SHIFT is a virtual exhibit of works in progress that came out of the first ever virtual MDOCS Storytellers’ Institute. It embodies the moment we are living through and the multidisciplinary, multigenerational ethos of the Institute. SHIFT shows how a small group of documentarians, artists and storytellers adapted and created despite and because of the global challenges of 2020. The exhibit includes stunning and diverse works by individual Institute Fellows and teams, as well as works created collaboratively using innovative online tools and some more traditional forms of communication.

Glimpse into the world the MDOCS Storytellers’ Institute Fellows built together and the creative ways they forged intimacy without ever meeting one another in person.

The exhibit includes works from: Mickey Baroody, Shalon Buskirk, Drew Swedberg, Haley Hnatuk, Cooperativa Cultura 19 De Enero (Fernanda Espinosa & Raul Ayala), Kadijatou Diallo, Ben Hayes, Shana Kleiner, Courtney Surmanek, Steven T. Licardi, Tianyu Shi, Keshawn Truesdale, and Gioncarlo Valentine

SHIFT is viewable from September 22nd – October 30th

Please join us for Instagram live conversations with artists on the following dates @mdocs.skidmore
10/1 6pm- Courtney Surmanek and Steven T. Licardi
10/8 6pm- Kadijatou Diallo and Shana Kleiner
10/15 6pm- Shalon Buskirk, Haley Hnatuk, and Drew Swedberg
10/22 6pm- Cooperativa Cultural 19 de enero- Fernanda Espinosa and Raul Ayala

“…this is what artists and storytellers do: we shift. We shift in order to adapt, to confront, to respond, to build, to create, and to communicate. The space of the Institute was shifted and I believe it became what it needed to be – a place to both be a part of and to take ourselves out of the shifting world around us.” – Sarah Friedland, Director of the MDOCS Storytellers’ Institute