Michael Underwood: December 1-30

Escapement
Single-channel Video
28 minutes


PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

In the summer of 2002, I traveled to the state of Washington with my brother Matthew to investigate a story about environmentalists’ proposal to remove four dams from the Snake river, a major tributary of the Columbia river. To make a long (9 part) story short, the dams are killing off the salmon, a fish that many people depend on for their livelihoods. Of course, many people also depend on the dams for farming and electricity, and the interests of everyone are balanced by the government through the Army Corps of Engineers. This knotty problem continues to this day, as reported recently in the Los Angeles Times.

Escapement examines the interconnectedness of everyone who uses the river, and the history of our government’s administration of the land dating back to Lewis and Clark. The original score was composed by American roots singer William Elliott Whitmore (Courtesy Anti Records), and expertly recorded by Scott Faine, who also played drums on some of the tracks.

More info: www.michaelunderwood.com

Shane Mecklenburger: October 30-November 26

Halcyon Atmosphere, 2009
Single-channel HD video
9 minute loop


PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Halcyon Atmosphere is a video made from found digital 3D models of guns I downloaded from the Internet. The guns were originally made for shooter games. The work is part of a larger series of images and objects called pwn3d (pronounced “owned” or “powned”), which is a gamer term meaning appropriated or humiliated, usually referring to a defeated player or computer system. The pwn3d series investigates how masculinity is constructed in first-person shooter games, where the gun often replaces the body. Video games are an incredibly powerful cultural intersection between entertainment, art, warfare, and the market. I'm especially interested in how we assign value to objects and images, and the way this constructs identity.


BIO:

Shane Mecklenburger is Assistant Professor of New Media Art at the University of North Texas. He received his MFA in Film, Video, and New Media from SAIC in May 2009. He lives and works in Dallas.

More info: www.shmeck.com

Anthea Behm: October 1-29

Submission, 2009
single channel hdv
10 minutes 23 seconds

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

The work starts with a monochrome & ends in a landscape.

In between there is an interview and a dance sequence, which are presented in parallel.

I am interested in looking at the boundary between art and entertainment. The questions in the interview are lifted from a Reality TV show application, but are answered using language drawn from art theory and politics. The dancing sequence could be seen as an audition video, but at the same time is the artwork. It is meant to be ambiguous what type of “show” this submission is for: television, art? Ultimately, it could be applied to both.

I am interested in the transmission of stereotypes relating to place, and how this affects social values and aspirations. For example, moving from the “provincial” to the “international centre”, which the art and the entertainment industry both highly value. This was dealt with in “Submission” through the contradictions that arise when talking about “needing to get out” and having a “significant life”, and is shown in direct relation to a pathetic action done in a location that is in a state of disrepair. It is also important that, although I was directly referencing the relationship between Australia and the U.S., it could be applied within the U.S. itself, or other cultural relationships.

Similarly, in terms of the verbal language and visual aesthetics, I wanted everything to be applicable. For example, the dance sequence could be referred to as “aesthetics of the relationship of body and space”, or “the contingencies of modern day structures” referring to broken debris being dislodged underfoot of the dancer. However at the same time, I wanted to reveal these notions as totally ridiculous, and critique how meaning is generated, mediated, and ultimately, unstable.

Sources for the script include: Andrea Fraser’s “May I Help You?” (1991), Obama’s speech from the Democratic Convention, August 28th 2008, Catherine Wood, “Art of Authenticity”, Artforum, Summer, 2008, Jacques Ranciere, “Art of the Possible”, Artforum, March, 2007, John Burger, “On the Problem of Autonomy of Art in Borgeoise Society” 1984, Terry Eagleton, “The Politics of Amnesia”, 2003, Paris’ BFF, Application (MTV). The song & dance routine sourced from the movie: “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”.

BIO:

Anthea Behm is an emerging visual artist working with video, performance and photography. Through her practice she questions how forms belonging to both high and popular culture contribute to the dominant hegemony, and how this may be subverted. Recently, Behm received her MFA in studio art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and currently she is completing her MFA by research through the College of Fine Arts, Sydney. Recent awards include the 2009 New Work Grant, Australia Council for the Arts, and the 2007 Anne and Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship. In 2008, Behm’s paper on her work “The Chrissy Diaries” was published in Difference Reframed: Reflections on Art and Difference (ed. A. Kokoli, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, London, 2007), and her work has been reviewed in X-TRA, EXIT BOOK and Art and Australia. Forthcoming exhibitions include Dubbo Regional Gallery, NSW (solo) and Concertina Gallery, Chicago (two person). Behm currently lives and works in Chicago.

Aaron Henderson: August 28-September 30

Aaron Henderson explores the way the public performs and plays. His Metamorphoses series (Biggie, Britney, George, Oprah and Michael) was shot at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in 2007. It documents transgressive and playful interactions that occur as people stage encounters with “celebrities”. More info available here

Fall programming

Programming will continue this year under the direction of Aaron Henderson, who is teaching new media in the art department. Aaron is a media artist most recently based out of Chicago. More about him can be found here. Please check back soon for more information about fall plans.

A. Jacob Galle in The Hook

Laura Parsons wrote about Jacob Galle's work in The Hook last week.

Read the article here.

A. Jacob Galle: August 2 - 31

still from unititled
single channel video
2009

A. Jacob Galle’s videos focus on the performance of invented, unnecessary physical labor as a means of exploring the meaning and history of work. These interests reflect his life as a woodsman and farmer. Galle currently lives and works in Maine. More information about his work can be found here.