PLATO

PLATO is excited to announce Pastime, a group exhibition opening on Thursday, July 16, from 6-8 PM. Pastime features works by seventeen artists from around the world, celebrating leisure, abandon, and everyday pleasures that, according to the dictionary definition, "make time pass agreeably."

 

Inspired by Guillermo Serrano Amat's imaginative restaurant scenes, the show was initially described to participating artists as an open-ended premise: "something on leisure, togetherness, and shared meals." The concept eventually crystallized through the artists' collective vision. One day, after nearly all of the works had been completed, the title announced itself—swiftly and effortlessly, like a warm summer breeze: Pastime. A musical, all-encompassing word, difficult to translate precisely, it incorporates both the passage of time and the past itself—an experience already becoming a memory even as it is being lived. 

 

Ultimately, the exhibition became a playbook of recreational pursuits—a summer to-do list for the bon-vivant in search of joy and lasting memories. In no particular order, the artists suggest the following activities:

 

- frolic through spring woods, ideally nude - Emma Steinkraus

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- take up gardening in the company of friends - Ákos Ezer

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- discover a newly sprouted lily in the garden - Karen Seapker

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- crawl into a treehouse and watch the world unfold - Kaylie Kaitschuck

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- go skinny-dipping in a pool - Nicole James

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- double-dip in your guacamole - Guillermo Serrano Amat

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- hunt a unicorn - Emma Steinkraus

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- climb a tree in a forest, possibly get stung by nettles on the way up - Darina Karpov

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- watch the clouds go by - Tang Shuo

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- smell some fresh flowers - Jesse Zuo

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- watch a scary movie - Kyle Coniglio

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- share a sliced apple with your girlfriend, and maybe with your cat - Maya Fuji

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- dress up for a fun night out - Margaux Valengin

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- throw a birthday party - Nicole James, Ákos Ezer

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- make a tower of champagne glasses and pour the bubbly - Cindy Bernhard

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- go on a date at Brooklyn’s Public Records - Shuto Okayasu

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- head to Chinatown for Peking duck - Deborah Brown

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- dance, drink, and gossip in a restaurant—try not to get caught in a robbery - Guillermo Serrano Amat

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- share a cocktail at a speakeasy - Jacob Rochester

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- have a smoke at a nightclub - Marcus Venegas

 

This list is far from exhaustive. We invite you to add your favorite summer pastime to our guest book!

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Installation Images