Ortega y Gasset Projects (OyG) is a non-profit artist-run curatorial collective and exhibition space in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Founded in April 2013 in Bushwick, Brooklyn, by Lauren Adams, Joshua Bienko, Clare Britt, Carrie Hott, Jessica Langley, Leeza Meksin, Sheilah Wilson and Karla Wozniak, OyG moved to Gowanus in February 2015. OyG gained non-profit status in 2016. Ortega y Gasset Projects came together as an artist-run space in April 2013 when a group of artists realized how much their practices were dictated by their circumstances. José Ortega y Gasset’s famous maxim “yo soy yo y mi circunstancia” (I’m myself and my circumstance) deeply resonated with the group, so they named the space as a nod to the philosopher’s pragmatism and realist phenomenology, that came to be known as the “philosophy of life.” Ortega y Gasset Projects will be celebrating our 9 year anniversary in May 2022. OyG is entirely run by working artists, who recognize that exploration is key to artistic vitality. We embrace an exploratory model where artists take the role of curator, critic and promoter. Working without concern for commercial profit or an explicit curatorial ideology, the goal of OyG is to mount exhibitions that support under-represented, marginalized artists and emerging artists, provoke dialogue and bolster artistic community . In doing so, we participate within a wider forum to disseminate aesthetic experience and expand our roles, priorities and scope of influence within art culture. Half of the current co-directors of OyG live outside of New York City. Working collaboratively over geographical distances allows OyG to extend beyond local communities and forge larger networks of cultural dialogue. The 9 artists who are currently the co-directors of OyG are: Eleanna Anagnos (Mexico City / Brooklyn, NY) Clare Britt (Chicago, IL; co-founder) Eric Hibit (Queens, NY) Leeza Meksin (Ithaca, NY & NYC; co-founder) Adam Liam Rose (Brooklyn, NY) Nickola Pottinger (Brooklyn, NY) Tiffany Smith (Brooklyn, NY) Zahar Vaks (Brooklyn, NY) Lauren Whearty (Philadelphia, PA)

What is pleasure in the face of the disasters we're facing today? The works in Pleasure Tense activate the haptic sensuality of touch, while wrestling with the intensity, terror and tension that surrounds us right now everywhere we look. Punning on the double meaning of "tense" as in verb tense and tense as in becoming stretched tight or rigid due to anxiety or nervousness, OyG Projects culls together a show of painting, drawing, video, textiles and sculptural works to highlight these contradictions. Pleasure Tense presents artworks by Cameron Granger, Eric Hibit, Anastasia Komar, Leeza Meksin, Padma Rajendran, Adam Liam Rose, Winnie Sidharta, Kate Stone, Lauren Whearty.