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A WhiteBox (WBX) Curatorial Internship Program Exhibition, Part of WhiteBox Portable. Curated by Kaylie Pykkonen and Tabitha Haugen. Mentored by Yohanna Magdalene Roa, Curator at Large, WhiteBox   

Exhibition Dates: May 2–3
Time: 2:00–6:00 PM
Submission Deadline: April 4
Honorarium: $150 flat fee per selected artist

                      $130 flat Fee per Workshop, 2 hours.

Selected artists will be notified on April 8, 2026.

Project Overview

Touchstones is presented within the framework of WhiteBox Portable, a curatorial model developed by Yohanna Magdalene Roa that treats exhibition-making as situated, relational, and responsive to context. Portable understands space not as neutral, but as contingent and shaped by social, political, and material conditions.

Developed through the WhiteBox SIP—Staff & Internship Involvement Program, Touchstones extends this methodology into the lived social fabric of the East Village. 

Grounded in neighborhood experience rather than fixed geography, Touchstones approaches “place” as something shaped through repetition, encounter, memory, and time. Mundane details can become cherishable mementos. The blockside bodega signifies sentimentality when it sits below a memorable apartment. Our favorite stop on our daily subway route, the side of the street that prolongs daylight, and the passing smile of a stranger become touchstones through which a city becomes home. 

Additionally, in a city marked by rapid change and economic pressure, the neighborhood is never neutral. It is a site where visibility, access, and belonging are continuously negotiated. Touchstones interrogates hierarchical markers of belonging and seeks artists who work outside of drawn boundaries.  Click to read More

Curatorial Framework

Curated by Kaylie Pykkonen and Tabitha Haugen
Mentored by Yohanna Magdalene Roa, Curator at Large, WhiteBox

Touchstones builds on prior SIP initiatives such as Have a Good One! (2025) and operates through a collaborative, research-driven methodology that moves beyond the gallery cube into civic, commercial, and neighborhood spaces. 

Project Sites

Programming unfolds across:

• Tompkins Square Park
• Two Boots Pizzeria (Avenue A)
• New York Public Library – Tompkins Square Branch
• A connected presentation at the Times Sq–42 St subway station

WHAT WE ARE SEEKING

1. Visual Artists

Seeking painters, sculptors, photographers, textile artists, collageists, and interdisciplinary artists.

• Work must be small-scale (16 x 20 inches or smaller)
• Durable material suitable for display inside Two Boots or the Tompkins Square Library
• 2-3 visual artists selected
• Exhibition hours: May 2 & May 3, 2–6 PM
• Honorarium: $150 flat fee

We welcome work engaging neighborhood identity, mapping, community memory, and emotional or economic transformation.

2. Performers

Seeking musicians, dancers, puppeteers, experimental and socially engaged performers.

• Performances take place in Tompkins Square Park (near Temperance Fountain)
• 2-4 performers selected (2 per day)
• Honorarium: $150 flat fee per performer

Work should respond to public space and the social fabric of the Lower East Side.

3. Workshop Leaders

Seeking community organizers, educators, and artists to lead participatory workshops related to community building.

Possible formats include:

• Zine-making
• Know Your Rights education
• CPR training
• Public speaking workshops
• Theater composition
• Puppet-making
• Resource-sharing initiatives

Workshops take place in the library or park.
Honorarium: $130 flat fee per workshop leader

Who Should Apply

NYC-based artists and creatives with a meaningful connection to the Lower East Side. Proposals should demonstrate awareness of site, public interaction, and context-responsive practice.

Submission Requirements

• Artist bio (150 words max)
• 5–10 work samples or documentation
• Brief proposal (max. 500 words)
• Preferred site and format

Submit via the WhiteBox website.

Questions: info@whiteboxny.org

Touchstones foregrounds the gestures, infrastructures, and shared spaces that sustain urban belonging, operating within the broader Portable framework of relational and intersectional curatorial practice.

Presented by WhiteBox (WBX Portable).
Supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) and the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA).

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