Diane Meyer: Without a Car in the World
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Without A Car In The World: 100 Car-less Angelinos Tell Stories of Living in Los Angeles
October 17 – December 11, 2009
Opening Reception; October 17, 2009 6:00 p.m-9:00 p.m
Santa Monica, CA –Without A Car In The World (100 Car-less Angelinos Tell Stories of Living in Los Angeles) opens Saturday, October 17, at the 18th Street Arts Center. This final exhibition of 2009 features 100 photographs by artist Diane Meyer with accompanying narratives from persons who live without a car in Los Angeles.
Gallery hours are Monday – Friday 11am-6pm. 18th Street Arts Center is located at 1639 18th Street, Santa Monica. For further information and images please visit our pressroom/gallery at http://18thstreet.org/pressroom.html
Considering The Unthinkable, Angelinos Getting Rid of Their CARs
According to the 2000 US Census, Los Angeles County residents are more than twice as likely to have 3 or more cars than to have no car. In this exploration of a car-less society, Ms. Meyer re-envisions a new Los Angeles through images and text from the many interviews she conducted. The exhibition addresses how car culture has shaped psychological, spatial and geographic perceptions of the city. The subjects of Ms. Meyer’s photographs have given up their cars for a variety of reasons ranging from ideological, financial or health-related issues. Some are motivated by anxiety after experiencing traumatic car accidents, while others are involved in environmental activism or simple disinterest in car culture. By bringing together these various voices through the images and text, the exhibition will ultimately address transportation alternatives. It will also provide a voice to a group of individuals often perceived to be disenfranchised in some way for not having an automobile.
For the last year Diane Meyer conducted conversational interviews with a diverse cross section of Los Angeles citizens. Each interview was recorded and the subjects were photographed. The exhibition of photographs is comprised of 100 photographs of individuals juxtaposed with text narratives formulated from the interviews. Ms. Meyer interviewed the participants in her project while riding public transportation throughout the city, making it a point to travel on different bus lines that intersect diverse neighborhoods within the city
Diane Meyer is an Assistant Professor of Photography at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Her work has been exhibited at a wide range of venues throughout the United States and Canada including solo exhibitions at AIR Gallery, NYC; and the Society of Contemporary Photography, Kansas City; and group exhibitions at The Bronx Museum of Art, NYC; Jessica Murray Projects, NYC; Jen Bekman Gallery, NYC; Spaces, Cleveland; Arthouse, Austin; Cuchifritos Gallery, NYC; Lennox Contemporary, Toronto; Rotunda Gallery, NYC; Fox Gallery, Phildephia; and others. She has been an artist in residence at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Smack Mellon, and the CUE Art Foundation. Ms. Meyer was a former artist in residence at the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica. She recently gave up her car and is navigating the city using a combination of walking, biking, and taking the bus.
About 18th Street Arts Center
18th Street annually sets a theme for its exhibitions, which acts as a unifying principle for the curators and artists working with the center. The theme for 2009 is Almost Utopia: Los Angeles in 2019. 18th Street Artistic Director Clayton Campbell says “I am asking the curators and artists involved with Almost Utopia to look forward a mere ten years with optimism. And, to find the desire to expand our worldview through the art making and ‘outside the box’ ideas of our guest artists. We are in a proactive era, yet remain mindful of the challenges in accomplishing reform and improvements in quality of life issues. In a new economic reality and rapidly evolving political and social infrastructure in California, Los Angeles is changing at record speed in ways yet to be fully understood. Almost Utopia may provide some clues to the direction already underway. We are pleased to have Diane Meyers’ exhibition be the capstone on this extraordinary year of research and inquiry by contemporary artists at 18th Street.”
18th Street Arts Center programs are generously funded by the City of Santa Monica, the Santa Monica Arts Commission, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, California Community Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the James Irvine Foundation, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and the Getty Foundation.
18th Street Arts Center’s mission is to provoke public dialogue through contemporary art making. 18th Street is a community which values art making as an essential component of a vibrant, just and healthy society.
