Recess

The Khajistan Institute for Advanced Research and Necessary Development is now open at Recess.

Throughout the residency, Khajistan is building its digital archive in public—inviting visitors to browse its collections, follow unexpected connections, ask questions, and spend time with material that ranges across cinema, satire, children’s magazines, the occult, politics, comics, and more.

The project unfolds through multiple spaces and forms, including the Reading Room, Screening Room, Born-Digital Archive, and Map of the Middle World. Public programs throughout the residency offer additional ways to encounter and work with the archive, from hands-on workshops to screenings and conversations.

Come visit the exhibition during open hours, or join us for one of the upcoming programs. The archive is still being built, and your encounter with it is part of that process.

Khajistan’s Bazaar is also open in the Recess lobby, with a selection of totes, apparel, publications, and other materials available for purchase.

The Khajistan Institute for Advanced Research and Necessary Development
On view through October 24, 2026

Recess | 46 Washington Ave, Brooklyn
Full programming and registration are available at the link in Recess’s bio.

As always, all programming and gallery access at Recess are free.

What’s inside the Khajistan archive?

The Reading Room currently holds 2,062,763 pages spanning cinema, satire, children’s magazines, the occult, politics, comics, and more.

And the Canvas holds 100,374 images and videos—with room for you to add your own.

This Saturday, October 3, artist Umber Majeed (Umber Majeed) and Khajistan () will invite participants to explore the newest version of the Portal, moving through its metadata, regional tags, translations, and collections before bringing materials from the digital archive into physical form through printing and collage.

No prior knowledge of the archive or its languages is required. Come spend a few hours getting lost in it, finding connections, and making something of what you find.

Saturday, October 3
1–4 PM
Recess
46 Washington Ave, Brooklyn

RSVP at the link in Recess’s bio.

Part of The Khajistan Institute for Advanced Research and Necessary Development, on view at Recess through October 24.

Come explore the Khajistan Portal! Read, watch, chat, create, shop, snack, & chill with us during Open Hours • Thursdays - Saturdays, 12-5 pm Thursdays - Saturdays, 12-5 pm • Featuring ↓

READING ROOM • 2,062,763 pages • cinema, satire, children’s magazines, the occult, politics, comics

RECEIVER • 2,879 live television and radio channels • 699 street cameras • English live captions

SCREENING ROOM • the Khajistan film vault: 32 tilms subtitled in the languages of the region

CANVAS • add your own to 100,374 images and videos

BAZAAR • prints and objects

CHAT • rooms by region

The Khajistan Institute for Advanced Research and Necessary Development

On view now through October 24
Open Hours: Thursdays - Saturdays, 12-5 pm
46 Washington Ave. Brooklyn

Images by Yuvraj Khana Yuvraj Khanna

This Saturday: Explore the Khajistan Portal with Khajistan and Umber Majeed

Join and Umber Majeed for an interactive, hands-on workshop exploring the newest version of the Khajistan digital archive.

Together, we’ll navigate the Portal through metadata, regional tags, and translations, then move beyond the screen to print, collage, and physically work with materials pulled from the archive.

No prior knowledge of Khajistan—or any of the languages represented in the archive—is required. Come ready to explore, make, and see where the archive takes you.

Saturday, October 3 | 1–4 PM

Recess | 46 Washington Ave, Brooklyn

RSVP at the link in Recess’s bio.

Umber Majeed (b. New York, 1989) is a multidisciplinary visual artist and educator whose writing, performance, and animation engage with familial archives to explore Pakistani state, urban, and digital infrastructure through a feminist lens.

A b o l i t i o n T e a c h - I n S e r i e s : L i b e r a t o r y E c o n o m i c s

 S a t u r d a y , O c t o b e r 3 , 2 0 2 6 , 5 : 3 0 – 7 : 3 0 p m

Recess’s 𝐴𝑏𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑇𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ-𝐼𝑛 𝑆𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 are gatherings that invite artists, neighbors, organizers, and curious learners to deepen their understanding of the systems shaping carceral systems in the United States while exploring abolitionist frameworks for imagining safety, care, and justice beyond systems of harm. Join us to be part of Recess’ collective visioning process, learn how economic justice and liberation are connected for other thinkers and allied projects in culture and justice spaces, and engage in a creative activity as we build knowledge together.

Together we will explore the tools that cooperative economic models have to teach us about how we do our work, ask new questions about how to set up conditions where we are all well resourced, and grow our understanding of how economic justice aligns with abolition frameworks.

𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠’ 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑐 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠

Join speakers 𝐄𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐧 𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐄𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔.𝐒. 𝐅𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 U.S. Federation of Worker Co-ops and 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡, 𝐂𝐨-𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 & 𝐄𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐒𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 BLIS Collective in a roundtable discussion and creative activity about cooperative economic models, resourcing our people and ourselves, and how economic justice aligns with abolition frameworks.

Learn more and register at the link in the Recess bio.

I know you feel that slight chill in the air... it’s officially beanie weather 🧶

Recess Assembly alum and filmmaker Shamar Amir is modeling our Embroidered Recess Beanie in Cobalt Blue — just in time for cooler temps 💙🧡💚 It comes in an array of colors: Blaze Orange, Cloud White, Cobalt Blue, Safety Green, & Stone Grey! This cozy knit beanie features an embroidered Recess logo. 🪡

Get your beanie and proudly show your love for Recess! Every purchase helps support Recess in funding radical thinkers who imagine and shape networks of resilience and safety.

