LA 2019: Cults, Collectives & Cocooning
curated by Ciara Ennis
Artists:
Cathy Akers | Heather Cantrell | Fallen Fruit | Olga Koumoundouros | Jason Middlebrook | Bede Murphy with UNARIUS | Machine Project with Jim Fetterly | William Ransom | Stephanie Smith (WSAC?) | Joel Tauber
Artist Fellow in the Project Room: Nuttaphol Ma
May 2 – June 27, 2009
ABOUT CULTS, COLLECTIVES & COCOONING
Despite worldwide financial panic, ecological disasters and general global malaise, the exhibition LA 2019: CULTS, COLLECTIVES & COCOONING conjures a surprisingly positive image of what Los Angeles might be in the near future. Presenting an alternative to the doom-ridden scenarios of future dystopias prefigured in speculative fictions Blade Runner, Fahrenheit 451, and Soylent Green, the exhibition instead suggests a destiny of collaborative and community based ventures that focus on the group rather than the individual experience. LA 2019: CULTS, COLLECTIVES & COCOONING pictures a prospective Los Angeles that rejects its anonymous sprawling suburbs in favor of a return to village life with all the allegiances and intimacy that entails. Neighborhoods become self-sustaining and self-governing entities that rely on home production and barter, rotation of back-yard crops and fertilizing their vegetable gardens with the guano of patio-raised chickens. Business is conducted between hamlets traveled to and from by bio-fueled vehicles, delivery tricycles, horses and donkeys.
Featuring objects, installations, photography, drawing and video works by emerging and established artists the exhibition explores three related themes: real and fictional intentional communities, the power of the collective versus the individual, and sustainable solutions for future living.
Inspired by historical and fictional utopias Thomas Moores Utopia, Samuel Butlers Erewhon, B.F. Skinners Walden II and Octavia Butlers Parable of the Sower the exhibition explores current attitudes towards intentional communities and the desire to commit to alternative belief systems typified by the Unarius UFO cult. Historic art collectives such as Bauhaus and the more recent Rotterdam-based Atelier van Lieshout are examined in relation to the emergence of contemporary artist groups. Privileging communal art-making activities, diverse practices and disciplines, and increased audience participation these collectives champion the power of the collective over the individual. Artists weary of the hefty bank-balance approach to green living, explore alternative sustainable solutions for a future lifestyle that focuses on affordable, practical resolutions that reference the past as much as they do the future.
Inspired by historical and fictional utopias Thomas Moores Utopia, Samuel Butlers Erewhon, B.F. Skinners Walden II and Octavia Butlers Parable of the Sower the exhibition explores current attitudes towards intentional communities and the desire to commit to alternative belief systems typified by the Unarius UFO cult. Historic art collectives such as Bauhaus and the more recent Rotterdam-based Atelier van Lieshout are examined in relation to the emergence of contemporary artist groups. Privileging communal art-making activities, diverse practices and disciplines, and increased audience participation these collectives champion the power of the collective over the individual. Artists weary of the hefty bank-balance approach to green living, explore alternative sustainable solutions for a future lifestyle that focuses on affordable, practical resolutions that reference the past as much as they do the future.
ABOUT CIARA ENNIS
Ciara Ennis (M.A., Royal College of Art, London, UK), is the Director/Curator of Pitzer Art Galleries at Pitzer College and was the Curator of Exhibitions, UCR/California Museum of Photography, particularly of Still, Things Fall From the Sky (2005), Ruby Satellite (2006), and Eloi: Stumbling Towards paradise (2007). Ennis moved from London to Los Angeles where she was Project Director for “Public Offerings,” an international survey of contemporary art, at MOCA, Los Angeles, 2001. From there she became Associate Curator at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, where she initiated the Project Room and programmed a series of experimental exhibitions with such artists as Urs Fischer, Simon Leung, Mark Leckey, Johan Grimonprez, and Eduardo Sarabia. Ennis has been director of Pitzer Art Galleries for the past 14 months, during that time she has curated a number of exhibitions including: Antarctica: Joyce Campbell, Anne Noble, Connie Samaras; SPELL: Sandeep Mukherjee; and most recently Narrowcast: Reframing Global Video 1986/2008, which was co-curated with Ming-Yuen S. Ma.
