Night Café

About the Gallery
Night Café is a contemporary art gallery based in London, founded in May 2023. Working with an international group of emerging artists, the gallery focuses on presenting multidisciplinary and research-led exhibitions. By bringing together works across different disciplines to explore a concept, the gallery pays homage to Parisian discursive café culture.

About the Presentation
Mandy Franca will make her New York debut in a solo presentation with Night Café, a first-time exhibitor at Independent.

Gazing through the large glass windows in her home as clouds drift by, Mandy Franca has spent most of last year resting in bed due to illness. Contemplating her own loss of verticality amidst William Pope.L's exploration of the vertical and Zygmunt Bauman's concept of “liquid modernity”, she reflects on the contrast between her own immobile state and the fluidity of the world around her. Observing the movement of the clouds, historically a symbol of freedom, Franca ruminates on her own physical limitations while peering out of her window. Noticing similarities between the collapse and exposure of global structures and the illusion of freedom in contemporary society, she questions the broader, intertwined concepts of freedom and humanity in our era.