-End December 11, 2009
War As a Way of Life
December 19, 2008 4:42 pm
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“WAR AS A WAY OF LIFE”
concludes our yearlong examination of electoral issues at 18th Street Arts Center
Curated by Clayton Campbell,
With Susan Crile, Binh Danh, Barry Frydlender, Cindy Kane, Hometown Baghdad, Marty Horowitz, Ronald Lopez, Christina McPhee, Catherine Opie, Stacey Peralta, David Reeb, Sinan Leong Revell, Daniel Ruanova, Larry Scarpa, and Mark Spencer featuring 2008 Artist Fellow Amitis Motevalli
September 27 – December 19, 2008
Opening Reception Saturday, September 27, 6-9 pm
18th Street Arts Center concludes our 2008 exhibition series, The Future of Nations, with War as a Way of Life. Curated by 18th Street Artistic Director Clayton Campbell, we are proud to present a stellar group of international and Californian visual artists, many of whom are contributing works which will be seen for the first time. War As a Way of Life examines the phenomenology of how people who are exposed to long-term effects of war or conflict are transformed. Using photography, video, mixed media, and painting, the artists look at how war, which is either abroad, in our own neighborhoods, or even in our families, is affecting future generations perceptions of themselves and their communities.
“War can be in Iraq, it can be in our own city, or it can be in our homes. Whether it is a misbegotten foreign adventure run by incompetent politicians and corrupt industrialists; a neighborhood terrified of the gangs that control it; or our own psyches polluted with media images of slashers, serial killers, and pornographic action stars, violence is undeniably and unpredictably transformative. I have invited an extraordinary group of national and international artists to participate in War As a Way of Life. Their responses are insightful and diverse, and they look closely at personal, and very human responses, to the effects of conflict of our communities. “War As A Way of Life” is being presented during an intense election year, for the ‘future of the nation’ is not clear, and an understanding of what is happening to our collective psyche is critical to real transformative change both positive and proactive.”
The exhibition, which opens September 27 and continues through December 19, forms the final part of “Future of Nations,” 18th Street’s yearlong examination of issues related to the 2008 presidential campaign. It includes works by Susan Crile, Binh Danh, Barry Frydlender, Hometown Baghdad, Marty Horowitz, Cindy Kane, Ronald Lopez, Christina McPhee, Catherine Opie, Stacey Peralta, David Reeb, Sinan Leong Revell, Daniel Ruanova, Larry Scarpa, and Mark Spencer, as well as “Threshold of the Innocents and Martyred,” an installation in the project room by Amitis Motevalli, 18th Street 2008 Artist Fellow. A catalogue with an essay by the curator will accompany the exhibition.
Clayton Campbell (Curator) is an artist and arts organizer who has been with 18th Street Arts Center since 1995 and currently holds the position of Artistic Director. He specializes in international cultural exchange and artist residencies and is the Artist Residency Advisor, United States Artists; and past President of the International Network of Residential Arts Centers, (Res Artis). He has been a trustee of the Alliance of Artist Communities; consultant for the government of Taiwan’s international artist in residence program; the Rockefeller Bellagio artist residency program; and for the UCLA Fowler Museum’s public arts programming. He is a widely published arts writer and is the Los Angeles editor for Contemporary Magazine, London, and Flash Art International. In 2002 the French Government awarded him the distinction of Chevalier, Order of Arts and Letters for his international work in the field of arts and culture.
“War as a Way of Life” is made possible (in part) by the City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Arts Commission, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the James Irvine Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, the Peter Norton Family Foundation and special thanks to Regen Projects and the Andrea Meisel Gallery.
18th Street Arts Center is one of Southern California’s most historic alternative art organizations, seeking to provoke public dialogue through contemporary art making. 18th Street’s programs include residencies for Los Angeles artists and arts organizations, residencies for international visiting artists, two galleries for visual arts exhibitions, and free art events for the public.