Nuttaphol Ma was born in Bangkok, Thailand in 1972. Ma received his MFA from Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California in 2009. He has participated in numerous exhibitions including: LA 2019: Cults, Collectives and Cocooning, 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, California (2009); in the red, East Gallery, Claremont California (forthcoming solo exhibition) (2009); four hummingbirds flew over the house full of puddles, Upstairs at the Market Gallery, Los Angeles, California (solo exhibition) (2009); Gray Area, East Gallery, Claremont, California (2008); lost and found, Upstairs at the Market Gallery, Los Angeles, California (2008); dont be shy, Peggy Phelps Gallery, Claremont, California (2008); Party Favors, site specific performance of same same but different, Bonelli Contemporary, Los Angeles, California (2008); this is not a toy, site specific collaborative performance with Christina Pierson at Ontario Mills Mall, Ontario, California (2008); the jetstones in alabama hills, site specific collaborative performance at Claremont Graduate University Atrium Gallery, Claremont, California (2008); off the wall, solo exhibition at Upstairs at the Market Gallery, Los Angeles, California (2008); The Hugely Tiny Festival, Empty Building at SE Corner of El Molino and Colorado, Pasadena, California (2008); One Scoop is Two Balls, Scoops, Los Angeles, California (2008); ive been working on the railroad, Treehouse Gallery, Riverside, California (2007); Sound Cocoon, Installation Gallery Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California (2007); The Fourth Leg, Peggy Phelps Gallery, Claremont, California (2007); Hotcakes, Upstairs at the Market Gallery, Los Angeles, California (2007); Art Squeak, Arena 01 Gallery, Santa Monica, California (2007); longing and not BE longing, site specific performance at the corner of El Molino and Colorado, Pasadena, California (2007); Trippin, site specific sculptural performance in conjunction with the Santa Monica Airport Artwalk , Santa Monica College, Santa Monica California (2007); three marks, Upstairs at the Market Gallery, Los Angeles California (2006); under the radar, Arena 01 Gallery, Santa Monica California (2006); longing and not BE longing, site specific performance at found site within Create:Fixate Gallery, Los Angeles CA (2006); and Mix, Chouinard Gallery, Pasadena California (2005). Ma has been awarded the 18th Street Art Center Artist-in-Residence, Santa Monica California (2009); the Walker / Parker Memorial Fellowship (2007 to 2009); and the Stratton-Petit Foundation Mentor Art Student Award (2005 to 2007). Ma currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
Cathy Akers received her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. Her many solo exhibitions include, Hertopia: An Illustrated History of the New World, Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2008); Learning By Example, The Manual Archives, Los Angeles, CA (2008); Natural Selection, MFA Thesis, D301 Gallery, Valencia, CA (2006); and Shadowplay/Nightvision, A401 Gallery, Valencia, CA (2005). Akers has also participated in numerous group exhibitions and screenings including: Conventions and Attitudes, Los Angeles, CA (2008); traveling to the Graduate Center Art Gallery, The City University of New York, New York, NY; All-In Juried Show, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA (2007); The Collective Body, Gallery Califa, Horazdovice, Czech Republic (2007); E Ticket Ride, J. Flynn Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA (2007); (Tender) Assembly, Show Cave Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2007); Open Show, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA (2006); Captive, Gatov Galleries, California State University, Long Beach, CA (2006); Baby’s All Grown Up, Marvimon House, Los Angeles, CA (2006); Goods To Declare: MFA International, Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, Israel (2006); Super/Sonic 2006, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles, CA (2006); Collision & Pileups, MFA Graduate Exhibition, Armory Northwest, Pasadena, CA (2006); Transfeminator, A401 Gallery, Valencia, CA (2006); Components, D301 Gallery, Valenica, CA (2005); Gendered Geographies, 1853 Arlington Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2005); A Haunting: International Artist’s Film and Video Screening, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, UK; traveled to The Residence, London, UK (2005); MFA Mid-Residency Exhibition, D300 Gallery, Valencia, CA (2005); Cathy Akers, Space Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2004); Tight, Post Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2004); A Sense of Place, Associated Artists of Winston-Salem, NC (1999); and Family, The Gallery at Campus Camera, Boston, MA (1999). Cathy Akers has received the following awards: Artists’ Resource for Completion (ARC) Grant, The Durfee Foundation (2007); the Travel Grant, The Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation (2006); and the Maryland Distinguished Scholar in the Arts Award (1992). Cathy Akers lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
