The Gatherers

In a time of unfettered waste, global artists contend with excess and its effects

Accompanying the major exhibition at MoMA PS1, The Gatherers brings together original texts on issues relating to waste, accumulation and excess. In a time when social and political lives are shaped by the glut of garbage and information, the exhibition draws methodological parallels between 14 artists across four continents. This compendium features full-color illustrations of their artworks, which span sculptural installation, assemblage, painting, video and performance. In a longform essay, Ruba Katrib contextualizes their practices within the promises and failures of neoliberalism, the shifting constructions of East and West and the explosion of new technologies. Additionally, the catalog situates their practices within larger art historical trends, from Greek asarotos oikos and Dutch still lifes, to 20th-century Surrealism and postwar assemblage. With newly commissioned texts on each of the participating artists by leading curators, theorists and writers from across the globe, the catalog offers incisive critical writing on issues in contemporary art and the 21st century. Artists include: Karimah Ashadu, Tolia Astakhishvili, Miho Dohi, Andro Eradze, He Xiangyu, Samuel Hindolo, Geumhyung Jeong, Klara Liden, Jean Katambayi Mukendi, Nick Relph, Selma Selman, Ser Serpas, Emilija Skarnulyte.