The Future of Nations
September 29, 2008 5:01 pm
THE FUTURE OF NATIONS
2008 Season of Exhibitions
September 29, 2007 – December 19, 2008
Opening reception event: Saturday, January 26, 6-9:00
“We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.” John F. Kennedy
Santa Monica, CA – As part of its mission to create a forum for civic engagement through the arts, 18th Street Arts Center proudly presents “The Future of Nations,” their 2008 season of exhibitions dedicated to examining the issues related to the 2008 presidential campaign. While doubling as a legal polling place throughout 2008, 18th Street is the only arts center in southern California devoting an entire season to artists who are addressing issues surrounding the election.
“The Future of Nations” aims to address many issues that will determine the future of this country. Using the broad themes of the Constitution, Demographics, Environment and War, artists and curators will create a forum for the issues of our time while examining this country’s highly politicized demeanor.
The event will also be reflective of a diversity of opinions and art-making practices. “The artists involved come from diverse political, religious, cultural, and artistic backgrounds. This is not a monolithic group espousing a narrow political art agenda,” says 18th Street Artistic Director Clayton Campbell. “Rather it is a group of humanists who care about the quality of life around us and feel their contributions are part of mainstream cultural and social conversations.
“Everywhere I have been over the past three years, artists and curators have obsessively talked about the Bush administration, the Iraq war, immigration, abortion, all of the hot button issues that directly affect our lives,” Campbell continues. “Yet not one arts organization or arts gallery was taking this on in a significant and sustained manner. There is a tremendous amount of caution and fear in the air. In response 18th Street will provide an outlet for the tremendous unseen energy artists have generated relative to the 2008 Presidential election and all it stands for.”
18th Street Arts Center is dedicated to providing direct support to artists and has awarded fellowships to Linda Pollack, Tyler Stallings, and Al Nodal. They will curate exhibitions in the 18th Street main gallery. Additionally, artists Kyungmi Shin, Amitis Motevalli, and Los Animistas have received fellowships to create new installation work in 18th Street’s Project Room Gallery, which has been opened especially for “The Future of Nations” season. Campbell adds, “As a leading alternative arts center in the United States, this is the mission, and therefore the role, I see for 18th Street Arts Center: to question, probe, reflect on tough subjects that other cultural institutions or market driven venues will not address.”
The yearlong exhibit is supported by grants by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Asian Cultural Council, Australia Council for the Arts, California Community Foundation, Circuit City Stores Inc., the Durfee Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, InterfaceFLOR, Los Angeles Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, the Peter Norton Family Foundation, the Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division, and the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
Schedule of Exhibitions
January 14, 2008 – March 28, 2008
“Patriot Acts” and “The Habeas Lounge”
Curated by Linda Pollack, and featuring the installation, the Habeas Lounge
With Francesca Zeal Harris, Sara Hendren, Vincent Johnson, Hillary Mushkin, Meena Nanji + Tommy Gear, Adam Overton, Rebecca Ripple, Susan Silton, Pam Strugar, and Shirley Tse
April 12-June 13, 2008
“100% Other: Artists and Psycho-Demographic Transitions”
Curated by Tyler Stallings, featuring artist fellow Kyungmi Shin
With Matthew Bryant, Cheryl Gilge, Perry Vasquez and Yasuko.
July 12-September 19, 2008
“Environments”*
Curated by Al Nodal, featuring artist fellows Los Animistas
With Ala Plastica (Argentina), Los Animistas (US/Cuba), Lauren Bon (US), BULBO (Mexico) CoLabART – Lynn Small/Dennis Paul (US), Fallen Fruit (US), Natalie Jeremijenko (US) Shannon Spanahake (US/MX), Kim Stringfellow (US), Tom Reddock (US), Robert Tannen (US), Echo Park Film Center (US)
October 4-December 19, 2008
“War As A Way of Life”*
Curated by Clayton Campbell, featuring artist fellow Amitis Motevalli
With Cathie Opie, David Reeb, Binh Danh, and Susan Crile
* Full roster of artists still in development
18th Street Arts Center is Southern California’s premier alternative contemporary art and artist residency center, supporting emerging to mid-career artists and arts organizations dedicated to issues of community, diversity, and social justice in contemporary society. 18th Street’s programs include residencies for Los Angeles artists and arts organizations, residencies for international visiting artists, two galleries for visual arts exhibitions, and free art events for the public.
