posted by on 2006.06.14, under Uncategorized

A R T F U L W E D N E S D A Y S

I saw two art shows worth mentioning last week, but wasn’t able to post about them due to blogger problems. I’ll write about one now and save the other for next week’s post…

Consider This… at LACMAlab: Invited artists were asked to “imagine a nation” for this yearlong exhibit that continues “the LACMALab mandate to investigate new models for presenting art and engaging audiences through the commission of participatory, ‘age-free’ installations.”

On June 8th Dorit Cypis led a walk through discussion about the exhibit and particularly her work as both an artist and a mediator in conflict resolution. She asked the questions: “How do you close the gap between cultures? How do your open yourself to ‘the other’? How can you help ‘the other’ and not run away afterwards? How can your engage with ‘the other’? Can a Jew enter a fundamentalist Palestinian neighborhood, a white woman enter South Central LA, a black man enter Beverly Hills all without fear?” For her project, Sightlines, she had a forensic scientist in Mexico sculpt the heads of the first female Palestinian suicide bomber and the young Isreali woman who was killed by the bomb from their pictures on the cover of the April 15, 2002, Newsweek.

Other stong pieces in this show include Bruce Yonemoto‘s video “The World Asunder” which pays homage to the scene in Peter Campus’ Three Transitions where he looks at a burning piece of paper with his own image chroma keyed into it. However in Yonemoto’s version, the perfomer’s image soon disolves into images of demonstrators burning draft cards, books and the cross.

Finally in the Project Space, Clayton Campbell presents a series of photos of a young boy in a karate uniform holding up signs with typed text depicting Words My Son Has Learned Since 9-11. Throughout the duration of the exhibit, Campbell conducts workshops where museum goers can have their photo taken with their own sign and added to the collection on the walls.

All and all a thought provoking exhibition. Check it out if you are in LA before the show closes on January 15, 2007.

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