The Watermill Center has announced its artist residents for 2021, but, in a possible harbinger of things to come during this uncertain year, two of the first four, whose residencies will begin Wednesday, will participate virtually in what the center called “our first-ever hybrid” residency program.
Two of the residents, Kyoko Hamaguchi and Nicole Pasulka, will work from home but will have the full support of the center and its staff in the development of their projects, including digital access to the center’s library and collection. In addition, the center will coordinate Zoom calls among the artists so they can share their work with each other.
Ms. Hamaguchi, who was born and raised in Tokyo and now lives in New York City, is a conceptual mixed-media artist who works in photography, sculpture, and installation. During her residency, she will explore the history of the center as a former Western Union research laboratory.
Ms. Pasulka, who lives in Philadelphia, is a writer with an M.A. in journalism, whose work has been published in Harper’s, New York magazine, Mother Jones, and The Believer. She is currently working on a narrative nonfiction book about the Brooklyn drag performance scene.
Matthew Thurber and Brian Belott, artists and performers from New York City, will fulfill their residencies onsite during February. The duo has worked together since 2010, drawing from poetry, glossolalia, improvisation, pranks, and nonsense to create performances that also include props such as books, tape cassettes, and loaves of bread. Drawing inspiration from Dada vocalists, and comedians from Jerry Lewis to Andy Kaufman to the Marx Brothers, their virtual performance, which will take place during their residency, promises comedy, confusion, and chaos.
Candace Hill, whose residency will begin in April, is the sole representative from the South Fork. A Bridgehampton resident, she has exhibited over the past four decades at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the New Museum, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, and Artists Space, among others. Her recent woven pieces were featured in a 2019 Parrish Road Show exhibition at the Sag Harbor Whaling Museum and the Parrish Art Museum.
The center has also announced its 2021 Inga Maren Otto fellowships, which support artists who have demonstrated exceptional ability. The new fellows are Pawel Althamer (Poland), Ville Andersson (Finland), Tomashi Jackson (United States), Naufus Ramirez-Figueroa (Guatemala), and Duke Riley (United States).
In addition to her May residency as an Otto Fellow at the center, Ms. Jackson, a multidisciplinary artist who works in painting, video, textiles, and sculpture, will have an exhibition this summer at the Parrish Art Museum. That project, “Platform: Tomashi Jackson: The Land Claim,” will explore the historic and contemporary experience of indigenous, Black, and Latinx families on the East End.
