 Season Announcement
Season Presenting Sponsor: James A. and Mary Miller This exciting and diverse season offers contemporary art with historical perspective as well as new ideas, surprising artist groupings and the CAC's usual blend of incisive examinations of contemporary life alongside outstanding aesthetic imagery. » Download the CAC's 2007-08 Season Brochure » News Release: 2007-08 Season 2007-08 SEASONAmerica Starts Here: Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler November 10, 2007 - January 13, 2008 America Starts Here: Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler is a joint-project of the Tang Museum and the MIT List Visual Art Center, and is organized by Ian Berry and Bill Arning, their respective curators, in collaboration with Mel Ziegler.
During their decade-long collaboration (1985-1995), Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler produced some of the most profound and influential conceptual art projects of the time, ranging from important public projects and site-specific installations to drawings and mixed media sculptures. Ericson and Ziegler redefined public art in a way that was welcoming to a diverse set of communities. Rather than impose a conspicuous work of art upon a site or situation, the artists devised projects that that altered sites subtly, using poetic language and their idiosyncratic wit to illuminate mainstream American contexts and highlight individual community issues. America Starts Here, the first retrospective exhibition of Ericson and Ziegler's career, provides a critical analysis of the artists' still under-appreciated position in the history of 20th century art. The exhibition includes sculptures and installations, as well as models and video documents of site-specific works.
Space Is the Place February 2 - April 13, 2008 Curators: Alex Baker and Toby Kamps
The exhibition Space Is the Place is organized and circulated by iCI (Independent Curators International), New York. The exhibition, tour, and catalogue are made possible, in part, by a grant from the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, with additional support from the iCI Exhibition Partners.
Participating artists include: Laurie Anderson, Colette Gaiter, Lia Halloran, Ronald Jones, Nina Katchadourian, Oleg Kulik, Julian LaVerdiere, Aleksandra Mir, MIR Project, Damian Ortega, Marko Pelijhan in collaboration with Pact, Systems, Steve Roden, Jason Rogenes, Adam Ross, Katy Schimert, and Jane and Louise Wilson.
In a global moment preoccupied with terrestrial conflicts, why are so many artists fascinated by extraterrestrial subjects? Space Is the Place features an international selection of recent works on the theme of space exploration-its history, limitations, and potential. Certainly, the utopian promise of an intergalactic future promoted during the Cold War-era Space Race has not been realized. Today, however, the excitement and mystery of Star Trek's "final frontier" inspires contemporary artists around the world. Space research has advanced tremendously since the 1960s, but the challenges of technology, politics, and human nature have reshaped our conceptions of outer space. Space Is the Place reflects significant new attitudes toward the cosmos and a human role in it. The exhibition's paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations, and sound and video works depict outer space as a realm of infinite possibility, while they also reflect the dramatic social changes of the nearly fifty years since the launch of the Soviet Sputnik satellite.
LeWitt x 2 February 23 - May 4, 2008 Curated by Dean Swanson; organized and traveled by the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.
Sol LeWitt was one of the most influential artists of his generation and an active collector of contemporary art. LeWitt x 2 is comprised of two components presented in partnership with the Cincinnati Art Museum, who will exhibit Selections from the LeWitt Collection. The Contemporary Arts Center will exhibit Sol LeWitt: Structure and Line, featuring the work of this esteemed American artist over the course of his long and prolific career.
As a key figure in a generation of artists that rejected Abstract Expressionism, LeWitt bridged Minimalism and Conceptual Art by emphasizing ideas as the basis for creating art. In his words, "the idea is the machine that makes art." Exemplifying this approach are his monumental wall drawings, which are executed directly on the wall according to the artist's instruction, often by his assistants. Since completing his first wall drawing in 1968, he created over twelve hundred wall drawings for museums and public spaces around the world. LeWitt is also well known for his three-dimensional structures, a term he preferred to sculpture. Closely linked to the structures are LeWitt's works on paper, which range from his early explorations of line to colorful gouaches and the recent Scribble drawings. Sol LeWitt: Structure and Line will prominently feature drawings from the 1970's; gouaches from the early 1990's to present; a sampling of maquettes made for large-scale concretes block structures; and a number of his structures. These works are drawn from LeWitt's personal collection and provide an excellent overview of his career.