NYC Friends: Skip the shipping! Pick one up in person during Recess open hours or at one of our upcoming programs.

👛 $30
📏 OSFM Adult (58cm / 22.8”)
Grab yours via the link in Recess’s bio.

I know you feel that slight chill in the air... it's officially beanie weather!

Recess Assembly alum and filmmaker Shamar Amir is modeling our Embroidered Recess Beanie in Cobalt Blue — just in time for cooler temps 💙🧡🤍💚 It comes in an array of colors: Blaze Orange, Cloud White, Cobalt Blue, Safety Green, & Stone Grey! This cozy knit beanie features an embroidered Recess logo. 🧶

Get your beanie and proudly show your love for Recess! Every purchase helps support Recess in funding radical thinkers who imagine and shape networks of resilience and safety.

NYC Friends: Skip the shipping! Pick one up in person during Recess open hours or at one of our upcoming programs.

👛 $30
📏 OSFM Adult (58cm / 22.8")
Grab yours now: https://recessart.bigcartel.com/

As we prepare the gallery walls for our next Session project, we’re reflecting on the incredible turnout for and response to 𝘌𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨— a landmark exhibition marking 10 years of Assembly and 10 years of Recess as a site where artists are building toward an abolitionist future.

Thank you to everyone who came through the gallery, spent time with the work, shared in the gatherings, and helped make this exhibition what it was. Your presence is part of this history, too.

Founded in 2016, Assembly has spent the past decade creating space for system-impacted young people ages 18–26 to expand their dreams, actualize themselves into being, resource their communities, and use collaboration as a path toward collective healing.

What began as an intervention and diversion from the criminal legal system has grown into a community of young artists, organizers, educators, and collaborators committed to collective liberation and creative practice. Through its evolution, Assembly has remained rooted in a simple but expansive belief: that all young New Yorkers deserve the resources, relationships, and space to be themselves.

𝘌𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 marked a decade of that work — and the artists, ideas, relationships, and possibilities that have emerged from it.

Here’s to what comes next. 🖤

📸 Manuel Molina Martagon
Exhibition views of 𝘌𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨, 2026

Collaboration is an emergent choral process. Working together across time, place, and language is a petition to invent new storytelling grammars. The poetics of artistic exchange are symbolically rendered in Diego Gil’s Critical Writing text, 𝘛𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰 / 𝘛𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵. Diego Gil (🦦Diego🦝) is a poet and visual artist from Bogotá and currently based in New York. He wrote this piece during his time as an Recess: Assembly Fellow, in reflection of Kriss Li’s 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘮 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺: 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴, a collaborative Session X Assembly project. Li’s work connected Assembly Fellows with writers from Life-Line Creative Arts, a writing group inside Eastern Correctional Institution. Through this exchange, Assembly Fellows produced a script and short film with Li. As director of photography for the film, Gil’s writing considers the forms of connection, interpretation and intimacy developed throughout the filmmaking process. Fluidly blending poetry and prose, Gil’s text also reminds us that translations are negotiated winds that blow and beat against the ground for freedom songs to emerge.

Head to the link in the Recess bio to read the fulRecesse. This text is published in Spanish with an English translation by journalist and photographer, Ana María Padilla Cuervo, with editorial support from Recess Co-Director, Ladi’Sasha Jones.

📌 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗞 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗔𝗥𝗦 📌

Save this post for the full lineup of events happening during 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗵𝗮𝗷𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 at Recess. 🗃️🖥️

☕ 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛 𝗧𝗘𝗔 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗞𝗛𝗔𝗝𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡
📅 Saturday, September 19
🕐 1–4PM
Open the doors to Khajistan’s Portal over chai, sweets, and conversation, with founding member Saad Khan leading a salon-style introduction to the archive and its materials.

🧑🏾‍💻𝗞𝗛𝗔𝗝𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡 𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗔𝗟 𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗧: 𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗢𝗡𝗘
📅 Saturday, October 3
🕐 1–4PM
Get hands-on with the Portal alongside Khajistan and artist Umber Majeed through metadata, regional tags, translations, printing, and collage. 🖥️

🍿 𝗙𝗜𝗟𝗠 𝗦𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚: 𝗝𝗔𝗩𝗔𝗜𝗗 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗠𝗣𝗢𝗢 (𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟰)
📅 Saturday, October 10
🕐 1–6PM
Drop in to explore the Portal from 1–4PM, then settle in for the 4PM Director’s Cut screening of Javaid Shampoo from the Khajistan Film Vault—with free popcorn! 🍿🎬

🗂️ 𝗞𝗛𝗔𝗝𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗡 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗦
📅 Saturday, October 17
🕐 2–5PM
Drop by, explore the Portal, ask questions, and spend some time with the Khajistan team—no registration required. 👋🏽

🪩𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗔𝗟 𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗧: 𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗧𝗪𝗢 + 𝗖𝗟𝗢𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗬
📅 Saturday, October 24
🕐 1–5PM
Join Saad Khan for a closing talk and another round of Portal testing and contributions, then stick around for drinks and a light dinner as we close out the residency. 🍽️

📍 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 — 46 Washington Ave, Brooklyn

🔖 Bookmark this post, bring a friend, and come explore the Portal with us. Full event details + RSVP links are available via the link in Recess’s bio.