#ui-intermediaconcepts-institutes

[monetcantbuymelove]

Wangechi Mutu

 A Promise to Communicate

This sculptural piece will be on display at the Institution of Contemporary Art/Boston in January. It is done in the medium of paper pulp, glue, and red soil. 

This piece seems very intentional, because of the two different mediums. One a smoothed and gritty light brown, the other a soft crinkled smoke grey. Mutu’s sculpture feels very allegorical in these choices, although what theme she is trying to evoke still feels mysterious until one takes the title into consideration.

A Promise to Communicate is a fantastic title, it’s basically a poem in itself. A promise gives the viewer the idea of yearning, of being away from where one wants to be or who one wants to be. To communicate is such a seeming simple idea, and yet it’s such a loaded phrase. What does the word imply? Is it enough to just greet a person for the two of you to be communicating or do you have to emphasize with them to the fullest extent of your abilities?

Furthermore, Mutu’s choice the translate this idea into a 3d sculptural work resonates, she is solely a sculptor so we have to ask, why she thought that this theme would work best in this form. An answer that comes to mind, is that she wanted the viewers to be especially cognizant of this idea and its relevance to the here and now. A yearning to empathize and bridge gaps is certainly present in the world today, and yet the goal itself is amorphous and can’t really be defined. 

I think that Mutu captures that longing very well in her piece. The grey material looks like fingers, reaching, grasping, just barely touching. Their surface a complicated and labyrinthine shape that describes a diverse and willing population. The goal that the fingers are reaching for an alien and idealized shape.

[sarahshoemakerphoto-blog]

Institutes of Contemporary Art

I clicked on the New Museum link because I’ve always wanted to go to New York City. The first thing I saw when I got to the website was an exhibition “Trigger: Gender is a Tool and a Weapon”. I clicked on it instantly to check it out. I did realize that the youngest artist featured in this exhibition 1987. I think they could've included younger artists. I think that having a wide age range in this exhibition could make it better because each generation has different views on political issues.  

[flezner]

Atlanta Contemporary

Matthew Angelo Harrison: Dark Povera Part 1

https://atlantacontemporary.org/exhibitions/matthew-angelo-harrison

One aspect of the Atlanta Contemporary’s website that really grabbed my attention was the way it allowed me to interact with the works on the website. I was viewing it on my phone and it has mobile touchscreen compatibility so I could shift images around on the website. I layered them on top of each other and examined each individually. It seems like such a small addition but added so much more to the experience of viewing the work for me as a spectator. The function has me thinking about ways I could implement something similar in my own work.

The art I viewed was by artist Matthew Angelo Harrison and the work consisted of 3D printed recreations of classical African masks. The reproductions were low quality and the machine, built by himself, is a 3D printer that uses clay as it’s filament. It is engineered to intentionally lose detail with each graduated reproduction of an image. 

The website speaks about how this parallels the relationship between continental Africans and their diasporic relatives here in the US. It speaks on how each reproduction is a unique work in its own right. So, the reproduction is not quite the reproduction. but the reproduction amounts only to a distillation of the original. Its goal is to emulate that African culture is not quite African American culture. Where this analogy fails in its inability to encompass the many ways in which African American culture does not attempt to imitate African culture, but spawns American and African, an entirely new culture beyond just the distillation or imitation of another.

[iowa-keanureeves-blog]

I was drawn to the Atlanta Contemporary site because I have been to Atlanta before. It was such a cute little city, but I never had the chance to do much in the way of art whilst I was there. One of their current exhibits is by Anna Betbeze and titled Venus. Her art consists of a few different pieces which seem to be in a room by themselves. They consist of dyed animal fur that is stitched together and then displayed on the walls and floors. They aren’t dyed natural colors though. They are purple, pink, yellow, blue, orange and green. The colors seep into one another and the stitching is messy. It looks like a bunch of animals got into paint and then started snuggling together to stay warm. I also wanted to write about the Hammer Museum’s website because it is in LA- a place I have also been to and also a place that continues to interest me. I searched around the website and was impressed by all the talks they had going on. There were book signings and even a Q and A session about the movie, The Big Sick. I was drawn to the Armand Hammer Collection- the man that founded the museum. This collection features works from the 16th and 17th century that apparently reflect Hammer’s interests. It included American and European sculptures, paintings, works and works on paper. Most of the works either feature trees or they are portraits of a particular man or woman+.

[slimedawgmillionaires]

Trenton Doyle Hancock’s exhibition at The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis speaks to me greatly on a visual level. “The Re-Evolving Door to the Moundverse” does an amazing job at exemplifying Hancock’s style, which incorporates text and heavily-outlined images that are reminiscent of newspaper comics. My interest in the few images posted on CAM’s website pushed me to seek out more of his work, which I found to be very though-provoking and inspiring.

[phantomintermedia-blog]

I poked around on almost all the sites in the list, and New Museum in NYC caught my attention the most. This is an image from an exhibition happening there right not, called “Triggered: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon” On the site it says that it “ investigates gender’s place in contemporary art and culture at a moment of political upheaval and renewed culture wars. “ Which drew my eye right away, since I am also very interested in gender. Definitely listen to all the “Dig Deeper” audio things. Really really cool.

From all the images I can find of it. It seems like something I would really enjoy. And the New Museum also looks like a place I would definitely want to go to!

[sha-zap]

Top video taken from The Institute of Contemporary Art Boston

Bottom photo taken from the Mistake Room in LA

Shown here are two different pieces of work that will be part of the opening of a new art building in Boston. The ICA Watershed, to be a part of the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, is a new space that will be free and open to the public next year.

This first exhibition will be closely tied to environmental issues and animal rights, which seems rather fitting given the Watershed is located just off of a pier, accessible by boat from the original museum. Diana Thater’s film work, Delphine, will be showcased on walls, using the new space to her advantage by breaking from the usual boxed-in screen image.

A sculptural video instillation by Thater, A Runaway World, will also be shown, showcasing scenes of the lives and habits of animal species close to extinction. These videos will be shown on freestanding screens, so that the viewers may walk around the work.

Thater is a political activist as well as an artist, working for SaveJapanDolphins.org under the Earth Island Institute. Her work has been featured full length on the ARTE channel in France, and excerpts have been featured ABC, CNN, BBC, Frontline, and 60 minutes.

[shangxiaban]

museum of contemporary art, this project is really good, catch my eyes, like stars falling down to the hell.

[iowa-keanureeves-blog]

Institutes

I was drawn to the Atlanta Contemporary site because I have been to Atlanta before. It was such a cute little city, but I never had the chance to do much in the way of art whilst I was there. One of their current exhibits is by Anna Betbeze and titled Venus. Her art consists of a few different pieces which seem to be in a room by themselves. They consist of dyed animal fur that is stitched together and then displayed on the walls and floors. They aren’t dyed natural colors though. They are purple, pink, yellow, blue, orange and green. The colors seep into one another and the stitching is messy. It looks like a bunch of animals got into paint and then started snuggling together to stay warm. I also wanted to write about the Hammer Museum’s website because it is in LA- a place I have also been to and also a place that continues to interest me. I searched around the website and was impressed by all the talks they had going on. There were book signings and even a Q and A session about the movie, The Big Sick. I was drawn to the Armand Hammer Collection- the man that founded the museum. This collection features works from the 16th and 17th century that apparently reflect Hammer’s interests. It included American and European sculptures, paintings, works and works on paper. Most of the works either feature trees or they are portraits of a particular man or woman+.