AMERICA FOR SALE
EXTENDED! October 2 - December 19, 2009
Opening: Friday, October 2, 7-10pm
Exit Underground
Click HERE to view a video of this exhibition on our podcast page.
// EXHIBITION // PROJECTS // EVENTS // ABOUT SEA // ABOUT CONCEPT PLUS //SUPPORT //
A project of SEA (Social-Environmental Aesthetics), America for Sale is an exhibition of photography, sculpture, video, and installation that addresses America’s spiraling national debt, struggling global economy, and the ramifications of our extravagant spending.
The American economy (and the world economy) is under great duress. Due to federal spending, the accumulation of budget deficits, the controversial wars in the Middle East, the devastating impact of the decline of the real estate market, the failure of sub-prime mortgages, and the collapse of several banks, the status of America as a wealthy superpower is being challenged as the stability of our economy deteriorates.
The United States is now relying heavily on foreign investment and a federal bailout (or “stimulus package”) to buoy the U.S. economy. Our enormous debt, shaky stock market, and American reliance on fiscal support from abroad have eroded America’s authoritative place in global politics. Foreign countries are buying stakes in the United States – in our real estate, and in our debt. The nation has become a marketable commodity.
What is at stake? What does the future hold? What can be done? The works in this exhibition explore the politics of money, establishing a potent, cynical and sometimes humorous critique of the global financial system.
SEA and America for Sale conceived by Papo Colo.
America for Sale curated by Herb Tam and Lauren Rosati.
FEATURING PROJECTS BY:
Sung Choi, Nicky Enright, Dominic Gagnon, Elaine Kaufmann, erin Ko, Jess Levey, Abby Manock, Jonathan Matas, Radical Art Initiative, Ryan Roth, TRIIIBE
PUBLIC EVENTS
SEA Poetry Series, No. 3 featuring poet Laura Elrick
Thursday, December 10 / 7:30pm in Exit Underground
Laura Elrick will do a live poetic reading as narration for her film, Stalk. Following the reading, there will be a panel response from Elrick; Jess Levey, artist in the SEA exhibition America for Sale; and Adam Simon, a Brooklyn-based artist and the founder of alternative "space" Four Walls and the FineArt Adoption Network.
Q & A and reception to follow. Conceived and
organized by E.J. McAdams, poet and Associate Director of Philanthropy
at The Nature Conservancy, New York City. $5 Suggested Donation. Cash bar.
CLICK HERE for a link to Laura Elrick's essay "Poetry, Ecology, and the Reappropriation of Lived Space" on the SEA Poetry Series blog!
Laura Elrick’s latest project Stalk is a critical outgrowth of the spatially investigative social poetics she gestures toward in her essay “Poetry, Ecology and the Reappropriation of Lived Space.” Originally commissioned by the Kootenay School of Writing for the Positions Colloquium held in Vancouver in August 2008, Stalk documents a silent public performance (part dystopian-urban cartography, part spatial-poetic intervention) over which Elrick intones poetry and song constructed from appropriated text.
The Institute for Aesthetic Research
Wednesdays, 6-8pm
October 21 – November 18, 2009
As part of America for Sale, artists Daniel Lichtman and David Baumflek will host The Institute for Aesthetic Research (IAR) - a program of public events, talks and discussions focused on Art, Economics and Institutional Critique. They will attempt to translate the traditional role of the “think tank” into the sphere of cultural production and visual art. As the traditional think tank situates itself between the academy, special interests and government, the IAR will consider how to place itself critically within the circuits of distribution and legitimization of aesthetic objects and ideas. The IAR will itself be an experiment in the dynamics of cultural-political discourse. These five weekly meetings will culminate in a collectively-produced publication that explores the possibilities of cultural production in contestation, or outside the realm of Neoliberalism.
Organized by David Baumflek and Daniel Lichtman
October 21, 2009, 6pm
Organizers David Baumflek and Daniel Lichtman will introduce the Institute for Aesthetic Research (IAR), speak about the forthcoming IAR publication, and discuss the goals of the IAR. Adam Simon, and another guest to be announced, will be present to contribute to the discussion.
