Kris Rumman: Till Human Voices Wake Us, And We Drown

Opening reception January 19th from 6-8 PM. 

* Please note that proof of vaccination will be checked for all visitors and masks are required regardless of vaccination status.

The notions of balance, interconnectedness and codependency within living systems permeates Kris Rumman’s multimedia artistic practice. Working from a background in glass-making techniques, Rumman often experiments with a myriad of materials, traditional and non-traditional ones, juxtaposing them with glass elements in her objects, ambiances and performances. The artist’s research into the physical and metaphorical properties of materials is closely linked to her immersion in the sociological, psychological and political issues of our times. At times, in subtle ways, Rumman’s practice touches upon her own Palestinian family’s history of migration to the US within a larger context of the 20th century and contemporary displacements and migrations. Here, it is resonant of Edward Said’s theories of Orientalism from his seminal 1978 book on the ways how power relations between the East and West are being constructed in modern times, as well as the modes of shaping perceptions of Arab cultures and societies used by the West. 

Digital Essay

Artist Bio-

Kris Rumman is a Palestinian-American artist who creates sculpture, performance, and installations that act as impermanent fugitives. Appearing as temporary inhabitants and curious students of its visitors, her work often uses mirror and reflection to track, survaile, guide, and comply with its witnesses. Captivated by the materials of architecture, power (authority) and chance (Inshallah), her work is migratory, situationally responsive, and inextricably linked to the geopolitics where she lives.

Rumman has exhibited and made performances across the United States and internationally including the Strohl and Fowler-Kellogg Art Center (Chautauqua, NY), UrbanGlass (NYC), Temple Contemporary, Little Berlin, Conwell Dance Theater, and Vox Populi (Philadelphia, PA), Project Gallery (Ann Arbor, MI), Georgetown Space (Washington D.C), Ohio Craft Museum (Columbus, OH), Toledo Museum of Art (Toledo, OH) and Abate Zanetti Gallery (Murano, Italy). She has taught at Chautauqua Institution, Pratt Fine Art Center, The Toledo Museum of Art, Salem Community College and Tyler School of Art at Temple University.

Rumman has received international awards and grants, including support from The Velocity Fund through Temple Contemporary and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Laurie Wagman Prize in Glass, and recognition from the Glass Arts Society, naming her the 2019 Saxe Emerging Artist. Kris earned her MFA at Tyler School of Art at Temple University and her BFA from Bowling Green State University. 

Most recently, Rumman has been awarded a collaboration with Pilkington NSG, a global glass manufacturer, to actualize her project Body_Building, which debuted in Fall 2021 at the Center for Visual Arts, the Toledo Museum of Art. 

She currently lives and works in NYC.

About the curator- 

Zeljka Himbele is a curator based in New York City. Originally from Croatia, where she worked for several years at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, she graduated from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, US. From 2008-2010 she worked at the Contemporary Art Department of the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, working on a series of solo and group exhibitions for New Media Gallery. She frequently collaborates with G-MK Gallery in Zagreb, where she curated the exhibitions by Mark Tribe, Duncan Campbell, Eve K. Tremblay and, most recently, eteam. She was a guest critic, lecturer, panelist or exhibition juror for the institutions The ISCP, NY; NARS Foundation, NY; CUNY, NY; The New School, NY; The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, NY; Wave Hill, NY; Art OMI International Art Center, Ghent; Dumbo Arts Center, NY; Residency Unlimited, NY; Pratt Institute, Brooklyn; Flux Factory, NY; Chester College, NH; Cambridge Art Association, MA; Parsons The New School for Design, NY; and Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design, RI, among others. Additionally, Mrs. Himbele was a Curatorial Fellow at Art in General, and also curated exhibitions at Plexus Projects, Residency Unlimited and NURTUREart in Brooklyn, NY; Big Medium Gallery in Austin, TX; Lafayette College, PA; Cuchifritos, NY; Illuminated Metropolis, NY; Occurrence, Montreal, Canada; and Futura Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic.

Exhibition photography by Blaine Davis.

Event Images

Launch Full Gallery

Class Schedule

• January 19th – April 8th, 2022