The School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York kicks off programming at its newly-renovated SVA Chelsea Gallery today (20 August) at full volume with The Beat Goes On, (until 17 September), an interactive show of four “listening rooms” given over to the artists Elia Alba, Paul D. Miller (alias DJ Spooky), Kevin Beasley and Tameka Norris that explore the fusion of contemporary art and music. Alba—whose photography work draws on her experiences in the 1980s New York club scene—has conceived her gallery space as an old-school discotheque, complete with black-and-white checkerboard flooring and a DJ booth, a tribute to the late DJ Larry Levan. Norris’s gallery is “more of an intimate setting”, says Derrick Adams, the New York-based artist and curator who organised the exhibition, and resembles a record label listening room, with beanbag chairs and posters and lyrics from her rap and pop star alter ego Meka Jean. Tune in for a series of events throughout the show’s run, including DJ sets in Alba’s “club” and an after-hours live performance by Kevin Beasley.
