Beautiful Test Sites / Now I am become death
Beautiful Test Sites / Now I am become death
July 13 – August 31, 2018
Opening Reception: Friday, July 13, 2018, 6 – 9 pm
In Beautiful Test Sites / Now I am become death, Mitchell Squire and Nora Wendl make full use of their research-based and architecturally-founded practices to present a series of photographs that meditate upon “beautiful test sites”: spaces and bodies wastelanded by the American techno-utopian imagination of the 20th century. For Squire, this means unearthing a series of inherited mid-20th century photographs taken by an amateur photographer—who at the time served as Executive Secretary of the Iowa Industrial and Defense Commission (1941-45), the first Director of the Iowa Development Commission (1945-53), and State Director of Civil Defense during WWII and again in the 1950s—and whose subjects were both women and nuclear blasts, whose images Squire alters through the strategic use of gilded frames, veils, and glass vases. Nora Wendl presents a series of photographs taken during her recent occupational performance of the all-glass Farnsworth House, designed by Mies van der Rohe for Dr. Edith Farnsworth in the mid-20th century—a house that was conceived the same year as the first American nuclear test. Wendl pairs these with a series of archival photographs of women within this house who have commonly been mistaken as being Dr. Farnsworth, which she heavily annotates with autobiographical and biographical information, thus bringing specificity to women who are otherwise anonymous within the visual discourse of architectural history: researcher and subject alike.
Above Image: Mitchell Squire, all your fears are caused from novel reading, 2018
The mode of operation in viewing visual information today, and particularly photographs, is that even a casual observer must work as a journalist to determine veracity. At the same time, the photograph is a way to arrest beauty, to prolong it, and to catalog even those places and bodies that are wastelanded until a future time when they can be read and named.
Mitchell Squire: Mitchell Squire is an artist and educator whose practice encompasses architecture, visual art, and the study of material culture. His work employs techniques of assemblage and informational strategies of collection and archival presentation, toward understanding the sociopolitical complexity of material and immaterial artifacts. He holds the position of Professor of Architecture at Iowa State University.
Nora Wendl: Nora Wendl is a writer, artist and educator who uses disciplinary strategies drawn equally from literature, visual art, and architecture to amplify overlooked or suppressed narratives within the built and unbuilt environment. She holds the position of Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of New Mexico.
Migrations
neiiKAI [we walk around…], Dinétah diyogíj, Eric-Paul Rienge, 62”x38”, 2017
MIGRATIONS
curated by Candy Nartonis and Ellen Babcock
March 2 – March 30 , 2018
OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, March 2, 6-9pm
Migrations contextualizes human migration so that it can be mourned, accepted, embraced, and even in some circumstances celebrated. In our present world, millions of people have been forced to leave their homes. Political danger, famine, earthquakes, fire, rising water, and personal tragedy have caused so many human beings, world-wide, to experience displacement. Forced migration and movement made by choice are two sides of this range of journeys motivated by survival and by dreams of a better life. Important to this story are the migrations to find better and more suitable work and to reconnect with family.
Albuquerque as a city and Alburqueños as a people recognize the richness that migrations have brought to our state. As a group we have been particularly sensitive to the problems our new neighbors encounter. We reached out to many concerned groups while we planned this exhibition and the related events. They have all helped tell this story of current and historic migration.
Migrations touches on the sanctuary movement, the difficulty of crossing national borders, and threats of deportation. It will include community members who migrated or have family stories to tell. We’ll include supporting materials such as maps and histories. A room representing a safe place will fill the center of the gallery space. Inside this space, you will hear personal accounts of forced exodus, uprooted families, war and political and natural events that compel people to move. You will be able to add your own story or consider what you would do if you found yourself in this situation.
