At the midpoint of their unfolding series of exhibitions, Atlas Unlimited (supported by a 2018 Graham Foundation Grant to Individuals), artist Karthik Pandian and choreographer Andros Zins-Browne present “Entr’acte,” a lecture in the presence of an object. The lecture, delivered by archaeologist Dr. Tasha K. Vorderstrasse (Oriental Institute, Chicago) concerns a fragment of a sculpture found in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. Installed in the Madlener House for one night only, the object will rest on a base that the artists have produced in collaboration with Chicago-based furniture designer Casey Lurie. “Entr’acte” is presented concurrently with Pandian and Zins-Browne’s solo exhibition, Atlas Unlimited (Acts V-VI), at the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, which runs from February 1–March 17, 2019. “Entr’acte” is produced in collaboration with emerging Syrian theater-maker, Sami Ismat.

American artist Karthik Pandian has held solo exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art; Bétonsalon, Paris; Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis; and White Flag Projects, St. Louis, amongst others. His work was featured in the inaugural Made in L.A. at the Hammer Museum and La Triennale: Intense Proximity at the Palais de Tokyo as well as in group exhibitions such as Adventures of the Black Square: Abstract Art and Society 1915–-–2015 at Whitechapel Gallery; Film as Sculpture at Wiels Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels; and the 4th Marrakech Biennial, Higher Atlas. Pandian holds an MFA from Art Center College of Design and a BA from Brown University. He lives and works in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he teaches video, sculpture, and performance at Harvard University.

Andros Zins-Browne is an American choreographer who lives in Brussels and New York City. After receiving a degree in Art Semiotics from Brown University, he went on to study dance at PARTS in Brussels and in the fine arts department of the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. Zins-Browne's performances cross between stage and exhibition spaces including: Centre Pompidou Paris; ICA London; HAU Berlin; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; DeSingel Antwerp; EMPAC, Troy, NY; Kaaitheater Brussels; and the Impulse Festival, Düsseldorf where he received the Goethe Institute Award for The Host. His solo Already Unmade, a commission by The Boghossian Foundation, has recently been performed at the BOZAR Museum, Brussels; The Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York City; the Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai; and Lafayette Anticipations, Paris.

Sami Ismat is a theatre and performance maker from Damascus, Syria currently living in Chicago as a refugee.

Casey Lurie is an independent designer based in Chicago.

Tasha Vorderstrasse is a Near Eastern archaeologist who focuses on questions of cultural identity and exchange.

Special thanks to builder Anthony Adcock

Related Graham Foundation supported projects:

2018 exhibition grant to Karthik Pandian & Andros Zins-Browne for Atlas Unlimited (Acts V—VI) at the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, February 1–March 17, 2019

Image: Karthik Pandian and Andros Zins-Browne with De Looizemaanen, Atlas Unlimited Act I: Carnaval, Netwerk Aalst. Photo: Karthik Pandian