Generous funding for LeWitt x 2 has been provided by the Steinhauer Charitable Trust; J.H. Findorff & Son Inc.; Peggy Hedberg and John Niederhuber; John Neis and Chele Isaac; the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission with additional funds from the Endres Mfg. Company Foundation and the Overture Foundation; the Terry Family Foundation; the Art League of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art; and a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin. Daniel Libeskind February 23 - May 11, 2008 Curated by Cynthia Goodman
The architectural models, drawings and multimedia displays in this exhibition explore how the key themes in the work of architect Daniel Libeskind are conveyed through his innovative and unprecedented definition of space and materials. As shown in the selected works, these themes recur in his designs for museums, residential properties and commercial projects. Whatever the scale - ranging from a single family residence to a multimillion square foot commercial development, Libeskind's vision incites a radically different world view informed by the growing complexity of our contemporary world.
Idiot Joy Showland May 19 2008 Curated by John Pilson and Claudia Altman-Siegel Produced by Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery
Participating artists include: Jeffrey Scher, James Yamada, Alix Pearlstein, Laurel Nakadate, Michael Almereyda, An-My Le, Jenny Drumgoole, Guy Richards Smit, Chris Miner, Janet Cardiff and George Burres Miller and John Pilson.
The Contemporary Arts Center is proud to present Idiot Joy Showland, a program of artist films and videos. What is the current state of avant-garde film? Has video art become the primary arena in which film concepts are challenged? How does our absorption of this material change when we see it on a big screen in a gallery as compared to watching it on the monitor?
One of the goals of this presentation is to explore the content and context of current video art. Rather than presenting work around a specific theme, the short films in this show vary considerably and cover a tremendous range of topics, conventions and concepts. The range in age and aesthetics of the invited artists ensures that each piece is radically different. The uniting factor is that each of these films is short; most of them under five minutes.
American Idyll: Contemporary Art and Karaoke May 24 - August 24, 2008 Curated by Maiza Hixson Participating artists include: Joel Armor, Candice Breitz, Mark Harris, David Herbert, Mehdi Hercberg,
Christian Jankowski, Ryan Mulligan, Marisa Olson, Reid Radcliffe and
Jose Versoza. An-My Lê: Small Wars May 24 - August 10, 2008 An-My Lê: Small Wars is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago. The exhibition is funded by the Lannan Foundation. The exhibition is comprised of fifty gelatin silver prints with selections from An-My Lê's series 29 Palms (2003-present) and Small Wars (1999-2002). 29 Palms takes its name from the Marine base in southern California's Mojave Desert where she photographs American soldiers performing military training exercises in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan and Iraq. In this process the soldiers both rehearse their own roles and play the parts of their adversaries, a practice that includes many elements of artifice including tagging the military housing with mock anti-American graffiti and having the soldiers dress up as Iraqi police and civilians. Lê works with a large-format camera to capture these images of staged war, in compositions that give equal weight to the landscape in which the theater occurs. Lê's Small Wars series addresses how we remember, glorify, and imagine war after the fact. Lê, who was born in Saigon in 1960 and came to the United States as a refugee in 1975, created this series to explore, as she describes it, "the Vietnam of the mind." By joining the Vietnam War re-enactors on weekends in the woods of Virginia, Lê explores the absurdity of both war and its simulation, but does not make a mockery of the men's actions. Sensitive to the fact that what motivates them is often a complex web of psychological need, fantasy, and a passion for history, Lê probes the ways in which our memories and perceptions of the Vietnam War have been molded, and obscured, by Hollywood and the media. In the process she reminds us that violent battle is something that most of us can only imagine. Uncoordinated: Mapping Cartography in Contemporary Art May 17- August 17, 2008 Curated by Clare Norwood Brian Alfred, Francis Alys, Radcliffe Bailey, Jimmy Baker, Jonathan Callan, CLUI, Matt Coors, Russell Crotty, Leila Daw, Qin Ga, Torben Giehler, Zach Herrmann, Jay McCafferty, Tim McMichael, Aleksandra Mir, Mollie Oblinger, Bern Porter, Elin o'Hara Slavick, Yutaka Stone and others. Maps have a remarkable effect on our view of the world. At the root of their power is our frequently unquestioning acceptance of cartographic messages. Though we equate maps with truth, it is crucial to be conscious of the omissions and limitations of the map making process in order to create a readable map. Thus in turn, maps and their makers have the ability to manipulate their audience with the information chosen to include. This exhibition addresses the subjective nature of mapping, how we locate ourselves in consideration of changing boundaries and territories, and how we give visual form to boundaries, territories and land masses. Artists in this exhibition confront the politics of naming of places, cartographic attacks on ethnic sensitivity, maps as evidence in boundary disputes, extension of terrestrial boundaries into nautical masses, and maps as scientific and political voice. The war in Iraq and the Middle east, the changing scape of New Orleans, the shifting boundaries in Africa, expanding cities, suburbs, dwindling country and rezoning in our local communities- all of these issues are materials for artists in the exhibition. Continuing Exhibitions
