Launched in 2020, the Kupferberg Arts Incubator is an artist residency initiative that supports the work by artists of color who are active contributors to the cultural landscape of New York City and the nation. The Kupferberg Arts Incubator consists of two-year collaborative residencies by two artists—one from the Queens College community and one external—which will result in the creation of new original works that will involve Queens College students and faculty.
On Saturday, November 12 and Sunday, November 13, 2022, Kupferberg Center for the Arts presented the world premiere of Action Songs/Protest Dances, a live music and dance performance by choreographer Edisa Weeks that was created through the inaugural Kupferberg Arts Incubator program. The new work featured original songs composed by Taina Asili, Spirit McIntyre, and Martha Redbone. Inspired by civil rights activist James Forman (1928-2005), the work serves as a call to action, protest against injustice, and demand that America become a more just, equitable, inclusive and truly great nation.
Queens College professor and multiform conceptual artist, Chloë Bass is developing the Kupferberg Arts Incubator’s second project, scheduled for completion in 2024.
Chloë Bass is a multiform conceptual artist working in performance, situation, conversation, publication, and installation. Her work uses daily life as a site of deep research to address scales of intimacy: where patterns hold and break as group sizes expand. She began her work with a focus on the individual (The Bureau of Self-Recognition, 2011 – 2013), concluded a study of pairs (The Book of Everyday Instruction, 2015 – 2018), and will continue to scale up gradually until she’s working at the scale of the metropolis. She is currently working on Obligation To Others Holds Me in My Place (2018 – 2023), an investigation of intimacy at the scale of immediate families. Learn more at www.chloebass.com (Photo by Naima Green)