October 28, 2009, 6pm
Timothy Murray and Renate Ferro will discuss how politically-minded new media of the 1990s and early 2000s have been co-opted by advanced strategies of viral marketing on the web.
November 4, 2009, 6pm
John Baldachinno will discuss art, pedagogy and politics in contemporary art practice.
November 11, 2009, 6pm
Ethan Spigland will screen some of his own film works. A lecture and discussion will follow.
November 18, 2009, 6pm
Organizers David Baumflek and Daniel Lichtman will lead a discussion on the entries submitted by local and internet-based participants for the IAR publication. Audience members will contribute to a discussion in editing and finalizing the publication. Adam Simon will facilitate the discussion.
PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES:
Timothy Murray: Director, Society for the Humanities; Curator, Rose Goldson Archive of New Media Art, Cornell University Library; Professor, Comparative Literature and English, Cornell University.
Renate Ferro: Artist; Professor of Art, Cornell University
John Baldacchino: Professor of Art Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
Ethan Spigland: Filmmaker and screenwriter; Professor, New School for Social Research; Professor of Humanities and Media Studies, Pratt Institute.
Adam Simon: Brooklyn-based artist; Founder, Four Walls; Founder, FineArt Adoption Network.
ZEITGEIST: ADDENDUM (Peter Joseph, 2008, 123:07 minutes)
Screening Saturdays, October 17 and 23 at 4pm
Zeitgeist: Addendum attempts to locate the root causes of the economic collapse by investigating the corruption inherent in the monetary system.
SEA is a unique endeavor that presents a diverse multimedia exhibition program and permanent archive of artworks that address social and environmental concerns. SEA will assemble artists, activists, scientists and scholars to address environmental issues through presentations of visual art, performances, panels and lecture series that will communicate international activities concerning environmental and social activism. SEA will occupy a permanent space in Exit Underground, a 3000 square-foot, multi-media performance, film and exhibition venue underneath Exit Art’s main gallery space. The SEA archive will be a permanent archive of information, images and videos that will be a continuous source for upcoming exhibitions and projects. Central to SEA’s mission is to provide a vehicle through which the public can be made aware of socially- and environmentally-engaged work, and to provide a forum for collaboration between artists, scientists, activists, scholars and the public. SEA functions as an initiative where individuals can join together in dialogue about issues that affect our daily lives.
Exit Art currently works with a curatorial model called ConceptPlus, which begins with a theme or concept that is then publicized through a call for proposals. For each ConceptPlus idea, the curators first chose a group of artists that form the base of the exhibition. Then Exit Art issues an international call for artists to propose new or newly-contextualized work in response to a given theme or cultural condition. The exhibition is then curated by Exit Art’s curatorial staff, who view all the proposals for new work and work samples submitted by artists and select projects to be presented and/or commissioned for the exhibition. Every artist who submits a proposal has equal access to the curators, regardless of their previous experience, making ConceptPlus a highly democratic curatorial model. Recent ConceptPlus exhibitions at Exit Art have addressed ideas ranging from the reconstruction of global cities (Exit Biennial: Reconstruction, 2003) to the image of America's highest office (The Presidency, 2004), to contemporary Latino icons (L-Factor, 2005) to neuroscience innovations (BrainWave: Common Senses, 2008). A fundamental precept of the ConceptPlus model is to remove barriers to cultural participation by creating exhibition opportunities limited only by the artistic idea itself. As we have implemented this model over the past five years, Exit Art has seen a dramatic rise in both the number and geographic diversity of artists submitting proposals in response to our open calls. ConceptPlus also enables us to directly support the production of new work, as an increasing proportion of artists propose new projects that are commissioned exclusively for Exit Art exhibitions.
EXHIBITION SUPPORT
This exhibition is supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Bloomberg LP, Carnegie Corporation, Jerome Foundation, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, O'Grady Foundation, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Public Funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, Starry Night Fund at The Tides Foundation, Exit Art’s Board of Directors and our members.
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