Heather Cantrell was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1972. She received her MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles, California in 2001. Her solo exhibitions include: A Study in Portraiture “Act II”, M.O.T. Gallery, London, England (2009); A Study in Portraiture “Act I”, F.O.C.A., Los Angeles, CA (2009); Corpus Battaglia, Matrushka, Los Angeles, CA (2007); Century’s End, sixspace, Los Angeles, CA (2006); The Extended Family, Newman and Popiashvili Gallery, New York, NY (2006); Corpus Battaglia, Suite 106, New York (2004); Zombies, 4F Gallery, Los Angeles (2003); and Reaching for Bermuda, Sandroni Rey, Los Angeles (2003). Cantrell has also participated in numerous group shows including: LA: 2019 Cults, Collectivse and Cocooning, 18th Street Art Center, curated by Ciara Ennis, Santa Monica, CA (2009); Celebration, Circus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2008); Group Show, Black Dragon, Los Angeles, CA (2008); Pulsing, Burning, Glendale College, Los Angeles, CA (2008); Year 07 Art Fair, London, England (2007); Public Parks, Scoops curated by John Pearson, Los Angeles, CA (2007); (2007); The Mask of Contemporary Art, Kinkead Contemporary Art, Los Angels, CA (2007); Ego, Jail, Los Angeles. CA (2007); LACE Auction, Los Angeles, CA (2007); Volta Art Fair, Berlin, Germany(2007); Pulse Art Fair, New York, NY (2007); Aqua Art Fair, Miami, FL (2006); Christmas in July, Black Dragon Society, Los Angeles, CA (2005); Mercer St., Suite 106, New York, NY (2005); Photos, Cerritos College, Norwalk, CA (2005); Likeness: Portraits of Artists by Other Artists, CC Wattis Institute/Independent Curators International, multiple venues, curated by Matthew Higgs (2004-2006); Magic, Hayworth Gallery Magic, Hayworth Gallery, Los Angeles (2004); Faith, Champion Fine Art Faith, Los Angeles, CA (2004); Snapshot A Look at Los Angeles Photographers, Six Space, Los Angeles, CA (2004); View Finder, Sabina Lee Gallery, Los Angeles (2004); Likeness, CCA Wattis, San Francisco, CA (2004); Recess, Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2003); Wild Strawberries and Familiar Haunts, Suite 106, New York, NY (2003); Angst, Rare, New York, NY (2003); Helicopter, Leonard Tachmes Gallery, Miami FL (2003); City Mouse/Country Mouse, Space 101, Brooklyn, NY (2003); My Father Told Me…, Suite 106, New York, NY (2002); The Worst of Gordon Pym Continued…, Printed Matter, New York, NY (2001); Two Friends and so on, Marc Foxx, Los Angeles, CA (2001); LACE 2001 Auction, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA (2001); and Not at Home, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany (2001). Cantrell has been awarded the UCLA Teaching Assistantship Grant; the Anna Bing Arnold Scholarship; the D’arcy Hayman Scholarship; the Maryland Institute, College of Art, Merit Scholarship; and the Maryland Institute, College of Art, Thaheimer Scholarship. Heather Cantrell lives in Los Angeles, California.
Fallen Fruit is an activist art project whose members include David Burns, Matias Viegener, and Austin Young. David Burns is a graduate of California Institute of the Arts (1993) and received his MFA from the University of California, Irvine in 2005. Matias Viegener received his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University, and is a candidate for a doctorate at UCLA. Austin Young is a photographer and videographer based in Los Angeles. Fallen Fruit has participated in numerous solo exhibitions including: Fallen Fruit, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California (2009); A Spectre is Haunting the City, Clockshop, Los Angeles, California (2008); Public Fruit Jam, Machine Project, Los Angeles, California (2008); Salsa Salsa, Farmlab, Los Angeles, California (2008); Public Fruit Jam, Museum Of Contemporary Art – PDC Complex, Los Angeles, California (2008); and Public Fruit Jam, Machine Project, Los Angeles, California (2007). Their group exhibitions include: InstantHerlev, Copenhagen, Denmark (2009); Moving Index, ARTOFFICE, Online Project (2009); ACTIONS, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, Canada (2008); A New Cultural Economy, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria (2008); The Gatherers, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California (2008); Machine Project: Field Guide, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California (2008); The Future of Nations: Citizen Artists Making Emphatic Arguments, 18th Street Arts Complex, Santa Monica, California (2008); The Future of Nations: Citizen Artists Making Emphatic Arguments, Casa De Tunnel, Tijuana, Mexico (2008); Conventions and Attitudes, EXCHANGE RATE, Los Angeles, California (2008); Party Favors, Bonelli Contemporary, Los Angeles, California (2008); thinktank, eighteen-thirty, Los Angeles, California (2008); open source, open knowledge, open world, net.culture.space, Vienna, Austria (2008); Made in the USA, The Brewery, Los Angeles, California (2008); Habeas Index, 7th Street Complex, Los Angeles, California (2008); Neighborhood Infusions, Pharmaka, Los Angeles, California (2008); Edible City, Netherlands Architecture Institute, Maastricht (2007); Paradox and Practice, University Art Gallery, UC Irvine, Irvine, California (2007); Sustainable Shorts, Silver Lake Film Festival, Los Angeles, California (2007); Taste, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, California (2007); Civic Matters, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, California (2006); Street Signs and Solar Ovens: social craft in LA, Folk Art and Craft Museum, Los Angeles, California (2006); Chung King Commons, TELIC, Los Angeles, California (2006); Fair Exchange, Millard Sheets Gallery, Los Angeles, California (2006); and IR4: Irrational Exhibits, Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, California (2005). Fallen Fruit’s recent awards include: The LA Weekly’s Best of LA 2006, Rhizome.org Net Art Commission 2005-2006, and The EyeOpener Award from 2nd City Council in Long Beach. Fallen Fruit is based in Los Angeles, California.
