Spot P! Opening Reception

Come and celebrate the opening of Spot P! by Kasper Klop, Deron Gopie, and Morwenna Spagnol. Free and open to the public, but registration is required.Monuments are symbols of an acknowledged history, of a collective thinking… What world do we live in if laws have abolished slavery and monuments reflect it? Why does the law not apply to legacy in our society and our community?Peter Stuyvesant is often credited with laying the foundations for what became New York City. Today, this man of Dutch origin is celebrated all around town: statues, neighborhoods in his name, cigarette brand…Yet, if we take a closer look, he was a trader and owner of enslaved Africans in the United States. Bolstered by his fortune and his influence, he sold enslaved people at public auction, held and expressed deeply antisemitic views, violently oppressed the Lenape, and actively suppressed religious minorities.Dutch artist Kasper Klop asked himself: what is my responsibility to reckon with this history as a Dutch person, and what would happen if the full story got told, rather than a partial one, as so often happens in our commemorative landscape?In collaboration with his long-time artistic partner Morwenna Spagnol, and videographer Deron Gopie, Kasper and the team created a multiple choice survey investigating how much New Yorkers really know about Stuyvesant, and once they know the facts, what they think about them.Spot P! at Dyckman Farmhouse Museum showcases New Yorkers’ fascinating replies to the survey, their knowledge (or lack thereof), views, astonishment, powerlessness, indifference, outrage and nuanced responses that grappled with holding multiple contradictions at once. Also on view are extracts from primary source materials – that is, what Stuyvesant wrote in his own hand about his dark deeds, along with insights into how the team intercepted busy pedestrians (including quite a few rejections), and obtained video consent forms for all the final material on display today.Spot P!…