The Clark Art Institute and WCFM jointly organized a closing festival for artist Kathia St. Hilaire’s exhibition “Invisible Empires,” which has been on display for almost four months and will conclude on Sept. 22. Held on Sept. 13 at the Lunder Center at Stone Hill, the event featured late-night access to the exhibition and live DJ sets by Ashley Venom and DJ Rayvino.
As a Haitian American visual artist, St. Hilaire’s work grapples with the history of the Caribbean country. She combines weaving, painting, and print-making to create layers and textures that embody the complex themes of colonialism and diaspora, which her art explores.
Clark Public Programs Coordinator Rachel Cruz ’23 and WCFM Events Director Chris Gontarek ’25 first met last year to discuss a possible collaboration to make the museum’s programming more engaging for students.
“The idea with the WCFM-Clark collaboration was to really push for a larger student presence at the Clark,” Gontarek said. “Invisible Empires” provided the perfect opportunity to undertake such a mission, Gontarek said, as it would expose students to lesser-known parts of the Clark like the Lunder Center.
“The Lunder Center tends to curate more towards the contemporary, which is for many students maybe even more of an interest than the Clark’s non-contemporary art, but people don’t even know it exists, which is a bit of a shame,” Gontarek said.
They also praised Associate Curator of Contemporary Projects Robert Wiesenberger — who curated St. Hilaire’s exhibition — for his commitment to supporting up-and-coming avant-garde artists. “I think this was the first major show for Kathia St. Hilaire, which is mega to have,” Gontarek added. “So, yeah, we should definitely be making use of [the Lunder Center].”
The obscurity of the Lunder Center led Cruz and Gontarek to plan one of the more striking parts of the festival — a spinning projection of St. Hilaire’s 2022 piece David at the entrance of the center, drawing people up the hill toward the festival. Gontarek credited Cruz for the careful curation of the event’s ambience. “The whole space — which is normally a bit more of a bright museum — could become very intimate and approachable to the students, and maybe had a bit more of a sexy vibe too,” Gontarek said.
Beyond increased student engagement, Cruz and Gontarek also hoped that the event would embody the essence of St. Hilaire’s work, celebrating Haitian culture and uplifting artists and local businesses.
Cruz and Gontarek considered the possibility of bringing Haitian DJs to the event as soon as they began planning it. “To highlight not only a visual artist, but also two queer Haitian DJs like Ashley Venom and [DJ Rayvino] Raven Heath, was a really special opportunity,” Cruz said.
Gontarek added that the organizers reached out to the DJs because of their commitments to social justice and their differences as artists. “DJ Rayvino has more of a house upbeat vibe but is also a local artist just starting their career, and Ashley Venom was a bit of a bigger artist to have and there’s a bit more techno,” Gontarek said. “The two of them were a great balance.”
Beyond the music, attendees were also offered food and drinks representative of the festival’s themes. Bezzle’s BBQ, an Adams-based family catering business, worked with the event planners to curate a menu of Haitian food to complement the exhibition. As for the drinks, Cruz reached out to Pittsfield-based and Latina-owned brewery Hot Plate Brewing, with which the Clark collaborated to create a beer inspired by St. Hilaire’s works and Haitian brewing traditions.
“They created this beautiful beer, also beautiful because of the label that they designed for it, which featured Kathia St. Hilaire’s David,” Cruz said, referencing the piece displayed at the Center’s entrance. “To be able to have all of those themes and the actual artwork come through on the beer was really incredible. It turned into an art piece in and of itself.”
Student attendees said that the festival’s collaborative nature and cultural importance drew them to the event. “I think it’s really cool that they were able to get people to go all the way there and dance and collaborate with students and not just have it be this sort of elitist event,” Alexa Greenberg ’27, who attended the event and recorded videos for WCFM, told the Record. “It made it more accessible to students, in a way, by having it be a space where you can dance and listen to music, but then also look at the art.”
Gontarek said that the event’s celebration of Haitian art and culture was especially important in the larger context of rising domestic prejudice against Haitian immigrants and the current political crisis in Haiti. “I think art and the conversations we can have around that can really help illuminate things that are happening all over, including Haiti right now,” Gontarek said. “Having the St. Hilaire exhibition and being able to have it open [after hours] so people could come inside, look at the wall text, and look at the art was really important.”
Both Gontarek and Cruz are looking forward to future collaborations between the Clark and the College’s student organizations.
“WCFM has a lot to offer cultural institutions in terms of our student voice, our community, and our ideas,” Gontarek said. “There’s a real strength in our cultural consumption as students, and we want to keep pushing it.”
Cruz echoed this sentiment. “I’m really looking forward to continuing the conversation with WCFM and the other student groups on campus,” she said. “But you’ll have to wait and see.”
[Editor’s note: Phoebe Pallesen, a features editor for the Record, is a WCFM board member and was not involved in the writing or editing of this article.]
