Bok Joy by Christian Joy at Knockdown Center

Christian Joy

Christian Joy is an American costume designer and artist best known for her stage costume designs for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs lead singer, Karen O. Often abandoning the traditional materials of thread and print, Joy’s pieces incorporate glue, marker pens, and found items, making her work influential in the punk and DIY style scene. She began her styling career without any formal training in fashion design, creating one-of-a-kind hand-painted/hand-sewn t-shirts and re-designing old prom dresses.

Joy’s work has been exhibited at Space 15 Twenty, Los Angeles (2009), Audio Visual Arts, New York (2009), and Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn (2013).

For Anxious Spaces: Installation as Catalyst, DIY guru Christian Joy presented Bok Joy, an installation and collaborative performance. Joy installed larger-than-life hanging soft sculptures, that greeted visitors to Knockdown’s gallery space. Inspired by children’s bop bags and the work of Japanese film director Hayoa Miyazaki, these “characters” were constructed from vibrantly colored fabrics and incorporate textile designs, drawing on Joy’s experience as a costume designer. Joy's focus was on the independent movement of fabric. For the performance festival, Joy’s installation was animated by musician Bubbles and the dance troupe Accidental Movement.

Anxious Spaces: Installation as Catalyst

A group exhibition in which six installation artists engage a space beckoning with desire and opportunity. Knockdown Center's cathedral-like complex, with its breathtaking expanse, mysterious sub-chambers, surprise annexes, and hidden pockets, is a dream environment for site-specific and installation art. In addition, these works incorporate dynamic and time-based elements ranging from robotic interactivity to performance events to social intervention. Taken together, the architecture and the artworks transform the space into a surreal bazaar of curiosities for the adventurous. Opening June 15th, from 2-6pm. Special artist talk/tour at 5pm. The exhibition is open every Saturday and Sunday, from June 15 to July 6, 2-6pm. Click HERE to find out about the July 5th Performance Festival!

Anxious Spaces: Performance Festival

A celebration of artists using installation work as a platform for performance, featuring Raul de Nieves, Christian Joy, Hisham Bharoocha, Brian Chase, Desi Santiago,and more.

Anxious Spaces, Artist Interviews

Artists Christian Joy (soft sculpture), Ben Wolf (welded parasite), and Hisham Bharoocha (drum circle) in conversation on site at the Clocktower's Anxious Spaces exhibition at Knockdown Center. On view June 15-July 6, 2014. This program is posted in three parts so listeners can advance quickly to select an artist segment using the player navigation menu. Anxious Spaces is a group exhibition in which six installation artists engage a space beckoning with desire and opportunity. Knockdown Center's cathedral-like complex, with its breathtaking expanse, mysterious sub-chambers, surprise annexes, and hidden pockets, is a dream environment for site-specific and installation art. In addition, these works incorporate dynamic and time-based elements ranging from robotic interactivity to performance events to social intervention. Taken together, the architecture and the artworks transform the space into a surreal bazaar of curiosities for the adventurous.

Anxious Spaces 2014: Bubbles

A live recording of the synth-pop duo Bubbles performing in DIY guru Christian Joy's Bok Joy installation for the Anxious Spaces: Performance Festival at Knockdown Center. Bubbles is comprised of Jason P. Grisell (vocals, electronics, live instruments) and Alain Levitt (beats, electronics). Their sound mixes ecstatic wordplay and vocals, inventive beatmaking, low-end frequencies, noise guitar, melodic bass guitar lines, and synth. Inspired by classic dance floor styles of downtown NYC circa the 1980s, among many other genres, the beats brought the festival crowd to their feet and grooving alongside the Bok Joy dancers.

Second Sundays: Artist Interviews, December 2014

A collection of interviews recorded as part of our open studio sessions during Pioneer Works Second Sundays in December 2014. Members of Long Distance Poison, creators of long-form electronic music. Hosted by Joe Ahearn. 12 minutes. Brett Swenson, Pioneer Works 2014 artist-in-residence, glassblower, interdisciplinary sculptor, and experimenter. Hosted by Jake Nussbaum. 15 minutes. Christian Joy, costume designer, and textile artist, and veteran of the Clocktower's Anxious Spaces performance festival, and Naomi Clark, painter and member of the Fort Makers collective in Brooklyn discuss their new collaboration. Hosted by Tim Goossens. 20 minutes. Nat Roe, a Silent Barn alumnus, and now executive director of Flux Factory, a mixed-used arts space in Queens. Hosted by Joe Ahearn. 14 minutes. G. Lucas Crane and Nicholas Cummins, Silent Barn conspirators, explain the Party Lab recording project and other sound and noise initiatives. Hosted by Joe Ahearn. 21 minutes.