Artists and scholars contributing to the exhibition:
Ellen Babcock, Adam Herrera, Evey Jones, Israel F. Haros Lopez, Troy Lovato, David Mora, Candy Nartonis, Zeke Peña, Reed Perkins, Eric-Paul Riege, Jim Roeber, Carol Weber
Related Events:
Sunday, March 4: New Mexicans in Movement: off-site
First of the series: Sunday, March 4, 10am-12pm
We are sponsoring a series of guided walks to interact, share and connect with New Mexican global wanderers; persons for whom migration has defined their lives and the personality of our state. Among the hosts are successful innovators, former diplomats, misfits, multi-generational New Mexicans, as well as recent arrivals. These walks are created by Sidni Lamb at Mindful New Mexico. Check Mindful New Mexico website
http://www.mindfulnewmexico.com/ for dates, locations, and descriptions of walks in the series.
Saturday, March 10: 7pm, The Sanitary Tortilla Factory
Israel F. Haros Lopez performs Mexican Jazz
Poems of migration from his recent publication of Mexican Jazz, a graphic codex novel about women and children in detention centers. He will also be reading excerpts form his latest works, La Llorona Xronciles and Ghostbraids. La llorona Xronicles retells the classic story of La Llorona, the weeping woman and interrupts narratives of myths and oral histories. Ghostbraids is an exploration of Chicano poetry, experimenting with bilingualism, immigration and diverse poetic forms, visual poetry, improvisation and soundscapes, each reading of these works become site specific.
Saturday, March 24, 5-7pm, The Sanitary Tortilla Factory
Potluck Dinner and Music: you are all invited to this celebration of gifts. Bring a food offering from your homeland, write your family history, meet others.
We’ll supply plates and forks, drinks, and food from around the world.
Visiting Curator Talk with Rachel Cook
ABOUT RACHEL COOK
As curator of DiverseWorks in Houston, TX, Rachel Cook is passionate about the organization’s mission to “commission, produce, and present new and daring art in all its forms through innovative collaborations that honor each artist’s vision without constraint.” Her curatorial work reconsiders the relationship between images and objects, and investigates methods of delegation embedded within performative and participatory work. She has helped to organize commissioned projects with Tony Feher, Liz Magic Laser, Heather and Ivan Morison, Wu Tsang, Pepe Mar, and Chelsea Knight and Mark Tribe.
Her writing has appeared in a number of art journals and catalogues, including Modern Painters, Flash Art, and the Prospect 3 catalogue. Prior to joining DiverseWorks, Cook worked for dOCUMENTA(13)’s publication team, and was a fellow for the International Studio & Curatorial Program, New York. She holds a Masters from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College and a Bachelors from the San Francisco Art Institute.
Cook has recently been appointed Creative Director of On the Boards in Seattle, WA. Her visit is organized in partnership with ICI and with full financial support provided by Common Field.
Flight (01)
A Benefit Event for Immigration Awareness
SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 2018
5-8pm
524 Central NW
Mercedez Holtry performs @ 6pm
250 FREE TACOS by El Paisa
Mercedez Holtry Jodie Herrera Sheri Crider Kei & Molly Textiles
A group of artists are gathering forces to create a visual, spoken word event that benefits the NM Dream Team, New Mexico Immigrant Law Center & the Santa Fe Dreamers Project.
Flight (01) is the first of three events that is partially sponsored by the Right of Return Fellowship which invests in formerly incarcerated artists to create original works that can further criminal justice reform in partnership with advocates and organizers. Sheri Crider is 1 of 7 inaugural recipient’s of this fellowship. As part of Flight (01) four visual artists will create works that amplify the conversation surrounding immigration and mass incarceration. Each artist brings their own signature work to the event as a collectible item. The proceeds benefit local organizations that support community members impacted by these issues. Jodie Herrera has designed a custom tote with a recent design informed by her recent body of work, Women Across Borders. Kei and Molly have designed one of their gorgeous linens with migratory birds that are featured in limited edition bird mobiles by Sheri Crider. The birds design are conceptually tied to currently detained immigrants at Cibola Detention Center. Flight will grow over the year in a series of events, culminating in a large scale installation and series of events at the University of New Mexico Art Museum in August.
Mercedez Holtry is a slam poet, writer, mentor, and Chicana feminist. Holtry has represented ABQ on multiple final and semi-final stages for national poetry events and holds multiple Albuquerque Slam titles. She has worked with youth in poetry workshops in multiple cities around the country and hosts a monthly poetry reading called “Lobo Slam”.