Olga Koumoundouros was born in New York in 1965. She received her MFA from California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California in 2001. Koumoundouros has participated in numerous solo exhibitions including: (upcoming) REDCAT, Los Angeles, CA 6/24/2009; The Unreposed, Adamski Gallery for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany, (2008); Great Expectations and the Wreck of the Hope, Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles, CA (2008); A Roof Upended, Open Satellite, Bellevue, WA (2007); Thieves Vinegar, Adamski Gallery, Aachen Germany (2006); More Yellow Wallpaper, Mullin Gallery, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA (2005); Designated Hitters at the Spider Hole, Adamski Gallery, Aachen, Germany, (2004); #9, Error! Contact not defined. & Rodney McMillian, Unit #9, 5301 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA (2002); A New Balance Frontier, Gallery D 300, CalArts, Valencia, CA (2001); Last Ditch Folly, site specific installation, soccer field, CalArts, Valencia, CA (2000); and Just In Case, Inmo gallery, Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles, CA, (1999). Her group exhibitions include: (upcoming)Rogue Wave Projects, LA Louver, curated by Peter Gould & Chris Pate, Venice, CA (2009); (upcoming)LA 2019: CULTS, COLLECTIVES & COCOONING, curated by Ciara Ennis, Santa Monica, CA (2009); (upcoming) The Whole World is Watching, curated by Irene Tsatsos, Glendale College Art Gallery, Glendale, CA (2008); Democracy in America, curated by Creative Time, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY (2008); News from a Mime’s Thud, performance collaboration with Rodney McMillian, curated by Creative Time and Blanton Museum of Art, Austin TX (2008); Ohio, w/ Andrea Bowers, David Hullfish Baily, Sam Durant, & Rodney McMillian, Gahlberg Gallery, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL, (2007); Informal Architecture, The Banff Centre – Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, AB, Canada (2007); Touched: Artist’s and Social Engagement, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA (2007); The Secretariat, w/ Walead Beshty & Yoshua Okon, Aftermodern, San Francisco, CA (2007); Philosophy of Time Travel, collaboration w/ Edgar Arceneaux, Vincent Johnson, Rodney McMillian & Matthew Sloly, curated by Christine Kim, Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY (2007); On a Porch, performance w/Rodney McMillian, LAX-Art, Los Angeles, CA (2007); Capitol Punishment, collaborative project w/ Pia Ronicke, Glassell School of Art, Houston, TX, (2006); Sculpture, Rental Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2006); Affair, Tart, San Francisco, CA (2006); A Front Porch: Concurrent and Not Opposing, performance collaboration w/Rodney McMillian, The Suburban, Chicago, Illinois (2006); THING, New Sculpture From L.A., UCLA Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2005); NEW Balance Frontier, Soap Factory, Minneapolis (2004); Poster Project, organized by Pia Ronicke, Coppenhagen, Denmark (2004); (Kon-fownded): Found and Then Complicated, Ohala Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2004); Journal of Aesthetics and Protest 3 Day Extravaganza, Machine Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2004); Rent-a-Bench, Kunstmuseet Trapholt, Kolding, Denmark (2003); Works on Paper, Adamski Gallery, Aachen, Germany (2003); Sculpture Invitational, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA (2003); Up Close, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA (2003); Journal of Aesthetics and Protest, Poster Collaboration, Los Angeles, CA (2003); Schindler House Reenactment, Collaboration w/MAK residents at Schindler House, Los Angeles, CA (2002); Rent-a-Bench, site specific installation, Los Angeles, CA (2002); All You Can Eat Karaoke, C-level, Chinatown, Los Angeles, CA (2002); Face Off, The Smell, Los Angeles, CA (2001); The Enthusiast, C-Level, Chinatown, Los Angeles, CA (2001); and Have a Cool Summer, Keep in Touch, Track 16, Bergamont Station, Santa Monica, CA (2001). Olga Koumoundouros has received the following grants and internships: Creative Capital Grantee, (2005); Center for Land Use Interpretation Internship, Culver City, CA, (9/2000-12/2000); and the Sagamore Institute Internship, NY (6/2000-8/2000). Olga Koumoundouros lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
Jason Middlebrook was born in Jackson, Michigan in 1966. He received his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA in 1994 and participated in the Whitney Independent Program, New York, NY from 1994 to 1995. Middlebrook has participated in numerous solo exhibitions including: Jason Middlebrook, Live with Less, University Art Museum, Albany, NY (2009); Jason Middlebrook, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, NY (2008); One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure, Kevin Bruk Gallery, Miami, FL. (2007); A Serious Paradise, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2007); What is your hobby? The Fireplace Project, East Hampton, NY (2007); Craft in Contemporary Art, Curated by Evelyn C. Hankins, Robert Hull Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont (2007); Merit Badge 2, Rockland County Art Center, Rockland, NY (2007); Flow, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE (2007); Green Dreams, Curated by Anne Kersten and Christine Heidemann, Kunstverein Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany (2007); Winter Invitational, Curated by Wennie Huang, Wave Hill, Bronx, NY (2007); Traveling Seeds, Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York, NY (2007); Jason Middlebrook: Disturbed Sites , Lisa Dent Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2007); Live Building: The Recycling and Demolition of Wurm’s Building, organized by Ciara Ennis, California