Call and response typifies a vocal, sometimes musical framework in which an initial statement is made, then responded to by another person or group. The format can be found across contexts from athletic team chants, and public demonstrations, to religious rituals, and musical compositions. At its core, “call and response” indicates a form of communication, an exchange of ideas between individuals, systems, and institutions.
In 2016, The Bass began a 10-year initiative to collect work by international contemporary artists that define, explore, and question our place and time. These artists projects take the form of major installations and public sculpture that span generations and media. On view at the museum for the first time, this exhibition of new acquisitions interprets call and response visually to describe the creative process in which artists produce work that responds to and creates dialogue with formal, social, political, and environmental stimuli.
Artists
Dara Birnbaum
John Giorno
Cerith Wyn Evans
Allora & Calzadilla
Jeppe Hein
Abraham Cruzvillegas
Kota Ezawa
Sarah Morris