Jodie Herrera is a visual artist and curator from Taos, New Mexico. She is of both Native and Hispanic descent. Herrera works as an illustrator, muralist, a mixed-media artist, and curator all while predominantly focusing on oil painting. Herrera’s art has been featured in such settings as The Anderson Museum of Contemporary Arts, The Art and History Museum of Santa Cruz, The Albuquerque Art and History Museum, 516 Gallery, Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe, among many others.
Photography by Marla Bros/Albuquerque Journal
Sheri Crider is a visual artist, a community builder, a civil rights dreamer, living and working in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The seemingly innate ability to draw and create was the key to recovering from many years of drug addicted, homelessness and incarceration. sheri has a BFA from the University of Arizona and a MFA from the University of New Mexico.
copyright Mary Hobbs
Kei and Molly live in the high desert of Albuquerque, New Mexico. We founded Kei & Molly Textiles, LLC in 2010 to create both a printing studio dedicated to producing artisan-quality fabric goods as well as a vehicle to develop good jobs in our community. The studio is located in the International District of Albuquerque, an area home to many of the refugees and recent immigrants to our city. Vibrant with culture, it is nonetheless one of Albuquerque’s pockets of poverty. We are committed to creating good jobs in this area, and work with refugee resettlement programs to find many of our employees.
FOR MORE INFO: CONTACT SHERI CRIDER @ sherilcrider@gmail.com or call 505.228.3749
Interior Landscapes
31°19’19.10”N; 109°29’47.62”W: And Golden Light, 2017, video still, courtesy of Bockley Gallery
POSTCOMMODITY ERIC PAUL-RIEGE
M. JENEA SANCHEZ TARA EVONNE TRUDELL
INTERIOR LANDSCAPES
JANUARY 26 – FEBRUARY 23, 2018
OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, January 26th 6-9pm
Performances: Opening night 7pm and February 23rd 7pm
Interior Landscapes is an exhibition presented by Sanitary Tortilla Factory and 516 ARTS as part of a collaboration for “The US-Mexico Border: Place, Imagination, and Possibility”. Interior Landscapes co-curated by Daryl Lucero and sheri crider. The exhibition focus is on the lived experience of people on the U.S.-Mexico border. Elemental to these stories are the absence of political demarcations. Where the border suggests a bifurcation of territoriality, there also exists the space between the north and south.
The artists in this exhibit find themselves living in varying proximities with the border—Arizona, New Mexico, and Sonora. Although the artists vary in social, cultural, and geographical distances, the work engages communities situated on the border. The works are collaborative and signify the reciprocal nature in which borders can be negotiated, and recreated to benefit those within them.
The works are examples of socially engaged art that humanize the border wall and its symbol of national identity, culture, and politics. And what we see are the acts that speak to living in a place of tension, violence, and creativity. The border becomes possessed by the humanity of those within it. What we witness are the stories, experiences, and truths not of the artists, but through the medium of conversation between the artists and communities. We witness the creativity of people and place.
In Border Tapestry (2009) M. Jenea Sanchez teases the absence of the border wall by transforming its purpose to divide and uses it to unite. Sanchez utilizes the steel structure as a loom to weave, to recall and connect to the “familial roots of the border communities, the families that are separated by the fence, and the days when movement across was more fluid and natural rather than militarized.”
Tara Evonne Trudell’s work physically transforms the words and messages of those living within the border area. Tara Evonne Trudell hosts poetry workshops with communities situated on the border. In these workshops, participants create poems that are then created into beads which become long strands of poetry. Tara Evonne Trudell see this work as a way to “address the realities of trying to cross the border: a trip plagued with dangerous environments and a heavily militarized zone.”
From the outside looking in, the border can be flat and two-dimensional. These works bring to light the life within. The border is animated, mocked, teased, and made human.
Click here to read the exhibition brochure
Thank you to 516 ARTS for making this exhibition possible.
516 ARTS US-Mexico Boarder Program Guide
