A few months ago, during a conversation between Phong Bui and the sculptor Rebecca Smith, Rebecca mentioned that she was preparing for an exhibition at Art Cake with my curatorial project, M. David & Co. Phong suggested it could become the basis for a Singing in Unison exhibition. I am deeply grateful to Rebecca, whose work and generosity made this project possible; to Phong, for inviting me once again to work within the Rail’s extraordinary program; and to Cordy and Ethan Ryman for providing their Kunsthalle-like space at Art Cake.

I felt compelled to curate an exhibition that was wild, chaotic, hanging together by a thread,  that took risks—an exhibition with no obvious curatorial solutions. Something uncomfortable. Something capable of expressing and reflecting this complex moment in our troubled history: a country, and a world, facing enormous challenges with no easy answers, where taking risks are now crucial.

The exhibition takes its title from the Rolling Stones’ dark masterpiece Gimme Shelter—a cautionary song about an impending dystopian world that feels, unfortunately, as prescient and timely today as it did fifty-six years ago.

Some may find this exhibition in disarray, troubling—an exhibition that refuses to provide answers and instead poses questions for which there may be none. And yet, like the Stones’ dark and disturbing song (“A storm is threatening my very life today / If I don’t get some shelter, I’m gonna fade away / War, children, it’s just a shot away, shot way "), it ultimately offers a fragile glimmer of hope: “Love, sister, it’s just a kiss away, kiss away.”

It is my hope that this possibility for love—for connection, for survival—becomes manifest through the beauty of creativity in all its diverse expressions, made possible by our collective faith as artists in the impossible: the impossible act of continuing to make work in our studios; the impossible struggle of sustaining a practice against all odds, against reason, against despair.

The artists in this exhibition were chosen, in part, for their relationship to their choice of materials—their use of found, recycled, or nontraditional matter, or their subversion of traditional materials, transforming the commonplace into something charged and critical. In this way, the practice itself becomes a form of denunciation: of rising tide of fascism /authoritarianism, and nationalism; of the predatory accumulation of wealth by a few at the expense of those in need and the many; and of the willful blindness toward environmental catastrophe—an abandonment of collective responsibility that threatens us all, regardless of race, religion, wealth, or poverty.

A time to find and share shelter.

Shelters of every kind:
Shelter for survival and safety.
Shelter to fight for freedom.
Shelter to create and to be free.

This may sound naïve, but I do not care.

I am desperate to listen to every voice—all the different voices singing in unison:

The voice of radical sincerity.

Faith in the impossible made possible.

Michael David
Painter, Curator
May 10, 2026

June 6–June 27, 2026
Opening: June 6, 6–9 p.m.

Location:
Art Cake
214 40th Street, Brooklyn
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Admission:
The exhibition is free and open to the public

• Saturday, June 6, 6-9pm: Opening reception and cooking performance by Rirkirt Tiravanija, Tomas Vu, and co.
• Saturday, June 13, 4pm: Performance by Hayes Greenfield
• Saturday, June 28, 4pm: Artist talk

Since May 2022, Rail Curatorial Projects has undertaken an ongoing series of group exhibitions entitled “Singing in Unison: Artists Need to Create on the Same Scale That Society Has the Capacity to Destroy” as a collective effort to mobilize the art of joining and social intimacy against self-isolation and social distancing, In these exhibitions, we perceive each artist as the player of a particular instrument, having a unique and distinct sound of their own, producing a significant contribution to the total sound of the symphony.

The series has featured works made by both trained and self-taught artists, by young artists—including children from the legendary Studio in a School—and more established ones. Additionally, there are contributions from artists working during and after incarceration, as well as those who are living with various mental health conditions. Although the culture at large has frequently aimed to assimilate us all into having a similar sound, Rail Curatorial Projects is committed to celebrating each artist’s particular vibrancy, while at the same time providing a context in which they can be in dialogue with one another.

Each version features Lauren Bon and Metabolic Studio’s neon work Artists Need to Create on the Same Scale That Society Has the Capacity to Destroy; cooking performances by Rirkrit Tiravanija, Tomas Vu, and their graduate students from Columbia University; space activations, including performances from dancers, poets, and musicians; and each has been dedicated to and included a portrait of one of our recently deceased mentors and friends. The early exhibitions in the series all included several artists, and we have now also begun to feature two artists in conversation: when presented in this more intimate context, the similarities and differences in the artists’ practices highlight alluring and compelling aspects of their thinking and art-making processes.

Founded in October 2000 and currently published 10 times annually, the Brooklyn Rail provides an independent forum for arts, culture, and politics throughout New York City and far beyond. The journal features criticism of music, dance, film, and theater; and original fiction and poetry, covers contemporary visual art in particular depth. In order to democratize our art coverage, our Critics Page functions with a rotating editorship, which such luminaries as Robert Storr, Elizabeth Baker, Barbara Rose, Irving Sandler, and Dore Ashton have helmed.

The Rail further fulfills its mission by curating art exhibitions, panel discussions, reading series and film screenings that reflect the complexity and inventiveness of the city’s artistic and cultural landscape.

To learn more, visit brooklynrail.org
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