P·P·O·W is pleased to host a conversation between artist Hortensia Mi Kafchin and writer Cat Dawson in conjunction with Paintings Made for Aliens Above, Mi Kafchin's second solo exhibition with the gallery.
Building off of Dawson's review of the exhibition for Hyperallergic, the duo will discuss the themes that Mi Kafchin explores across the exhibition and her practice as a whole, including her investigations into transhumanism, society's changing ideals surrounding technology and gender, as well as her hopes for the future of humanity.
Paintings Made for Aliens Above is currently on view at 392 Broadway through Saturday, December 20. Please join us for this in-person event at 392 Broadway on Wednesday, December 17, at 6:30pm.
No RSVP necessary. Seating will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Copies of the accompanying exhibition zine, featuring an essay by the artist, will also be available for purchase.
Hortensia Mi Kafchin was born in Galati, Romania and lives works in Berlin, Germany. Kafchin received a degree from the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in 2010. Her work belongs to numerous institutional collections including the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York, NY; and the Ludwig Museum, Köln, Germany. Kafchin has presented solo exhibitions at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Romania; Galerie Judin, Berlin, Germany; Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Art Encounters Foundation, Timișoara, Romania; Lyles & King, New York, NY; and Museum of Art, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; among others. Kafchin has also taken part in group exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; New Museum, New York, NY; Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna, Austria; The Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland; Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France; and Espace Cultural Louis Vuitton, Paris, France; among others. Kafchin presented her first solo exhibition with P·P·O·W, Years of Bad Hair, in 2023, and her third solo exhibition with Galerie Judin, Cheerful Melancholia, in 2024.
Cat Dawson is a researcher at Smith College in Northampton and the Institute for Cultural Inquiry in Berlin who works at the intersection of works at the intersection of gender and sexuality studies and art history. Their first book, Monumental: How a New Generation of Artists is Shaping the Memorial Landscapes, published this past summer by MIT Press, shows how the role of monuments has shifted over the last fifty years. They are currently working on their second book, Trans Form: Gender, Visibility, and the Politics of Abstract Aesthetics Gender, Visibility, and the Politics of Abstract Aesthetics. They hold a BA from Smith College, a PhD from the University at Buffalo, and an MBA from IE Business School. Dawson has won fellowships and awards including a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship and the MIT Press Diverse Voices grant, and has published cultural criticism in Art Papers, Hyperallergic, Cultured, the Brooklyn Rail, and Momus, among other publications.
