The exhibition How We Live: Selections from the Marc and Livia Straus Family Collection will be presented in the Hudson Valley MOCA. The exhibition will be on view from October 12, 2019 to July 19, 2020, with a public reception on October 12th from 4:00 to 7:00 PM.

How We Live is a sculpture and video exhibition from the Marc and Livia Straus Family Collection. It includes artists from around the globe who explore the particularities of their individual cultures through art. 34 sculptures by 31 artists along with six video artists showcase unique heritages, and in doing so enrich our understanding of the world.

The Strauses have always been interested in art that fosters cross-cultural dialogue. They started collecting at age 20, taking risks to buy work that was not yet understood, often being amongst the first collectors for many artists. Their collecting practice extended beyond just purchasing, as they underwrote the fabrication of some of the works included. In each instance their choices were prescient and remain among the most seminal works by the artists.

Magali Reus, B. 1981 Lukes (Caustic Sdwlk), 2014 Iron-Phosphates, powder coated and folded riveted steel, polystyrene, powder coated aluminum, coiled steel and aluminum, fabric, Airtex 71 x 25 x 22 inches

How We Live

How does production, from household items to artistic creation, become a product itself of the lived experience? Moving past depictions of the human form, How We Live uses sculpture and video to explore the creativity and production of humanity across a multitude of geographies, cultures, and times.

Thirty-seven artists representing twenty-one countries showcase the unique heritage and cultures of our planet by focusing on the minutiae, the personal, and profound, exchanging a non-hierarchical fluidity with their surroundings that resembles the age-old chicken and egg debate. This exhibition explores the ways in which artists simultaneously bring the world around them into their practice, while in turn influencing the world and environment with their work.

Each work can be read as an exploration of an artist’s life through the lens of their own culture, a testament to the ways in which culture manifests in creation, both consciously and subconsciously. Continuing the conversation begun through Death is Irrelevant, How We Live examines the immortalization of cultural traits, values, and habits rendered not through the depiction of the human form or body, but through the habits of said body as it enacts the processes of living.