- END January 1, 2009 -
War as a Way of Life: AMITIS MOTEVALLI
September 27, 2008 4:35 pm
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“Haram eh Massoumeen va Shohad ha (Threshold of the Innocents and Martyred)” By Amitis Motevalli
18th Street Arts Center, Project Room Gallery
September 27 – December 19, 2008
Opening Reception Saturday, September 27, 6-9 pm Performance 6:30 – 8:30
18th Street Arts Center concludes our 2008 exhibition series, The Future of Nations, with War as a Way of Life. Curated by 18th Street Artistic Director Clayton Campbell, in conjunction with the exhibit, Artist Fellow, Amitis Motevalli debuts Haram eh Massoumeen va Shohad ha (Threshold of the Innocents and Martyred) in our Project Room Gallery.
Motevalli creates an environment in the project room reminiscent of Islamic shrines throughout Iran and juxtaposed over LA street shrines for those who lost their lives in the urban wars. These shrines are erected to revere and pay homage to the lives of people who are victims of war, and/or died as martyrs. In this installation, Amitis Motevalli brings in
contemporary issues of war and occupation, while exploring definitions of martyrdom. Motevalli states, ” The shrine is dedicated to those who have lost their lives in recent homicides at the hands of Law Enforcement upholding occupation. I celebrate the lives of the contemporary shaheed who have been defiled in the news and media or simply not mentioned.” This Installation/Performance will be a discourse on the ultimate need for dominance by people and institutions of power. Haram eh Massoumeen va Shohad ha (Threshold of the Innocents and Martyred,) brings together those who have experienced this violence, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Los Angeles, Oakland, New York City, in the crossings of borders, in detention centers or prisons.
Amitis Motevalli was born in Tehran, Iran and moved to the US in 1977. Her work as an artist incorporates a combination of near-eastern aesthetic with a western art education. Motevalli states, “Being an immigrant in the US shows in my work a duality of culture, both natural and learned. In all of my work, I create a dialogue that critiques dominant views of oppressed people and culture in general”. Her work in art education is with youth who share a similar duality in vision. Motevalli has been active in creating social change with her students on issues of civil rights within the class through pedagogy or working with students and community to organize around issues that effect their quality of life and access to education. Amitis Motevalli is a recipient of the California Community Foundation Fellowship and the
Visions of California Award and a James Irvine Foundation Fellow. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles, exhibiting art nationally and abroad as well as organizing to create an active and resistant cultural discourse through information exchange, either in art, pedagogy or organizing artist and educators.
Amitis Motevalli, is one of four, Artists fellow for our 2008 season that has been made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts.
18th Street Arts Center is one of Southern California’s most historic alternative art organizations, seeking to provoke public dialogue through contemporary art making. 18th Street’s programs include residencies for Los Angeles artists and arts organizations, residencies for international visiting artists, two galleries for visual arts exhibitions, and free art events for the public.
- END December 20, 2008 -
“Citizen Artists Making Emphatic Arguments”
July 12, 2008 4:49 pm
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“CITIZEN ARTISTS MAKING EMPHATIC ARGUMENTS”
Continues a year long examination of electoral issues at 18th Street Arts Center
Curated by Adolfo V. Nodal, featuring artist fellow Los Animistas
With Ala Plastica, Lauren Bon, BULBO, CoLabART (Lynn Small + Dennis Paul), Echo Park Film Center, Fallen Fruit, Invisible 5, Natalie Jeremijenko, Newton & Hellen Mayer Harrison, Tom Reddock, Shannon Spanhake, Kim Stringfellow, Robert Tannen
July 12 – September 13, 2008
Opening Reception Saturday, July 12, 6-9 pm
Santa Monica, CA – In this election year, who will turn “saving energy” from a mere ad
campaign to a real lifestyle change, who will step up to the plate to make radical changes from green washing media hype into revolutionary living beyond crude oil and other accepted fossil burning “necessities” – and what will be the impact on the future of the nation?
18th Street Arts Center turns its gallery yet again to a myriad of work that is profound, inspiring, active, and charged with social implications with its show “Citizen Artists Making Emphatic Arguments.”
The exhibition, which opens July 12 and continues through September 13, forms the third
installment of “Future of Nations,” 18th Street’s yearlong examination of issues related to the 2008 presidential campaign. “Citizen Artists Making Emphatic Arguments” is curated by Adolfo V. Nodal and includes works by Ala Plastica, Lauren Bon, BULBO, CoLabART (Lynn Small + Dennis Paul), Echo Park Film Center, Fallen Fruit, Invisible 5, Natalie Jeremijenko, Newton & Helen Mayer Harrison, Tom Reddock, Shannon Spanhake, Kim Stringfellow, and Robert Tannen, as well as an installation in the project room by Los Animistas, 18th Street’s 2008 artist fellow.
In response to a gloomy forecast in current world events, and lack of government action, Citizen Artists not only step up but address the problems with emphatic arguments toward making our world a better environment for the future of nations. Mr. Nodal states, “The Citizen Artists have employed a collaborative process with a multidisciplinary approach, involving all creative disciplines in collaboration with politicians, environmental activists, scientists, and community organizers to help individuals and communities understand and face the challenges of environmental justice, global environmental degradation, and for the last eight years, US indifference to environmental issues facing our world. Over the last three years this exciting momentum for creative solutions of many kinds has reached a critical mass.”
18th Street Arts Center. Citizen Artists Making Emphatic Arguments. Page 2 of 2
As just a few examples, Artist Tom Reddock sets the stage with a sound work comprised of thunderous sounds, birds chirping, waves crashing, and mysterious synthesized sounds.
Kim Stringfellow’s photography is paradoxically beautiful. Bombay Beach, part of a body of work entitled, Greetings from the Salton Sea depicts the remains of a dilapidated turquoise bus sitting in a reddish brown foamy, soup-like substance with a rich blue background that lightens as the sky descends upon the bus.
In Super Nova, Robert Tannen, delights us with his current passion, boulder fragments of the planet, literally. Accompanied by drawings and photographs of these fragments of Earth, which overall look more like a shrine to a beloved one that has passed away, this piece is part of a body of work entitled, Star Dust.
Regarding the complete body of work, Adolfo Nodal states, “Together they represent a great mix of ideas and approaches that are becoming a critical mass of activism and capturing the imagination of the world.… They all serve as emphatic arguments in the development of the discourse on the future of the planet.”
“Citizen Artists Making Emphatic Arguments” is made possible (in part) by the City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Arts Commission, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, the Peter Norton Family Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and the James Irvine Foundation.
Adolfo V. Nodal (Curator) has served as the Executive Director of Contemporary Arts
Institutions in Washington, DC. (Washington Project for the Arts, 1978-83), Los Angeles, CA. (Otis Parsons School of Art Exhibition Center, 1983-87) and New Orleans, Louisiana
(Contemporary Arts Center, 1988). He has served as trustee of several local and national arts institutions including Americans For The Arts, the National Assembly Of Local Arts Agencies (NALAA), The Urban Arts Federation, and as a founding member of the National Association of Artists Organizations LA Works, and LA Shares (Materials for the Arts). Currently Mr. Nodal is President of the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission. He is also Project General Manager for the Annenberg Foundation/FarmLab LLC where he is overseeing the construction of major public art projects in Los Angeles. He also works in the area of cultural development and the political evolution of his native Cuba.
18th Street Arts Center is Southern California’s premier alternative contemporary art and artist residency center, supporting emerging to mid- career artists and arts organizations dedicated to issues of community, diversity, and social justice in contemporary society.18th Street’s programs include residencies for Los Angeles artists and art organizations, residencies for international visiting artists, two galleries for visual arts exhibitions, and free events for the public.
