By Robert Tyree // Photo: G. Wilson
Here’s a couple audience tools I picked up at ImPulzTanz last month. I found them very helpful while watching Shantala Shivalingappa’s performance of Namasya.
- What does this performance produce?
- In what ways is this performance productive?
- As I watch this performance, is my primary experience one of self-identification?
- Does this performance compliment how I like to think of myself?
When Kristan began planning out the visual art exhibits for TBA this year, she had bricks on the brain. After her brother made an offhand comment about bricks and anger, she began to think about the janus nature of the simple block: the foundations of buildings, but also the weapon of protest, the message thrown through a window. She started tracking down artists whose work played with those same dualities of construction and demolition, and she began to go brick crazy. So, as she is wont to do, Kristan started a tumblr:
Well, through our office conversations and the wisdom of the internet, we quickly discovered that bricks have far more than two sides. The tumblr, which originated as an exploration of a symbolic object, became a repository of all of the very literal instances of bricks in our culture, from revolution to fashion to pop culture to music to philosophy. And as the Festival draws nearer, we keep coming across more bricks in the news, in history, in the current London protests, in art, and in the peripheries. And with all of these bricks around us, our culture is built up and dismantled every day.
We recently announced the hiring of Angela Mattox as our new, full-time Artistic Director, and we can’t wait until she starts in her new role. While we’ve all gotten to spend some time with her, we realized that you might like to learn a little more about her background, so we sent her a round of questions about her career and her approach to curating. You can ask her your own questions when she gets to town in September, just in time for TBA!
Angela enjoying the world’s greatest doughnuts at NYC’s Doughnut Plant.
PICA: How did you first get engaged with contemporary art?
Angela Mattox: My first point of entry was as a practitioner. I’m a former dancer and this first-hand experience has always informed how I work with artists and has been really valuable in providing insight into the creative process. I often reflect on the vulnerability of an artist as she puts forward her work to the public, and that has helped me be a more compassionate curator.
PICA: You’ve worked on both the funding and the presenting side of art—can you share a little about your background and the path you’ve taken to get here?
AM: I think it’s imperative to understand how the field really operates, from multiple points of view. While it wasn’t my intention to work in various branches of arts administration—from funding to presenting—the perspectives I gained really shaped my priorities and values.
Photo: John Lee.
PORTLAND, OR — Angela Mattox, former Performing Arts Curator at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), will join the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art as the new Artistic Director, Victoria Frey, PICA’s Executive Director, announced today.
“We are happy to welcome Angela to PICA and to Portland. She is a respected peer with a stellar reputation in the field and among artists,” said Frey. “As we look to expand our role in the community, it is inspiring to work with someone with such passion for the explorations of artists and commitment to their long-term careers. Her experience in working across disciplines, and her commitment to bringing communities together will be strong assets here.”
“I’m excited to bring my artistic vision to such a progressive art organization, situated in one of the most vibrant and creative hubs in the country,” said Mattox. “It is an amazing opportunity to connect art and ideas with Portland audiences at this particular cultural moment.”
Continuing our updates on what some of our past PICA interns have been up to, we check in with Raven Falquez Munsell, who moved to Marfa, Texas, last year to work on an internship with the Chinati Foundation.
For the past three months I have woken up to the warm light of the expansive West Texas landscape. I find myself energized by the vastness of the sky and the desert, but also by the warmth and complexity of the community here and the measures taken in order to support a rich cultural community in a town of 2,000. I initially arrived in Marfa thinking mostly about Donald Judd, the impressions he left on this town, as well as his reasons for coming out here: room to breathe, space to work and think. Many others have followed that notion, making this town home and a place think and work creatively. While interning at the Chinati Foundation, a contemporary art museum founded by Judd, I have learned much about Judd’s vision and importantly, have come to realize the range of cultural production currently happening in Marfa.
Usually, the only radio station you can pick up around here is Marfa Public Radio, whose offices are located on the main drag. Their diverse programing includes great national and original local programing as well numerous music shows hosted by members of the community. The Marfa Book Co., a bookstore with a focus on poetry and art books, contributes greatly to the vibrancy of the community. Owners Tim Johnson and Caitlin Murray provide the space for art shows, yoga classes, and music, as well as for readings by visiting Lannan Foundation writers. Ballroom Marfa, a non-profit contemporary arts space, situated in the town’s former 1927 dancehall, brings in temporary exhibitions and a variety of music and art lectures. Ballroom is currently working on building a drive-in movie theater and cultural space just on the outskirts of town and are also responsible for the renowned Prada Marfa. I arrived in Marfa just in time to see the first annual CineMarfa Film Festival, showcasing 1970s No Wave cinema, which was truly a treat, I can’t wait to see what their future programming will be.
For many years, the community has welcomed visiting artists to spend time here and work. One of Marfa’s most charming attributes is in the history told through its architecture, each building has a unique history that is still very close to he surface. The former Ft. D.A. Russell is now home to the Chinati Foundation, Building 98 and other various homes and projects, the Judd Foundation’s collections are housed in old banks and grocery stores, and the former funeral home is now a bar. The various artist residency programs, Chinati, Building 98, the newly founded Fieldwork Marfa, and the Marfa Recording Co. continue to be instrumental in bringing artists and musicians from around the world to work and show their art in Marfa’s repurposed buildings.
Marfa has a small, transient community and the people who are here work very hard to keep this place thriving. While I am sad to leave Marfa, I am incredibly grateful for the time I have spent here.
—Raven
Former PICA intern Rachel Peddersen left us last year for the big city, moving to New York to pursue an MFA in Visual Arts Administration from NYU. The world better watch out, because soon she’ll be out, and she’ll be more qualified to run PICA than we are. We asked her to fill us in on what she’s been up to in her program, her work, and her view into the NYC art world. Here’s her dispatch.
Bedside reading with bedbug.
This time last year I was packing up my things to move across the country. Six long years of waiting tables and assisting artists led me to think it was time to grow up, take out my septum ring, and learn the ropes of administration. Art Administration. It still sounds
vulgar, but I’m getting used to it. Since moving to the lower east part of Manhattan I’ve learned a ton about our country’s history, American contemporary art history, and of course my artist self. In an attempt to boil down my experience thus far, I think I’ll wax on the highlights of the past (almost) year.
I will be thirty in November and even though I still look sixteen, it’s not helping assuage the harsh reality that I am interning with people younger than myself. (Taking out the nose ring and wearing pencil skirts isn’t helping, either). Intern Nation is for real. I still love you though PICA, and I wouldn’t be here without you, it’s true! (Ed. note: It is true. And we were awesome to intern for.) In the Fall, I helped the Foundation for Contemporary Art (FCA) raise money to help artists through their amazing grant program. Yes, I will brag that I met Jasper Johns, the founder of FCA and many other amazing well known artists. That is why I am paying the mad scrilla to live here, so I can name drop and be narcissistic like all the other transplants that are here.
I was hired to work as a graduate assistant for an archive where David Wojnarowicz’s collection is tucked away in folders and boxes, but used regularly by hungry curators and researchers. There are many other things in the archive to brag about that I get to handle and ogle. Mostly though, I am grateful to be working with amazing archivists that value every piece of paper these people have touched.
I have to admit that it took moving to New York to say this, but I finally fell in love with video art. It happened fast and furiously. Greater New York 2010, Modern Women: Single Channel, and Laurel Nakadate blew me away.
The war with the government funding for the arts is not over. There’s too much to say here, but a revolution is forthcoming. Cuomo did a good job this weekend with gay marriage, but now its time for art and the artists…
with love,
rachel p.
Earlier in the month, I took a short trip to Chicago. I was in town to speak on a panel at ARTCHICAGO, put together by iCI and Jens Hoffmann around some of the ideas brought about by organizing and presenting People’s Biennial. While I was there, I met up with Portland artist and curator Rob Halverson of Cool Art who had just released a new print by Sara Greenberger Rafferty at Scott and Tyson Reeder’s art/comedy space Club Nutz. In addition to running into old friends and TBA Alums, I met so many interesting and engaging Chicago artist people.
One such human is Marco Kane Braunschweiler who, along with his co-director Martine Syms, runs the art space/bookshop, Golden Age. Marco helped me pick out some new books for the PICA Resource Room, and we became fast friends. I expect to write a full report of my spring adventures, flying from Atlanta to Berkeley to Chicago for various conferences and panel discussions, but until then, here is an interview with Marco. I love spaces like his, and we are lucky to have Reading Frenzy, Monograph Bookwerks, Stand Up Comedy and Fourteen30 here in Portland, all of which have tightly curated selections of artist books and publication. Each one represents a different point of view and Golden Age has their own special focus. Be sure to check them out on the interweb, or the next time you are in the windy city. —Kristan Kennedy
Kristan Kennedy: Tell me about Golden Age, how and why did it come into being?
Marco Kane Braunschweiler: Golden Age started in 2007. Martine Syms and I (Co-Director of Golden Age) wanted to build an art economy that was not dependent on wealth. We also wanted to bring our international community to Chicago and share the amazing work in Chicago with the rest of the world.
Continue reading
Over the last month since our early lineup announcement, the TBA schedule has grown by leaps and bounds. One day, you’re working on a small program, and the next thing you know, you have a full-fledged art festival on your hands. They grow up so fast!
With general pass sales starting today, we thought it was high time we showed you the expanded TBA program. Read on to see what we’ve added, and remember to visit www.picaresourceroom.org for photos, videos and links on all of our Festival artists and projects.
Shantala Shivalingappa, Namasya. Photo: Nicolas Boudier.
ON STAGE
Shantala Shivalingappa, Namsya [FRANCE/INDIA, DANCE]
Born in India, but educated in Paris, dancer and choreographer Shantala Shivalingappa successfully combines East and West in her movement. Namasya is a program of four solo dances, including collaborations with renowned choreographers Pina Bausch and Ushio Amagatsu; as well as a piece by Savitry Nair and one by Shivalingappa herself.
Sarah Dougher, Fin de Siècle [PORTLAND, MUSIC/POETRY]
A staging of three experimental poem-plays by Leslie Scalapino, using video projections, voice and a five part instrumental ensemble. Spanning the distance between the art song and the pop song, Dougher’s score transliterates Scalapino’s challenging language and conceptual framework through a melodic and complexly textured score, foregrounding the poet’s fundamental humanism.
James Benning, Ruhr. Film still courtesy of the artist.
Video by Matthew DiTullo, song courtesy of Explode Into Colors/Claudia Meza.
THERE’S NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT.
This September, PICA’s ninth-annual Time-Based Art Festival takes over Portland, Oregon, for an all-hours, city-wide happening of contemporary performance and visual art. The Festival gathers artists for morning workshops, expands the conversation with afternoon talks and salons, fills pop-up galleries with visual installations, and takes the stage until late in the night with experimental, genre-defying, live performances.
READ ON FOR THE FIRST ARTISTS OF THIS YEAR’S TBA FESTIVAL.
MORE DETAILS TO COME AT PICA.ORG.
Rude Mechs, The Method Gun, from Humana Festival of New American Plays,
2010, Actors Theatre of Louisville. Photo: Kathi Kacinski. Continue reading
The Arts Research Center at UC Berkeley is hosting a symposium this week on the changing modes of presenting performance and visual art, and both Erin and Kristan will be speaking on a panel there. The conference will dive into the questions raised by visual artists working with a performance-based set of tools, and traditional performing artists presenting in galleries and museums—familiar territory for us here at PICA. To initiate the conversation, ARC asked each of the participants to muse on the subject at hand and provide some early thoughts and confessions. For those of you who can’t make it to Berkeley, we thought we’d repost Erin and and Kristan’s contributions.
From Kristan Kennedy, Visual Art Curator:
In my role at PICA I have often said yes. I have rarely had to say no. This feels like a privilege. I want to pass that along to the artists I work with. I want them to feel free to make what they want how they want where they want.
