Alina Tenser in "‘General Conditions’ at The School, ‘A Familiar Type of Magic’ at Bill Arning Exhibitions, and Robert Grosvenor at The Archive Gallery, ‘T’ Space"

‘GENERAL CONDITIONS’ May 17-November 29, ‘25 at The School, Kinderhook, N.Y.
David Ebony, Upstate Diary, Juin 10, 2025
This season’s sprawling group show at The School centers on an exploration of the rather cryptic notion of “general conditions.” In a press statement, one of the featured artists in the exhibition, Alina Tenser, whose works are among the show’s highlights, says that the idea of “general conditions” resonates on multiple registers that are sinister and vague, and “holds power precisely because of its evasiveness.” She cites the current structural changes in federal policy where “language and bureaucracy are weaponized to obscure, justify and enable horrific systemic shifts.” For the purposes of the exhibition, the deliberately ambiguous title allows for an open-ended discourse and strong interconnections among the disparate works on view with a wide range of formal concerns and thematic content. Issues of migration, identity and the environment intersect throughout the exhibition of 129 works by two dozen artists working in a variety of mediums.