Museum of Photography, UCR/ARTS block, Riverside, CA (2006); It’s All So Black and White, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, NY (2006); Galleria Paolo Bonzano Artecontemporanea, Rome, Italy (2006); The Night Time is the Right Time , Galleri Charlotte Lund, Stockholm, Sweden (2006); Alchemical Primordiality , Curated by Gianluca Marziani, Galleria Pack, Milan, Italy (2005); The Provider, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, NY (2005); Past, Present, Future, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2005); The Beginning of the End, Aldrich Contemporary Museum of Art, Ridgefield, CT (2004); Outdoor sculpture project, Apsen Art Museum, Aspen CO (2004); APL #1, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York (2003); APL #2, Els Hannape Underground, Athens, Greece (2003); Empire of Dirt, Curated by Lorenzo Fusi, Palazzo Delle Papesse Centro Arte Contemporanea, Siena, Italy (2003); De) – Composition, Art Statements, Art Basel Miami, Miami Beach, FL (2002); Nylon Gallery, London, England (2002); Dig (October 2001-January 2002), New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY (2001); Museum Storage, Curated by Ciara Ennis, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA (2001); Visible Entropy, Room 01, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, NY (2001); Wellcome Trust Commission, Euston Road Hoarding Project, Wellcome Trust, London, England (2001); 210 Gallery Installation, Wellcome Trust, London, England (2001); and California is Still Falling Into the Ocean, Room 02, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New (2001). Middlebrook has also participated in numerous group exhibitions including: The Rain, The Park and Other Things, Curated by Renee Ricardo, Nicole Fiacco Gallery, Hudson, NY (2008); Field Work, Smart Project Space, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2008); Something for Nothing, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA (2008); Into the Trees, Curated by Amy Lipton, Art OMI, Columbia County, NY (2008); Out of Shape: Stylistic Distortions of the Human Form in Art from the Logan Collection, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY (2008); Repositioning the Landscape, Curated by Jennifer McGregor, Westport Arts Center, Westport, CT (2008); Collector’s Choice III. Audacity in Art: Selected Works from Central Florida Collections, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL (2007); Sheldon Survey, An Invitational, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE (2007); Material Pursuits, Robert Hull Fleming Museum, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT (2007); A Serious Paradise, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2007); What is your hobby? The Fireplace Project, East Hampton, NY (2007); Craft in Contemporary Art, Curated by Evelyn C. Hankins, Robert Hull Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont (2007); Petroliana (Oil Patriotism), Second Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia (2007); New York, Interrrupted, Curated by Dan Cameron, pkm gallery, Seoul, Korea (2006); Twice Drawn, The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY (2006); Prevailing Climate, Curated by Rachel Gugelberger and Jeffrey Walkowiak, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, NY (2006); Table Top, Josee Bienvenu Gallery, New York, NY (2006); Manhattan Transfer, ZONE: Chelsea Center for the Arts, New York, NY (2006); Memory, Architecture and Place, Forest Hills Cemementary, Boston, MA (2006); Nature is Knocking, Jersey Art Center, Newark, NJ (2006); QED, Los Angeles, CA (2006); Inside/Outside: TreeLines, Curated by Amy Lipton, Abington Art Center Jenkintown, PA (2006); Three Projects, Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA (2006); Among the Trees, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit NJ (2006); Welcome Home, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, NY (2006); and A Pictoral Point, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY (2006). Jason Middlebrook lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Bede Murphy is a painter, photographer and writer based in Brooklyn, New York and he is director of the LAND Gallery (League Artists Natural Design) in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn in New York. Bede Murphy’s solo exhibitions include: Popular Fanatics, THINC LAB, Hudson, NY (2006); Name Dropper Series: New Paintings, Irvine Contemporary, Washington, DC (2006); Scope Miami Art Fair, Art Basel/Miami, Irvine Contemporary (2005); Cornell Dewitt Gallery, -Scope Miami Art Fair, Art Basel/Miami (2003); Selections from 400 Bleed series, Palet, 505 West 23rd St., NYC, Bede Bleeds and Cultured Sculptures (2003); Palet, 505 West 23rd St., NYC, Painting the missing links (2002); Something Charming, -A Street, Boston MA 1998 A Street, Boston, MA (1998-99); and Sweet Cheeses, The Space at artsMEDIA, Boston, MA. (1997). Murphy’s selected exhibitions include: Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts @ Bridge Art Fair: Art Basel Miami (2007); CHANGE AT BABYLON, Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts, New York, NY (2007); Under The Influence, LAND gallery & studio (2007); New Talent, Umbrella Arts, New York, NY (2006); Group Exhibitions 2005 Art + Community Gallery NYC, POACH, Featuring Peter Gallo, Ricky Hagadorn, Melvin Way and Xylor Jane (2005); Freight + Volume, NADA Art Fair, Art Basel/Miami (2004); Suddenly Summer-new talent, Ramscale NYC (2004); Full Frontal Figuration, Irvine Contemporary, Washington DC (2004); Drawings All Media, Irvine Contemporary, Washington DC (2004); Salon V, The Oni Gallery, Boston, MA (2002); Salon 1, The Oni Gallery, Boston, MA (1999); What’s New?, Julie Heller Gallery, Provincetown, MA (1995); and Making Waves, Provincetown Art Museum, with Jack Pierson (1994).