Julian Stanczak August 3, 2007 - February 11, 2008 Curated by Cynthia Goodman Internationally significant artist Julian Stanczak's solo CAC show coincides with the unveiling of his design for Fifth Third Bank's Sixth Street Façade facing the CAC. In addition to the models and preparatory drawings for this transformation of the Sixth Street corridor, a collection of Julian Stanczak's work from throughout his career will provide a context for his newest monumental project. Polish-born Stanczak trained under Josef Albers and Conrad Marca-Relli at Yale University's School of Art and Architecture. He was one of the originators of the Op Art movement, bringing this background to the Art Academy of Cincinnati, where he taught from 1957-1964. Open House: Cincinnati Collects August 3 - October 14, 2007 Organized by the CAC Exhibition Sponsor: Dr. Stanley & Mickey Kaplan Foundation Installation Sponsor: Neyer Holdings Corporation Artist Sponsor: Oakley and Eva Farris Open House: Cincinnati Collects offers a glimpse into the most significant and surprising private collections in Greater Cincinnati. From paintings and drawings to sculpture, video, and photography, the diverse works in this exhibition reflect a wide range of collecting styles and sensibilities. Graphic Content: Contemporary and Modern / Art and Design (December 9, 2006 - February 11, 2008) Rotation 4: September 10 - December 3, 2007: Preston McClanahan, Coletta Martin and Amy Granat Rotation 5: December 10, 2007 - February 11, 2008: Ralston Crawford, Margaret Wenstrup and Matt Mullican Participating artists include: Ellen Berkenblit, Ralston Crawford, Amy Granat, Charley Harper, Edie Harper, William A. Leonard, Coletta Martin, Noel Martin, Preston McClanahan, Maybelle Stamper, and Margaret Wenstrup, among others. Mid-century modern design and painting with an emphasis on Cincinnati-based artists will be paired with contemporary works and installations by artists several generations younger. These pairings explore the blurred distinction between artist and designer, suggesting that such a designation has been called into question since at least mid-century. In addition, the selections highlight the unique community of artists working in Cincinnati in the 1940s and 50s. The CAC's own history is fundamentally connected to this group of artists, among them Ralston Crawford, Noel Martin, William A. Leonard, Charley Harper, and Edie Harper. Not only did these artists exhibit their work with the young museum (then called the Modern Art Society) but they also worked as designers and administrators, shaping the structure and graphic identity of the organization through logo design, printed material and catalogues. Recent generations of artists have begun looking back to the territory that was mined by the designers, artists, and modernists of the 20th Century. Graphic Content presents new installations paired with works from the mid-20th Century to highlight the relevance of looking back to the history of artistic and commercial production generated from this region.
The installation and graphic identity of this exhibition is designed by Todd Oldham. Oldham, one of the most influential and prolific designers working today, frequently branches into areas beyond the traditional scope of contemporary design. His work bridges gaps between design theory and practical applications. With many of his projects Oldham has quoted from the language of modernity, providing new perspectives on mid-century artists and designers.
Todd Oldham / Studio have produced a series of books with Charley and Edie Harper, which will be released July, 2007. For the first time ever, Charley's life's work is being presented in this 440-page, full-color, hardcover book. Four separate limited edition printings include a silk screen print in each edition (edition size is 250). Prints include: Grand Canyon print, Shadow Dancers print, Mountain Bluebird print, Green Jay print. Copies available at the CAC Store. The Long View: A Film Exhibition October 15 - November 8, 2007 Organized by CAC with guest curators Charles Woodman and Russ Johnson
Filmmakers include: Steve Gebhardt, Marco Tullio Giordana, Jean-Luc Godard, Jonas Mekas, Edgar Reitz, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, Bela Tarr, Peter Watkins, Andy Warhol, and Frederick Wiseman.
This year-long exhibition of long-form films concludes with Heimat 3 by Edgar Reitz (October 15 - 27) and The Best of Youth by Marco Tullio Giordana (October 28 - November 8). |
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