RIVERS UNSETTLED: Opening Reception
Tuesday, May 13
7pm | El Barrio’s Artspace PS109 Foyer Gallery
Hi-ARTS is thrilled to partner with Eto Otitigbe on Rivers Unsettled. Join us for the opening of Rivers Unsettled, an evening that bridges dialogue, sound, and creativity. The night begins with a conversation between NYC Council 8 Member Diana Ayala and the Artist Eto Otitigbe, centering climate action and urban resilience in East Harlem. In light of recent investments in local infrastructure, Ayala and Eto will explore how residents, especially the creative community, can prepare for an uncertain future.
The evening continues with a live performance by Abandoned Orchestra, featuring Eto Otitgbe and Zane Rodulfo. Subwaves, an electric soundscape that draws data from the Harlem River, transforming it into an improvised, immersive score through sound and sculpture.
About River Unsettled
The river is never still. It meanders, carves, swells, and recedes—an unsettled body of perpetual negotiation. Rivers Unsettled gathers sculptural, mixed media, and installation-based works born from field studies along the Harlem River. This exhibition engages the river, not as a passive subject but as a co-author, rhythms and residues shaping material and meaning alike.
Drawing upon Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of Dialogical Art, Rivers Unsettled rejects singular narratives in favor of polyphonic voices—human, nonhuman, organic, and constructed—coexisting in tension and dialogue. These works do not merely represent the river; they converse with it, absorbing its sedimented past while speaking into its ever-unfolding present. In this case, Eto is a listener and maker, allowing the Harlem River’s textures and shifting borders to articulate their own agency.
Learn more about Rivers Unsettled and Eto Otitigbe here.