80 Washington Square East, NYU

A.L. Steiner

Irthebound

July 6 – September 23, 2023

80WSE

A.L. Steiner's exhibition Irthebound frames the central tenet of life on Earth as a multifaceted engagement with the terms and politics of ecofeminism, first coined in writing by French author and activist Francoise d'Eaubonne in her 1974 book Le Féminisme ou la Mort (Feminism or Death)*. The manifesto outlines the revolutionary potential of environmentalism and feminism to liberate nature and suppressed peoples. 

Featuring video, photography, sculpture and archival material, the exhibition draws on d'Eaubonne’s description of a political apparatus that fuses racial crapitalism, sexual orientation and ecological crisis to produce a dire futurity and history defined by patriarchal ignorance, domination, violence and unfettered greed. The exhibition also debut’s Steiner’s film To Chnge Evrythng (2023), extending her three-channel documentary More Real Than Reality Itself, which premiered at the 2014 Whitney Biennial.     

Irthebound roams the conditions and languages of everyday irthling encounters, managing practical impossibilities of existence or change within the madness of contemporary life. In her expansive practice, Steiner utilizes constructions of photography, video, installation, collage, collaboration, performance, writing and curatorial work channeled through the sensibility of a skeptical queer ecofeminist androgyne.

Curated by Howie Chen 
Produced by Jon Huron, 80WSE. 

The works are courtesy of Deborah Schamoni, Munich. Additional support provided by Amy Tara Koch & Peter Gottlieb. 


 * Le Féminisme ou la Mort, (Feminism or Death) was translated for the first time in English in 2022, published by Verso Books.

View from the street of a window in the exhibition featuring a purple neon sign that states, "GAY IS GOOD IS GAY."
Installation view of two walls in the exhibition. On the left side wall, a collage of several colorful natural landscapes are arranged in three rows. At the corner, the left wall meets the right to blend into a projection of what looks like random lines and shapes.
Installation view of two walls in the exhibition separated by a doorway that leads to the lobby of the gallery, where there is a big white desk. On the left, part of the wall is removed to put in a narrow but long mirror. On the right, a photographic image is blown up to be almost the size of the wall. The image is a collage of several images featuring the sun rays peering through clouds.
Installation view of two walls in the exhibition. On the left wall, a projection is projected onto a white surface. Leading into the next room, in the hallway, a bright spotlight lights up a collage of photographic images.
Installation image featuring a gallery room in the exhibition. The walls in this room are painted a forest green. On the left, back wall, a projection is projecting various statistics and numbers about climate change, though they are illegible from the camera point of view. On the right wall, a neon sign is lit with the word 'CLOSED'. Above the word 'CLOSED' is the word, 'OPEN' but it is not lit up. In the middle of the room, there is a group of wooden furniture included a wooden chair, desk, and two large index cabinets with many drawers. The chair faces the project. On the table, in front of the chair, is a tray.
Installation view of the exhibition featuring the right side of a room with a collage of photographs on a white wall. Leading into the back of the image, is a darker room featuring a projection on a dark colored wall. In front of the projection is a wooden bench.
Installation view of two side by side projects against a dark colored wall. The projects, side by side, are identical and feature a pile of money on fire. In front of the projection is a wooden bench.
Installation view of the exhibition featuring a room with three walls. On the left wall, a partial projection projects onto the wall. In this particular still from the video, a partial view of a grassy landscape is shown. On the back wall, spotlight light up a photo collage, arranged in a large arrangement that takes over the entirety of the wall. On the right wall, there is nothing but blank space on white wall. There is a wooden bench in the middle of the dark room to sit and witness the objects.
Photos by Carter Seddon.