Machine Project is an educational arts non-profit organization founded in November, 2003. Machine Project provides educational resources to artists working with technology; strives to educate and collaborate with artists to produce site-specific, non-commercial work; and works to promote conversations between artists, scientists, poets, technicians, performers and the communities of Los Angeles as a whole. These three aims are closely related. With our wide array of cultural programming, we demonstrate the creative possibilities of technology to open up interdisciplinary conversations between disparate knowledge communities. With our presentations and lectures, we offer rarified knowledge in a friendly, human manner, and we foster a greater understanding between art and science. And at the most practical level, we offer hands-on training in some of the skills presented in our exhibits and lectures, putting knowledge tools into the hands of our community and giving them the ability to create work of their own.
JIM FETTERLY
Jim Fetterley is a documentary film and videomaker. Fetterley received his BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1993. Since 1996, he has time shared the role of an artist with Rich Bott producing ephemeral video art, installation, and social sculpture as Animal Charm. By re-editing sounds and images derived from a wide variety of sources, they scramble media codes, and disrupt conventional forms with transgressive messages. With an uncanny relationship to the video vernacular found on line, these video remixes and random acts of confusion blur the lines and create tension between documentary production and recombinant video art and performance. He is currently Technical Director of the Hammer Museum. Fetterley’s film and video works include: Decisions—Decisions—Decisions—, (2008-2009); Machine Project Field Guide to LACMA, (2008); Steve Kurtz Waiting, in collaboration with Angie Waller, (2007); Sunday Night, Saturday Morning, (2004-2005); Repeater Pencil, (2003-2004) Raymond Pettibon, dvd production and post production, Premiered at Whitney Museum of American Art and SITE, Santa Fe, NM, limited edition of 10 dvds, Regen Projects. Since 1996, Jim Fetterley has collaborated with Rich Bott producing ephemeral video art, installation, and social sculpture as Animal Charm. Distributed by Video Data Bank, Animal Charm’s audio/video art collaboration include single channel videos: Sunshine Kitty, 2:30, (1996); Lightfoot Fever, 1:30, (1996); Slow Gin Soul Stallion, 2:30, (1996); Working Together, 2:00, (1996); Ashley, 9:00, (1997); Stuffing, 4:00, (1998); Mark Roth, 4:00, (1998); Family Court, 4:00, (1998); Hot Mirror, 11:30, (1998); Marbles, 6:30, (1998); Preserve Your Estate, 9:30, (1998); Target, 8:30, (1999); 80 + Miracles, document of live show for LUX, UK, 80:00, (2000); Brite Tip, 3:00, (2002); Body Prep, 1:30, (2002); Camera Dance, 3:45, (2002); Computer Smarts, 1:30, (2002); Il Mouille, 4:30, (2002); Relaxercise, 45:00, (2003); The Floridian, 2:00, (2004); Pet Programming, 1:30, (2004); Terrorized, 3:00, (2004); Solar Fox, 1:00, (2004); Street Shapes 1:30, (2005); Herzog’s Jew’s Harp DUI, 1:21, (2006); Lighter than a Feather 1:30,( 2007); Edge TV 3:39, (2008); and Baby Preacher Death Metal, 1:30, (2008). Their video compilations include: Animal Charm Golden Digest, 80:00, (1995- 2006); OthercinemaDVD; The 70′s Dimension, 100:00, (2005); OthercinemaDVD; Peripheral Produce’s All-Time Greatest Hits, 90:00, (2003); FELIX: Journal of Media Arts, Risk/Riesgo DVD compilation & Book, Video Data Bank; Animal Charm Video works Volume 3: Computer Smarts, 14:15, Video Data Bank (2002); The Starlight Dynamic Video Mix Tape, 90:00, (2001); American Psycho(drama); Sigmund Freud vs. Henry Ford, guest curated by Nelson Henricks, Video Data Bank comp (2000); Animal Charm Video works Volume 2: Hot Mirror Mix, 26:00, Video Data Bank (1999); The Auto-Cinematic Video Mix Tape, 70:00, Peripheral Produce (1998); and Animal Charm Video works Volume 1, 19:00, Video Data Bank (1997). Animal Charm’s selected exhibitions, screenings, and performances include: Psychometry, 59th Berlinale International Film Festival, Animal Charm Screening of Edge TV- Berlin, Germany (2009); 20th Anniversary of Craig Baldwin’s Other Cinema Programming, ATA, SF, CA- Animal Charm Performance (2009); Transmodal- Baltimore, MD- Animal Charm Performance (2009); Future Heat, Co-Curated Video Art Screening, Showcave Gallery, L.A., CA, Edge TV screening (2008); Crossroads: Tribute to Bruce Conner, Group Show, Light Industry, Brooklyn, NY, Animal Charm “Edge TV” single Channel Video (2008); Sonar Festival, Barcelona, Spain, Animal Charm Screening (2008); Summer Sizzlers, Co- Curated Video Art Screening, Showcave Gallery, LA, CA, Baby Mobach Screeing (2008); Rainbow Bites, Impakt Festival, Utrecht Holland (2008); Y2K Melbourne Biennial of Art & Design, Australia (2008); Live Cinema- Thomas Beard book release, San Francisco Cinematheque at ATA, San Francisco, CA, Animal Charm Performance (2008); Underground Cinemachine Group Show, Machine Projects, L.A., CA Installation (2007); UnNatural Disaster, University of Texas, Dallas, Greg Metz Curator, Animal Charm Installation (2007); Olympia Film Festival, WAY (2006); University of California San Diego (2006); Echo Park Film Center, CA (2007); Transformations 1: Remixing the Archive, University of Southern California Los Angeles (2006); Aurora Picture Show: Media Archeology, Houston, TX (2005); Videoex, Zurich Switzerland (2005); LA freewaves festival, Los Angeles (2004); Rencontres internationals, Paris/Berlin (2004); Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley Museum of Art (2004); New York Underground Film Fest (2003); RedCat Theater, Los Angeles (2003); Cinevegas, Las Vegas NV (2003); Chicago Underground Film Festival (2003); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2002); Foxy Productions, Brooklyn NY (2002); Museum of Contemporary Art- Version Fest, Chicago (2002); LA Freewaves Festival, Los Angeles (2002); Animal Charm performance, Sundance Film Festival (2002); “Adolescent boys, and living rooms” Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City (2002); “Media Made Me…” Centre de George Pompidou, Paris (2001); Wisconsin Film Festival, Madison (2001); University of California at Los Angeles (2001); Television Festival, Bogota, Columbia (2001); Dallas Video Festival, TX (2001); The American Century, Ashley screening, Whitney Museum of American Art (2000); Filmforum at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2000); Television Festival, Bogota, Columbia (2000); Below 54, London (2000); New York Expo of Short Film and Video (2000); Arc, Stockton-on-Tees, UK (2000); The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1999); Los Angeles Film Forum LACE (1999); Impakt Festival, Utrecht (1999); The Blinding Light Theater, Vancouver (1999); Galerie Montenay-Giroux, Paris (1999); Olympia Film Festival, WAY (1999); University of Illinois, Chicago (1998); 911 Media Arts Center Seattle (1998); Chicago Underground Film Festival (1998); New York Underground Film Festival (1998); Film Forum at LACE, Los Angeles (1998); and San Francisco International Film Festival (1997). Fetterley’s work belong to the following collections: Harvard University; The Video Data Bank; Art Center College of Design Video and Slide Library; Carnegie Mellon University; University of California Riverside Library; Bard Video Library, Anthropology Program; LUX Distribution, Center for the Arts, London; and Contemporary Arts Media, Australia. Fetterley has earned the following awards and grants: 2001 Audience Choice Award, Dallas Film Festival; 2000 Jury Prize, Videoex Festival, Zurich, Switzerland; 1999 Silver Hugo, Exp. Video Category, Chicago Int’l Film Fest; and 1997 Golden Gate Award, New Visions Category, SF Int’l Film Fest. Jim Fetterley lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
William Ransom received his MFA from Claremont Graduate University in 2008. Ransom has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions including: LA 2019: Cults, Collectives and Cocooning, curated by Ciara Ennis,18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, California (2009); Supersonic 2009, Los Angeles Art Show, Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA (2009); William Ransom: Emerging Artist Series #1, Lenzner Art Gallery, Pitzer College, Clarement, CA (2009); Don’t Be Shy, Peggy Phelps and East Gallery, Claremont, CA (2008); MashUp, Arena 1 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (2008); Animal Magnetism, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA (2008); NOW, Arena 1 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (2008); Inaugural Show, Treehouse Gallery, Riverside, CA (2007); The Fourth Leg, Peggy Phelps and East Gallery, Claremont, CA (2007); Super Lucky #4, Art For Humans Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2007); Liminal, Phantom Galleries, Pasadena, CA (2007); In the Spirit of the Tree, Dairy Barn Arts Center, Athens, OH (2006); All About Me: A Self-Portrait Exhibition, Open End Gallery, Chicago, IL and Forum Gallery, Bloomfield Hills, MI (2005); and the Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, MN (2004). William Ransom’s works belong to the collections of Cheryl Eckstrom, Laguna Beach, CA; Yossi Govrin, Santa Monica, CA; Karen and Jon Kusco, Williamstown, MA; Jim and Sandy Gardner, Vershire, VT; and Bennington College, Bennington, VT. William Ransom currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
Stephanie Smith was born in Portland, Oregon. She received her BA from Bennington College and was trained as an architect at Harvard. In 2003, Smith started Ecoshack as an experimental design lab in Joshua Tree, California. Today it’s also an LA-based design studio inspired by the ad hoc, indigenous and archetypal typologies typically found at the fringes of society and culture. Ecoshacks first shelter product, the Nomad Yurt, which has been featured in numerous blogs and publications (including Dwell, the NYTimes and the LATimes), was named the countrys best yurt by Dwell magazine in 2007, and was recently nominated for a Cooper-Hewitt Peoples Design Award. Wanna Start a Commune? is an Ecoshack project dedicated to bringing a communal lifestyle back to the forefront of American culture. Upcoming Ecoshack projects include an off-the-grid ecovillage currently under construction in Nicaragua, and a pair of tipis in Malibu. Recently completed projects include a set design for the reenactment of Allan Kaprows seminal 18/6 happening for MOCA as part of its Allan Kaprow: Art as Life show. Ecoshacks work has been exhibited in galleries and museums, including “The Cosmic House” at Exit Art in NYC, and “Lighten Up!” for Lisa Anne Auerbach’s Tract House at the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore. Smith has conducted seminars for graduate students at the Architectural Association (AA) and the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London, and the Berlage Institute in Amsterdam. She is a critic at design schools including Harvard University Graduate School of Design, SCI-Arc (Southern California Institute of Design), UCLA, and Art Center College of Design. And she is an occasional design instructor at SCI-Arc. Her most recent design studios explore ideas of fabrication, manufacturing and alternative forms of community. Course titles include Shelter as Product: Designs for a 150 s.f. Manufactured Dwelling, Instant City: A Manufactured Kit for a Temporary Community and Unplugged: An Off-the-grid Ecovillage for 20 Surfers. Smiths articles have appeared in a number of journals. Her recent texts include The GOOD Guide to Buckminster Fuller (Good Magazine, July/August 2007), and a short text on the topic “Why We Should Pursue Fabrication at Full Scale, for an upcoming Columbia University publication on the role of fabrication in architecture. Her other published essays include The Future of Retail (Wiley Press), and Ten Strategies for Urban Transformation (Diadalos).
