RUB: Flux Factory Major Exhibition

November 23rd – December 15th, 2019

How can artists communicate the necessary points of view and ideas in today’s world as a marginalized person? How can art change an oppressive society?

RUB is
an independent publication
an exhibition at Flux Factory
an invitation to collaborate, learn and build community

Opening Reception: November 23, 7:30 – 12am
Open Hours:: Thursday – Sunday, 1 – 6pm
Full Schedule: www.fluxfactory.org/event/rub-exhibition

The concept of this exhibition moves between two axes: the DIY strategies of the “NOW-WAVE”, and “GRAPHIC ACTIVISM”. The “NOW-WAVE” houses artists who produce counterculture that challenges the boundaries of Nationhood, and address issues that cross cultural boundaries. This movement wrestles with the notion of collective vs individual identities, and uses a praxis of art and activism that moves beyond the white box context. The second axis is experimentation and reinvention through “GRAPHIC ACTIVISM”. The RUB Exhibition centers pieces with a special sensitivity for printed matter and publishing as practice, that makes visible under-represented and under-appreciated identities. Themes that are included are: the experience of POC and QPOC; therapeutic art practices that deal with abuse, depression, and trauma; using graphic languages in the processes of resistance; and always returning to the personal as political. RUB features a selection of multidisciplinary practitioners and artists who use these two axes as raw materials.

RUB originated as an independent publication, zine and channel. RUB has traveled around the world, into different exhibitions spaces such as the “Freedom School” at SPRING/BREAK Art Show— during Armory arts week in NYC, Singapore art bookfair, AKI Gallery in Taipei, Taipei Contemporary Art Center, Queer zine Fest, LA Printed Matter, and more recently AKTA community center in Tokyo and Kyoto Art Center. RUB’s mission is creative engagement with local experimental communities of color in an era where the United States is ruled by a paranoiac, and a dehumanizing nexus has come in his wake. We witness a culture infected with commodification, consumerism, violence and the rupture of identity. A culture of manufactured fear and legally institutionalized discriminations. RUB is a free space, an incubator in a society shaped by brutality where uncensored voices can express nonconformity, opposition and provocation to the socio-political panorama. Within the space of RUB, we can escape the imposed boundaries through a de-colonial, DIY and activist practice.

RUB is thanks to the support of grants from the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, The Andy Warhol Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, the international circulation grant from the Colombia Ministry of Culture, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York (TECO) and from individual donors.

NOW WAVE and GRAPHIC ACTIVISM Movement Members List
Aarati Akkapeddi, Amelia Bande, Mitsuko Brooks, Eun Hyea Choi, Echo the Golden Ghost, Kaitlin Chan (Queer Reads Library), Pei Ling Ho, Toby Millman, Martha Naranjo Sandoval, Yin Ming Wong, Andre Ramos-Woodard, Yanbo Li, XVK, Eleni Theodora Zaharopoulos + more artist contributors coming.

RUB Curatorial team
Cayla Lockwood:  artist, curator and graphic designer based in NYC. She is currently an artist in residence at Flux Factory and a curatorial member of Little Berlin (Gallery) in Philadelphia. Teaches workshops internationally in printmaking and bookbinding.

Chen An-An:  Sculptor, installation artist and curator based in Taiwan. Her works revolve around queer feelings of love, desire, and loss within the complex relationship between self-identity and social system.

J Triangular:  Colombia Born-Taiwan based. Founder of RUB zine. Independent curator, queer poet, DIY video artist and photographer. Making art projects that addresses themes as counterculture and music, queer community identity, self- empowerment and camcorder activism.

Lulu Meng: New York-based artist born in Taipei, Taiwan. Her multidisciplinary practice, including installation, sculpture, photography, drawing, video, and curatorial projects investigates the formation and fluctuation of individual identity in a society.

Terrill Warrenburg:  Artist and independent curator living in Brooklyn, NY. Her work is non-representational and rooted in self-discovery and meditative practice. Interested in art's ability to foster empathy between individuals, Terrill’s curatorial interests include collaborative partnerships, cross-cultural dialog, and alternative media.