Curated and Series Created by Juan Puntes
Author and Art Critic Resident by Anthony Haden-Guest
Based on the work of Jon Tsoi, creator of Blind-Fold Visual Art Performance Action
September 4 – 28, 2019

At the turn of the 21st Century, Jon Tsoi, a visual artist, acupuncturist healer, and self described Taoist, started the “Blind-Fold” performance series. In Duchampian form, solo artist, Tsoi, invited the participatory audience to aid in finalizing a visual artwork devoid of sight. 

After visiting Tsoi’s studio in 2013, Juan Puntes, WhiteBox Harlem (WBXH) artistic director, curated “Slicing Space,” a solo survey show of Blind-Fold paintings at WhiteBox LES which included large audience interactivity. Success paved the way for the Tsoi – Puntes team to travel to Chongqing City, Mainland China, to be a highlight at the Yangtze Art Museum’s international art residency program. After which, invitations followed including a future performance at the Galaxy Museum, while this iteration culminated in a major performance at Beijing’s China Red Sandalwood Museum of Historical Design and Furniture Installations to great acclaim.

Following this successful collaborative cutting edge, extreme and beautiful performance to the environmental sounds and sights of war scenes, more invitations arrived from European institutions and a seminal biennale. The artists experimented performing blind-folded to variegated sounds and rhythms, some live, some recorded audio, always sensuously incorporating sound and movement disciplines. Other audio examples include Serbian Orthodox 4th century forbidden Chants by a local Cantor, and readings from the Tao. Performance variations featuring varied in range from electronic opera to film and video screenings, have additionally been undertaken in various international locations: including the Macura Museum of Fluxus Art, on the banks of the Blue Danube, Serbia and in Palermo, as part of Fat Studio RAID at MANIFESTA Biennale of European Art.

With this pedigree and lots of interested parties in waiting, WhiteBox Harlem proudly unveils a brand new fabulous Summer of 2019 Blind Fold Collaborations with Jon Tsoi, namely THE WHITEBOX HARLEM BLIND-FOLDTM TRIENNIAL. ART RESIDENCIES starting this Summer 2019, all creations exhibited on view during the months of July and August 2019.