Becoming Formless installation at South Union Arts
September 7th, 2008
southunionarts
1362 So. Union Street
Chicago Illinois 60608
August 2008
For Immediate Release
a corn roast | the final SUA exhibition September 6, 2008 3pm - 7pm
Exhibition Contacts:
Caitlin Arnold | caitlin.arnold@gmail.com
Stacee Droege | staceeeee@gmail.com
Summer is ending in Chicago. The days are still humid but the night breeze carries a brisk reminder that autumn is around the corner. South Union Arts is also ending after a three year tenure in the Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church. All good DIY spaces must come to an end in Chicago and this closing is part of a larger cycle. We can take comfort in the fact that another semi secret storefront, apartment, or cast off building will soon be home to art and music gatherings (though none will sport a giant neon crucifix.) Our final exhibition curated by the creator of artXposium and South Union Art’s Caitlin Arnold, is heavy on installation and performance art. The work presented is both physically and emotionally challenging, asking the viewers to include themselves in the transformations as they take place. Highlights of the exhibition include:
Conceptual artists Bill Friedman and Catherine Bouzide have collaborated to create a corn maze on South Union Art’s north and west portions of the yard. This site specific installation allows participants to not only walk through the twists and turns of the maize at their own leisure, but also explore the implications of an urban and rural environment battling for the same space. A transformation can be experienced at every turn of the maze visually and physically.
Kaelyn Garcia and Julia Stotz team up to create a site specific installation in the Pastor’s Study. This installation of over fifty spheres symbolize crab apple blossoms, made from recycled paper, photographs, and reused cotton and organza. The installation’s intention is to initiate a curious response within the viewer, causing them to then experience the installation for themselves.
Participants will also be invited to sit in and experience and ongoing social networking project using yarn to “physically demonstrate how a network is constructed and constantly changing,” as explained by Anni Holm, the co creator of NetWorking, a project created with Nyok-Mei Wong in Chicago during the 2006 Nova Young Art Fair. Since its creation, this project has traveled to Waterloo, IA Pittsburgh, PA - Cleveland, OH - Minneapolis, MN - Baxter, MN - Corbett, OR - Hollywood, CA - Miami, FL - Denver, CO - Fargo, ND and Randers, Denmark.
Multi-faceted artist and educator Annie Heckman’s work is done in a three step transformation process beginning as a works on paper, which then are animated to create a short film presented in a fabricated environment relating to the animation. Her work,as she explains, deals with the “clash of brutal physical mortality with the hope of afterlife ideologies.”
The exhibition also includes work from Irene Perez, a performance piece from Vicki Fowler, photographic works from Ben Funke and a short film from Catie Olsen.
Musical performance from Mathew Mayflower Wylder & friends.
Roasted corn & popcorn will also be served.
-S. Droege, August 2008
