New York | ‘Triennial: Soft Water Hard Stone’ at the New Museum

Please join us for a curatorial welcome and self lead walkthrough of Soft Water Hard Stone, the fifth New Museum Triennial which brings together works across mediums by forty artists and collectives from around the world. The title of the exhibition is taken from a Brazilian proverb, versions of which are found across cultures: Água mole em pedra dura, tanto bate até que fura (Soft water on hard stone hits until it bores a hole).

The title speaks to ideas of resilience and perseverance, and the impact that an insistent yet discrete gesture can have in time. It also provides a metaphor for resistance, as water—a constantly flowing and transient material—is capable of eventually dissolving stone—a substance associated with permanence, but also composed of tiny particles that can collapse under pressure.

In this moment of profound change, where structures that were once thought to be stable are disintegrating or on the edge of collapse, the 2021 Triennial recognizes artists re-envisioning traditional models, materials, and techniques beyond established paradigms. Their works exalt states of transformation, calling attention to the malleability of structures, porous and unstable surfaces, and the fluid and adaptable potential of both technological and organic mediums.

Soft Water Hard Stone is curated by Margot Norton, Allen and Lola Goldring Curator at the New Museum, and Jamillah James, Senior Curator, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA), with Jeanette Bisschops, Curatorial Fellow, and Bernardo Mosqueira, ISLAA Curatorial Fellow.