Everything is Index, Nothing is History explores a world chronicled by gestures and physical traces that establish a factual connection to the world independent of cultural codes. Nearly a century and a half ago, philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce defined index as a sign that is caused by that which it refers to. A footprint, a scar, the smoke of a fire—all are signs that simultaneously demonstrate what they signify. An index may attest to the immediate truth of a substance or physical state, just as fever announces illness, or it may depict the truth of time—both the sun dial’s reading of a minute and the dust pile’s accumulative presence. As our relationship to history and the present change in an expanding field of information, Everything is Index, Nothing is History presents works that point to physical realities and trace purported histories through archives, found objects, photographs, material states, and physical actions.
Presented by Recession Art, Curated by Melanie Kress and Natalie Bell
Kate Bonner, Eric Carlson, J and James Carpenter, Courtney Chappell, Sarah Crofts, Lizzy De Vita, Shannon Finnegan, Ben Garthus, Max Glaser, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Leah Raintree, Saul Melman, Peter Neu, Antoine Lefebvre, Hudson Lines, Sam Keller, Jordan Rathus, Yujin Lee, Nancy Woods
Simon Courchel’s slideshow of the opening night here
Dates
June 2–17
Opening Reception
Saturday, June 2
6–10pm
Location
The Main Gallery
51 Bergen St