ is an innovative urban sound sculpture powered by human interaction and informed by music traditions that stem from East Harlem. The first iteration of Abandoned Orchestra premiered in collaboration with Zane Rodulfo at the Guggenheim Museum in 2018.
On view at Hi-ARTS
215 E 99th St., New York, NY
Viewing Hours
Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm
Oral History Project
August 2024 — Ongoing
Eto will engage ecojustice and climate thought leaders, activists, organizers and cultural workers through conversation. The collected audio will be compiled into a publically accessible archive, vocalizing the concerns that the Emanativ sculpture seeks to examine.
Interviews will begin in August 2024. Invitations to contribute will be announced in the coming weeks.
Exhibition in Foyer Gallery
August 2024 — Ongoing
Exhibition in Foyer Gallery
Spring 2025
Hi-ARTS will host a two-week public exhibition showcasing Eto’s work in the Foyer Gallery at El Barrio’s Artspace PS109. Additional information will be announced in the coming months.
Emanativ
2026—
Manhattan Greenway Harlem River
Emanativ is a sound sculpture powered by changing water levels in the Harlem River that employs interactive sculpture and biophilic design principles to offer a unique urban soundscape that transforms Manhattan Greenway Harlem River into a cultural destination. Responding directly to the residing and falling tides of the river, Emanativ will be tuned to a Dominant 7th Chord. Composed of 4 notes, this chord was born out of the harmonic vocabulary that Jazz musicians used to develop Bebop. Since then it has been used widely throughout Jazz music to give sound movement and tension. The Emanativ exploits these tonal qualities as a literal and poetic reflection of the location in which it is situated. Harlem has a rich history in Jazz, Latin Jazz, Funk, Gospel, Hip-Hop, and House Music; and the Harlem River — a turbulent estuary.
Emanativ rendering: Michael DiCarlo.
Eto Otitigbe
Eto Otitigbe is interested in recovering buried narratives and giving form to the unseen. He is a polymedia artist whose interdisciplinary practice includes sculpture, performance, installation, and public art. His public art intersects history, community, and biophilic design by using parametric modeling and generative design to transform historical and cultural references into biomorphic forms and patterns that reference nature. Otitigbe’s public works includes temporary installations in Socrates Sculpture Park (Queens, NY) and Randall’s Island Park (New York, NY). His current large-scale public commissions include: Peaceful Journey (Mt. Vernon, NY, 2022); Cascode (Philadelphia, PA, 2024); Emanativ (Harlem, NY, 2023); Passing Point (Alexandria, VA, 2023). He was a member of the Design Team for the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at UVA (Charlottesville, VA, 2019) where he contributed to the creative expression on the memorial's exterior surface.
Otitigbe's work has been in solo and group exhibitions that include 2013 Bronx Calling: The Second AIM Biennial, organized by the Bronx Museum and Wave Hill; Abandoned Orchestra, Sound Sculpture (2021) installation and performance with Zane Rodulfo, Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; The Golden Hour, Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, GA, curated by Oshun D. Layne; and Bronx: Africa (2016), Longwood Gallery, Bronx, NY, curated by Atim Oton and Leronn P. Brooks.
Otitigbe’s fellowships and awards include the Creative Capital Award (2023), the CEC Artslink Project Award for travel and cultural projects in Egypt (2015), and the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship at the National Museum of African Art (2018) where he explored the intersection of Urhobo language and historical objects.
His curatorial projects include directing the es ORO Gallery in Jersey City, NJ (2007-09) and co-curating, alongside Amanda Kerdahi, the Topophilia Exhibition in Nees, Denmark (2017) as part of the ET4U Meetings Festival in Denmark.
He is an Assistant Professor of Sculpture in the Art Department at Brooklyn College. He received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, an MS in Product Design from Stanford University and an MFA in Creative Practice from the University of Plymouth.
Image courtesy of Eto Otitigbe