Esker Foundation

Like everything alive that we try to hold forever

September 25 – December 19, 2026
11:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Pratt Manhattan Gallery, 144 West 14th Street New York, NY 10011

Travelling exhibition at Pratt Manhattan Gallery on 14th Street.

"Like everything alive that we try to hold forever"

Curated by Elizabeth Diggon, Naomi Potter, and Shauna Thompson

September 25–December 19, 2026
Opening Reception:
Thursday, September 24, 2026, 6–8pm

Larry Achiampong & David Blandy
Diane Borsato
Stephanie Dinkins
Bridget Moser
Sondra Perry
Miya Turnbull

“Like everything alive that we try to hold forever” brings together seven artists whose works, in a broad sense, reflect ways that our human bodies exist in relation to non-human objects and the complex, interconnected ways that these objects, through their systemic collection, consumption, and contextualization, impact our understanding of self and others.

The works here address our psychosocial relationships to materiality, responding to the embedded identities, biases, and harms entrenched within science, technology, and museological collections that are often cloaked under the guise of logical neutrality. Through a constellation of approaches, the exhibition draws parallels between these realities, presenting objects and avatars as channels that access the limits of human experience, push against it, or gesture toward a transhuman future.

“Like everything alive that we try to hold forever” is curated by Elizabeth Diggon, Naomi Potter, and Shauna Thompson. The exhibition is organized by Esker Foundation and produced as a traveling exhibition by Independent Curators International (ICI). Funding for the exhibition tour has been provided by the generous support from ICI’s International Forum and the ICI Board of Trustees.

www.pratt.edu/events like-everything-alive-that-we-try-to-hold-forever/

Images:

Opening of the exhibition "Like everything alive that we try to hold forever," 2023. Esker Foundation.
Photos by: Elyse Bouvier.

October Free Programs Just launched ❗️🚀
Register at the links in our bio Esker Foundation

Origami and Movement Workshop
With Shion Skye Carter and Miya Turnbull
Sunday 18 October, 11am-1pm

In partnership with Springboard Performance Fluid Fest 2026. Springboard Performance

Artist Talk with Johnathan Onyschuk
Friday 2 October, 6-7pm

October Free Family Programs 🪻🚀🌹
Register at the links in our bio Esker Foundation

Cozy Community Night
Thursday 15 October, 5-7pm

Create Together
Saturday 31 October, 11am-1pm

Kids Studio
Saturday 31 October, 2-4pm

💐 PLEASE NOTE: The gallery will be closed on Wednesday 23 September for a Team Day. 🕺💃🕺💃

Apologies for the inconvenience, but please join us on Thursday 24 September onwards with regular hours 11-6pm and weekends Saturday and Sunday 12-5pm.

Always free!

💐 Thank you to all for attending our lively and joyful fall exhibitions opening reception on Friday 18 September. We had a wonderful fun evening!

🪻Thank you to the amazing prep team, and all the artists, galleries and the whole Esker team.

🌷Huge thanks to our fantastic volunteers 🙋‍♂️ 👏 and all our visitors, the amazing team from Lina's Italian Market and all our local friends at Cold Garden Beverage Company Confluence Distilling plus new friends Sea Change Brewing Co.

🌻 Enjoy these incredible photos by the amazing Elyse Nadine ❤️

⚘️ The exhibitions by Brendan Fernandes, Arthur Jafa, Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca continue until 20 December.

🌹 Don't miss the Project Space exhibition by Johnathan Onyschuk on view until 25 October.

❗️Please note: the gallery will be closed on Wednesday 23 September for a well earned Team Day, we will reopen on Thursday 24 September onwards regular hours: 11-6pm and weekends 12-5pm.

🥂 Join us tonight for the launch of our fall exhibitions. From 6-9pm, all welcome, free! 💃🕺

Enjoy delightful treats from Lina's Italian Market and beers, wines, cocktails and mocktails 🍸 from our local friends at Cold Garden Beverage Company Confluence Distilling Sea Change Brewing Co.

Fall Exhibitions:

Brendan Fernandes: "Other Moves"
Arthur Jafa: "Love is the Message, the Message is Death"
Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca: "Swinguerra"
Johnathan Onyschuk: "Old Growth"

Image:

Brendan Fernandes, "When You Are On the Dance Floor, What Song Makes You Feel Free?" 2018/2026, printed takeaway poster. Courtesy the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago; and Susan Inglett Gallery, New York.

Opening Friday 18 September, 6-9pm

Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca: "Swinguerra"
19 September - 20 December 2026

Developed in close collaboration with three competitive dance groups from the peripheries of Recife, Brazil, "Swinguerra" (2019) celebrates music and dance as powerful forms of self-definition, solidarity, and resistance to the status quo. Presented at the Brazilian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, the work follows performers – many of whom are Black, transgender, nonbinary, or q***r – as they rehearse and compete in dance styles including swingueira, brega funk, and passinho da maloca. Rooted in the cultural traditions of Northeast Brazil while also evolving and responding to contemporary urban life, these forms of movement and competition become vehicles through which dancers assert identity, forge community, and imagine new possibilities for belonging.

Images:

Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca, "Swinguerra," 2019. Two-channel video installation 2K HD video, 5.1 sound 21 min (Stills). © Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca. Courtesy the artists and Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro.