WORLDS OUTSIDE THIS ONE Across the GREAT Divide
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exhibition catalog WORLDS OUTSIDE THIS ONE Curated by Erin Elder ACross the Great DIVide Photographs by Roberta Price WORLDS OUTSIDE THIS ONE Curated by Erin Elder ACross the Great DIVide Photographs by Roberta Price June 4 – August 27, 2011 In conjunction with the unCOMMON GROUND collaboration organized by 516 ARTS with the Alvarado Urban Farm 516 Central Avenue SW Downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico www.516arts.org 516 ARTS is an independent, nonprofit arts and education organization, with a museum-style gallery in Downtown Albuquerque. We offer programs that inspire curiosity, dialogue, risk-taking and creative experimentation, showcasing a mix of established, emerging, local, national and international artists from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Our mission is to forge connections between art and audiences, and our vision is to be an active partner in developing the cultural landscape of Albuquerque CONTENTS and New Mexico. Our values are inquiry, diversity, collaboration and accessibility. Introduction 4 BOARD OF DIRECTORS ADVISORY BOARD by Suzanne Sbarge Arturo Sandoval, Chair Frieda Arth Suzanne Sbarge, President/Founder Hakim Bellamy David Vogel, Vice President Michael Berman Kathryn Kaminsky, Secretary Sherri Brueggemann WORLDS OUTSIDE THIS ONE: Joni Thompson, Treasurer Christopher Burmeister Dr. Marta Weber, Fundraising Chair David Campbell Fort-Building or the Path to Radical Social Change 5 Clint Wells Andrew Connors by Erin Elder Debi Dodge STAFF & CONSULTANTS Miguel Gandert Lisa Gill Artists 11 Suzanne Sbarge, Executive Director Idris Goodwin Rhiannon Mercer, Assistant Director Tom Guralnick Teresa Buscemi, Program Coordinator Stephanie Hainsfurther Claude Smith, Education Coordinator Norty Kalishman ACROSS THE Great DIVIDE: Benjamin Tobias, Intern Jane Kennedy Lisa Gill, Literary Arts Coordinator Arif Khan The Counterculture Photographs of Roberta Price 28 Jane Kennedy, Development Associate John Lewinger, Founding Chair Janice Fowler, Bookkeeper by Mary Anne Redding Wendy Lewis Kathy Garrett, Accountant Danny Lopez Melody Mock, Website Designer Christopher Mead Selected Photographs 31 Elsa Menéndez Melody Mock Exhibition Tour 35 Henry Rael Mary Anne Redding Rick Rennie Augustine Romero Credits 36 Nancy Salem Rob Strell © 2011, 516 ARTS Published by 516 ARTS, 516 Central Avenue SW, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87102 tel. 505-242-1445, www.516arts.org Design by Suzanne Sbarge. Printed by Don Mickey Designs. IntroduCtion Fort-Building or The Path to RadiCal SOCial Change “One can escape from the commonplace only by manhandling it, mastering it, steeping it in dreams.” by Erin Elder —Raoul Vaneigem, The Revolution of Everyday Life, 1967 The two concurrent exhibitions at 516 ARTS examine issues of community Every child builds forts. Made of pillows or sand, wood or miscellaneous and self-determination in the past, present and future. In Worlds Outside junk, these forts are dug into the beach or nestled up in a tree; they are This One, guest curator Erin Elder looks at them through the lens of hidden behind a fence or erected in the middle of the living room. Whatever contemporary artmaking and the cultural realm, with visions for alternative and wherever they exist, whether temporary or long-lasting, these forts ways of living in the present and future. In Across the Great Divide, Roberta are icons of natural curiosity. They represent the basic human desire to Price’s photographs, which document the history of communes in the 1960s participate in the creation of one’s own environment. and ‘70s, look back to how these issues were addressed over forty years Children’s forts might serve any array of purposes: housing for frogs or ago. Her archive of hippies and the back-to-the-land movement presents an landing pads for miniature aliens or a hiding place when the bad guys opportunity for us to examine their relevance in today’s world. come. The fort may be a symbol of security or opulence — the fort builders doing double-duty as princes or warriors — but what every child’s fort Worlds Outside This One features international emerging artists, planners, shares in common is that it is a physical manifestation of an imaginary other architects and economists. It presents different ways to think about art world. Through the act of fort-building, children move through a necessary and creativity, with a focus on ideas, process, hands-on experiments and developmental phase. They learn three-dimensional problem-solving, how the “research and development” approach to art making. The work in the to balance a blanket on top of a couch cushion and how to make sand hold exhibition offers viewers a variety of experiences including interactive pieces its form; but more importantly, fort builders learn to create autonomous and “how-to” plans. Both exhibitions ask us to use our imaginations about spaces that house their greatest imaginings. The fort is a self-made refuge living creatively, consciously and sustainably. Elder asks, “Is counterculture in which anything is possible. the stuff of poetry or of real life… or both?” But, what happens to the brilliant self-determination of young fort-builders? I would like to thank curators Mary Anne Redding and Erin Elder, and all of What happens to that confidence that an alternate reality is possible and the artists, individuals and organizations who have participated in the exhi- the gumption to build something in its semblance? As children become bitions, and in this summer’s unCOMMON GROUND collaboration exploring adults, we often lose confidence in our ability to imagine another, better life self-sufficiency, community and visions of utopia. and to take responsibility for the tangible expression of that dream. Suzanne Sbarge ...fort builders learn to create autonomous spaces that house Executive Director, 516 ARTS their greatest imaginings. The fort is a self-made refuge in which anything is possible. 4 5 A group of French provocateurs called the Situationists mourned this very loss. Active in the 1950s and ‘60s, they believed that the world had become so monotonous, so automated, gridded, ordered and owned, it had become void of any real choices. To resist this standardization of society, authentic creativity must be cultivated and harnessed and for them, this was only possible through the direct experience of things as they are. Their charge then, was to create moments of sudden, self-awareness that illuminated a subjective experience of one’s own life. The 1960s was an era when countless situations provided this kind of explosive insight into what was happening on an essential level. Through protests, rock concerts, drug trips, religious rituals, political uprisings, intentional communities, liberated love, violent death and even through the experience of television, situations abounded in which reality was considered, questioned, tested and even remade. Bonded by distaste for the mainstream and imagining other possibilities, the emergent counterculturists took it upon themselves to build alternatives. The counterculture born out of the 1960s was comprised of many different people doing different things in different ways for different reasons. The San Francisco Diggers set up free clinics and free stores. The Black Panthers confronted police brutality and organized community food banks. The Merry Pranksters distributed LSD in an attempt to turn people on. Ant Farm built an inflatable house while the Droppers built a city out of trash. The Maharishi invited people to meditate while Thích Quång Đúc set himself in the net.” As individual, momentary power surges, these temporary on fire. Stewart Brand produced a catalog; Bob Dylan sang a song. All of autonomous zones connect and energize one another, sparking more and these people — whether bra-burners, pill-poppers, back-to-the-landers or more opportunities for radical difference. It’s important to remember that speech-makers — did what they could to carve out a new kind of existence. the cultural shift of the 1960s did not have one specific agenda nor reflect Although there was huge momentum created by these collective actions, one person’s master plan; it was made of many islands in the net. each occurred in its own time, in its own space, as a result of authentic This exhibition responds to the legacy of the 1960s, particularly that of agency and personal confidence. the Southwestern communes, but hones in on its essential qualities. This Anarchist philosophy often describes cultural revolution as decentralized, collection of contemporary work speaks to the very essence of social made up of an ever-changing collection of temporary gestures or “islands change, that of self-determination. Worlds Outside This One is perhaps a reflection of what the counterculture might mean today but moreover it asks questions about how to live differently. Communally or in isolation? Worlds Outside This One is perhaps a reflection of what High-tech or close to the land? Big government or grass roots? Urban chic the counterculture might mean today but moreover it asks or rural grit? Do-It-Yourself or Do-It-Together? Is counterculture the stuff of questions about how to live differently. poetry or of real life… or both? 6 Justin Bagley’s kitchen, previously located at 1013 First Street, Downtown Albuquerque 7 Because the artist is equipped with creative thinking, tools for making, and the gift of an audience, the artist is in a special position to help wrangle the fringes, enliven the masses, and cultivate meaningful collective experiences. These works propose models, they offer tools, they create moments. They are presented in the form of manuals and diagrams, manifestos and proposals. Many of the works presented in Worlds Outside This One are tiny snippets of larger projects. Some of these projects happen in real time and space, and are not necessarily made for gallery display. Some works here are not even self-described as art, but as something more daily, experiential, direct. In 1919 the Dada-ist writer, Tristan Tzara, decreed that “the new artists of “making.” Through this direct method of creation, the artist is capable protests.