BRIC, a Brooklyn based arts and media institution, is presenting their newest exhibition When I am Empty Please Dispose of Me Properly, curated by Jenny Gerow. The show makes a commentary on the American dream, and the myths governing it, examining its use in advertising, consumption, and violence. 

On View right now through April 30, 2023, the group exhibition features the work of seven artists - Ayanna Dozier, Ilana Harris-Babou, Meena Hasan, Lucia Hierro, Catherine Opie, Chuck Ramirez, and Pacifico Silano - exploring the American dream through the eyes of today, analyzing the shape it’s taken in their personal narratives.

“Advertising feels more omnipresent than ever with our daily lives happening more and more online. This exhibition provides a perfect opportunity to explore how artists use the language of advertising to their own ends. BRIC’s exhibitions are always interested in tackling both political and social issues from the vantage point of artists. With the rising prices of consumable goods these items take on a new relevance due to this crisis. I am excited by the vibrant potential of these artworks to question what is our personal agency within these forms of commerce,” said Jenny Gerow, BRIC Curator, Contemporary Art. 

Using photo, video, collage, pop art, sculpture, board games, the show reimagines our idea of the American dream as the artists intertwine desire and sadness, shedding light on the real lived experience, closing up on the more complex and complicated ideals of economic and political freedom in the United States.

When I am Empty will be on view during the same exhibition cycle as Buzz Slutzky: For Example curated by BRIC Curatorial Associate Maria McCarthy in BRIC’s Project Room. A new series of drawings and paintings with an updated essay film that uses historical and autobiographical material to investigate the relationship between mark- and meaning-making.

"Buzz Slutzky reframes inherited modes of learning, knowing, and being to remind us that the past, like the present, is both a time and a place. For Example is, in many ways, a reckoning between the stories we are told, and the stories we choose to tell," said Maria McCarthy, BRIC Curatorial Associate.