Groans of pain and the sound of encouraging voices greet visitors to Carolyn Lazard’s solo at Artists Space where two videos and an installation of linoleum flooring center on women’s medical experience. While most visitors will overlook the show’s soft institutional flooring, the drama of a birthing scene in ‘Fiction Contract’ grabs the attention immediately. Peering over the shoulder of a team of midwives in Elmhurst Hospital in Queens as they run into difficulty delivering a baby, our absorption little reduced by the fact that the patient and infant are mannequins. Part of a training exercise facilitated by the Maternal Mortality Reduction Program, the simulated scenario encourages audiences to consider the complexity of birthing situations, the professionalism of staff and the importance of funding to ensure equitable health care. (On view through May 10th in Tribeca.)