My work explores elemental philosophical questions about our relationships to nature and the environment in an often quixotic approach. By inserting myself into the environment in
different ways, I investigate and raise questions about spiritual enlightenment, belief, empathy, ethics, and environmental activism.
Seven Attempts to Make a Ritual (2000-2001) is a 7-channel video installation that chronicles my attempts to place myself inside the Earth in particular ways in order to
achieve enlightenment. It is immediately clear that I am terrified my goals are impossible to fully attain. But, the films emphasize my foolish desire and determination to succeed
despite each comic failure. There is no irony here. Foolishness is serious business; and a fools unconventionality can offer critiques to mainstream culture in non-didactic ways. My
desire for a mystical communion with the Earth may be foolish, but it is this foolishness that raises questions for the viewer about our profound disconnection from our
environment.
Searching For The Impossible: The Flying Project (2001-2003) is a 32-minute film that chronicles my desire to fly and achieve enlightenment at the same time. The film
emphasizes each of my comic failed flying attempts, but it also basks in my eventual triumph: my 1.5 hour flight 150 feet over the desert in my musical flying machine. The film
contextualizes this flight with stories about my foolish mentors — like Eilmer the Flying Monk — who believed that the secret of flight was tied to metaphysics. During this project, I
come to the belief that I will only be able to fly and achieve some degree of spiritual awakening, if I am able to construct an apparatus that links breath, the musical balloon of
the bagpipe, and 40 giant helium balloons. As the film shows me flying in my musical flying machine, playing my bagpipes just well enough to fly; the viewer is left wondering
about the power of belief and the limitations of reason.
The Underwater Project: Turning Myself Into Music (2003-2004) is a 3-channel video installation that chronicles my investigations underwater and my desire to dematerialize
into music. I recorded my depth readings every second during 40 scuba dives, and these depth readings were translated into musical notes; the deeper the depth, the deeper the
sound. I was intrigued by the poetry of translating my movements into music and then allowing the viewer the possibility to move i.e. dance in relationship to my movements
underwater. As a scuba diver, I was a heavy, cybernetic being, surrounded by darkness and creatures eating each other. The Underwater Project articulates this darkness and
weight, but it offers a way out of that darkness by turning the gallery into an underwater disco, albeit a dark and contemplative one.
Sick-Amour (2005-2008) is my most political and communal project up to date. It chronicles my crusade to save a sycamore tree stuck in the middle of a giant parking lot at
the Rose Bowl. The tree like most parking lot trees suffered many indignities. The tree was starved for water and oxygen by the asphalt that surrounded it, it was attacked by
swarms of pathogens and pollutants, it was aggressively pruned, and it was hit by cars. Out of love for the tree and as a symbolic gesture pointing to our need to care for the
things stuck in our urban jungles, I have been caring for this tree directly for the last three years – watering it, building tree guards to protect it from cars, planting seeds to create
offspring, constructing giant earrings for the tree, and persuading the City and the Rose Bowl to remove the asphalt beneath its canopy and protect it with a permanent boulder
barrier.
Now, I am planting approximately 200 tree babies (offspring from the tree) in green and public locals throughout California. At school sites like USC students build sculptures
about the plight of urban trees, and these sculptures adorn each tree baby, forming larger sculptural necklaces.
Sick-Amour exists as a documentary film, a 12-channel video installation in the shape of a tree, a series of photographs, and a number of permanent public artworks. My goal is that
these artworks as well as my websites and the many stories in the press — raise discourse in the art world and outside of it. I have always wanted to generate discussion
about our relationships to the environment, spirituality, and ethics; and I am continually investigating different ways to do so.
Artist bio compiled and written by Anna Mendoza, Curatorial Associate, Pitzer Art Galleries, Pitzer College
