“Visit to See the Monkey” Performance by Sylvia Palacios Whitman

Please join us in person on Wednesday, June 21st, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm ET for a special presentation of Sylvia Palacios Whitman’s performance “Visit to See the Monkey and Other Childhood Stories.” 

In conjunction with the solo exhibition Sylvia Palacios Whitman: To Draw a Line with the Body, the artist will perform her recent work, “Visit to See the Monkey and Other Childhood Stories.” In this piece, Palacios Whitman utilizes drawings created from 1960 to 2019 to retell stories from her childhood in Southern Chile. 

Following the performance, Palacios Whitman will discuss her artistic practice throughout the course of her career with the Director of Artists Space Jay Sanders. A reception will follow the event.

The public program will take place in person at Americas Society on 680 Park Avenue, New York, NY. 

Join us Wednesday, June 21, 2023 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm ET 

Americas Society

680 Park Ave.

New York, NY

Register now

This event is free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged.

Sylvia Palacios Whitman: To Draw a Line with the Body will be on view from June 7 through July 22, 2023 at Americas Society on 680 Park Avenue, New York, NY.

About Panelists 

Sylvia Palacios Whitman (b. 1941, Osorno, Chile) is a visual and performance artist who studied painting and sculpture at the Escuela de Bellas Artes at the University of Chile in Santiago, Chile. After moving to New York City in 1961, Palacios Whitman began experimenting with movement and contemporary dance and became involved with the downtown avant-garde. In the early 1970s, she performed with the Trisha Brown Dance Company. In 1974, Palacios Whitman began directing and choreographing her own performances, which she staged at new, experimental art venues around New York City including the Kitchen, Artists’ Space, and Sonnabend Gallery. In her performances, Palacios Whitman developed her own choreographic language, which privileged the participation of untrained performers, embraced humor and unexpected elements, and incorporated found objects and ephemeral props. From the 1980s onward, she began to focus on producing drawings, collages, and sculptural artworks made from paper, expanding on visual themes from her performances. Palacios Whitman lives and works in New York. 

Jay Sanders is the Executive Director and Chief Curator of Artists Space. Recent exhibitions include Attention Line, Jack Smith: Art Crust of Spiritual Oasis, and Unholding. He was previously a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art where he organized Calder: Hypermobility (2017), Laura Poitras: Astra Noise (2016), Rituals of Rented Island: Object Theater, Loft Performance, and the New Psychodrama-Manhattan, 1970-1980 (2013), and the 2012 Whitney Biennial (with Elisabeth Sussman) along with the performance retrospectives Open Plan: Cecil Taylor (2016), DANCE NOISE: Don't Look Back (2015), and Takehisa Kosugi: Music Expanded (2015). He was gallery director of Greene Naftali from 2005-2010. Sanders has organized numerous exhibitions, concerts, film series, and events over the past two decades.

Performance Series

This event is part of our Performance Series. Check out recordings of past performances and read about the series.