SanctionedArray - COME PLAY WITH US

25th October 2010, 4:30-9 pm: Launch of SanctionedArray curated by SpecifyOthers and reception, BIG SCREEN PROJECT, 6th Avenue and 29th Street, New York City

CHANGE OF PROGRAM

WHITE BOX has had to reschedule screening and roundtable as follows (previously announced to take place 26th October 2010, 6-10 pm):

November 2nd 12-10 pm, and November 3rd, 11-7 pm: interactive screening of 100 jury-selected videos, WHITE BOX, 329 Broome Street, New York City

November 2nd at 7 pm SanctionedArray roundtable discussion at WHITE BOX, 329 Broome Street, New York City

SanctionedArray is an online database of video art conceived in response to the restrictions of artists' submissions to          The Guggenheim Museum's and YouTube's video biennial, Play (www.youtube.com/play). Artists' submissions to Play were limited by OFAC sanctions (www.ustreas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/programs/) - citizens or residents of Belarus, Cote d'Ivoire, Congo, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Myanmar/Burma and Zimbabwe were not eligible to submit their work. We maintain that the application of OFAC sanctions to virtual transmissions of video art perpetuates the conditions that led to the imposition of these sanctions. In protest to the continuity of such restrictions, artists of any origin - including those from the sanctioned countries – were invited to submit their work to SanctionedArray in           an open call for video entries that endede October 22nd. Submission guidelines to SanctionedArray followed online video formats proposed by YouTube and The Guggenheim, except for Eligibility 1.d. (www.sites.google.com/site/ytplayterms/all).

SpecifyOthers are pleased to announce CuratorsArray, an ongoing series of video exhibitions and screenings by invited curators utilizing and expanding SanctionedArray database, to be presented at museums and galleries around the world and online. The first iteration of CuratorsArray is Others2Specify, a playlist of 50 videos curated by SpecifyOthers from the first call for submissions to SanctionedArray. It was first presented at Big Screen Project, 6th Avenue and 29th Street, New York City on October 25th, 2010 (http://www.bigscreenproject.org/), and will be screened again at WHITE BOX on November 2nd, 12-10 pm and November 3rd, 11-7 pm  

One hundred of the most notable and varied video entries will be selected for the SanctionedArray online database and announced on November 2nd on http://www.sanctionedarray.specifyothers.com/. An interactive screening of all 100 SanctionedArray’s selected entries will be held on November 2nd from 12 to 10 pm and November 3rd from 11 to 7 pm at WHITE BOX, 329 Broome Street, New York City, with a roundtable November 2nd at 7 pm, including Wafaa Bilal, artist; Hamid Dabashi, author and professor, Columbia University; Shayana Kadidal, attorney, Center for Constitutional Rights; and Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga, artist; moderated by SpecifyOthers. SanctionedArray events shall coincide with Play biennial at The Guggenheim New York, extending representation of video entries considered not eligible by Origin, by YouTube and The Guggenheim, and challenging a status quo.

At SanctionedArray, we look forward to having "everybody play."

Conceived and organized by SpecifyOthers, New York City & United Arab Emirates (http://www.specifyothers.com/) in collaboration with WHITE BOX, New York (http://www.whiteboxny.org/) and co-presented by ArteEast (http://www.arteeast.org/).