Opening Reception: Wednesday, March 21, 5:30PM – 7:30PM.

Half a century since its abandonment, North Brother Island fades from New York City’s map as nature swallows this one block square quarantine city. Just down the East River, Ward’s Island warehouses shelter New York’s homeless and mentally ill in a dozen immense buildings clustered under the Triborough Bridge.

Brother Islands is a reworking of a performance piece that premiered at Eyebeam’s MIXER series in 2007 to a sold out audience. This new work is an experimental documentary in the form of a looping video painting. Close inspection of the abstract, layered video imagery reveals glimpses of a long abandoned island quarantine. QR codes frame the video and link to a first-person account of island life in today’s homeless shelters. This work is a collaboration between Eyebeam alum Benton-C Bainbridge, who produced and conceptualized the video, with fabrication assistance from Minou Maguna and original text by Bill Etra.

For more information, please visit the project website.