Media Alert
THE SPELMAN COLLEGE MUSEUM OF FINE ART AND THE CONTEMPORARY ARTS MUSEUM HOUSTON PRESENT PART II OF “CINEMA REMIXED AND RELOADED”
ATLANTA (January 11, 2008) The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston collaborate to present the groundbreaking exhibition, “Cinema Remixed and Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image Since 1970.” Opening Thursday, January 24, 2008, Part II of “Cinema Remixed and Reloaded” will feature projections, installations, interactive CD-ROM projects, experimental film and video work by more than 40 artists, and is the first exhibition to examine the critical contributions that black women continue to make to the field of video art. It includes contributions by established video, film and visual artists who began working with the medium in the 1970s, as well as emerging and mid-career artists.
Widely considered the most influential and pervasive contemporary medium, video art is a time-based medium that relies upon viewers’ willingness to allow the work to unfold from frame to frame. It deliberately and effectively incorporates a medium from mainstream culture to engage points of view that often run counter to the cultural norm.
Part I of “Cinema Remixed and Reloaded” (September 14 – December 8, 2007) received popular and critical acclaim, and featured works by several artists, including Jessica Ann Peavy, Howardena Pindell, Adrian Piper, Tracey Rose, Carrie Mae Weems, Paula Wilson and Lauren Woods. The works primarily focused on themes that engage the complex perceptions surrounding the black female body and the spaces of empowerment where women have defined themselves.
Cathy Fox, arts critic for the “Atlanta Journal-Constitution,” listed “Cinema Remixed and Reloaded” as her first choice for “value-added” exhibitions in 2007 and noted that this survey “brought together
generations, powerful imagery and diverse themes.” Art critic Lisa Kurzner, writing for the “Atlanta Journal-Constitution” as well, noted, “Most germane are global and historical perspectives of feminism, race and gender identity, served up by an impressive roster of international artists of three generations.”
Part II of “Cinema Remixed and Reloaded” features such established artists as María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Julie Dash, Carroll Parrott Blue, Senga Nengudi, Berni Searle, Lorna Simpson and Kara Walker, and introduces works by emerging artists including Elizabeth Axtman, Zoë Charlton, Lauren Kelley and Xaviera Simmons. Promising to be equally engaging, Part II continues the explorations raised in Part I, examining such subjects as classic cinema and the male gaze. It will be on view at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art through May 24, 2008. The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston will present the exhibition from April 25 through July 12, 2009.
Curated by Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, Ph.D., director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art and Valerie Cassel Oliver, curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, “Cinema Remixed and Reloaded” traces the evolution of video presentation over three decades, chronicling the critical contributions of black women artists to the field of contemporary art. This collaboration encapsulates the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art’s unique mission as the only museum in the nation that focuses on works by and about women of the African Diaspora. Additionally, the exhibition reinforces the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston’s commitment to providing a forum for visual arts of the present and recent past to document new directions in the field of contemporary art.
BACKGROUND OF THE EXHIBITION
Video art and installations emerged within an art context in the late 1960s as a young generation of artists defied the conventions and traditions of fine art. Unlike painting and sculpture, video enabled artists to explore the limits of a time-based medium that extended beyond performance. Despite the initial reluctance to include the medium in the fine arts canon, by the early 1990s video art and film installation work were dominating the international art world.
Now, more than 30 years since its emergence, video art is widely considered one of the most influential and pervasive genres of contemporary art. To date, scholarly examinations have focused on works of such pioneering artists as Nam June Paik, Jonas Mekas, Wolf Vostell, and Yoko Ono, as well as many of their contemporaries including Adrian Piper, and Bill Viola. Recently, artists such as Stan Douglas, Shirin Neshat and Lorna Simpson have garnered international acclaim for their video art and film-based installations. In spite of the widespread recognition of artists using the medium, the contributions of many Black artists, especially Black women artists, have largely gone unrecognized.
The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston collaborate to critically examine this important, yet under examined, subject. Works featured in “Cinema Remixed and Reloaded” range from provocative to humorous to socially engaging to thought-provoking. While exploring personal experiences and dissecting popular visual culture, the artists in this exhibition provide contemporary views on several important topics including memory, loss, alienation, racial politics, gender inequities, empowerment and the pursuit of power.
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS (PART II)
Ina Archer,
Elizabeth Axtman,
Carroll Parrott Blue,
María Magdalena Campos-Pons,
Zoë Charlton,
Julie Dash,
Zeinabu Irene Davis,
Stephanie Dinkins,
Shari Frilot,
Colette Gaiter,
Renée Green,
Marguerite Harris,
Pamela Jennings,
Lauren Kelley,
Yvette Mattern,
Tracey Moffatt,
Wangechi Mutu,
Senga Nengudi,
Michelle Parkerson,
Eve Sandler,
Berni Searle,
Xaviera Simmons,
Lorna Simpson,
Kara Walker
OPENING RECEPTION
The Museum will host an opening reception in celebration of Part II of “Cinema Remixed and Reloaded” on Thursday, January 24, 2008 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Meet several of the featured artists and be among the first to view this important exhibition.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING
A series of exhibition-related public programs, including gallery tours, artists’ talks, film screenings and panel discussions, are designed to appeal to families, art enthusiasts and general audiences. These public programs will connect video art to other art mediums, encourage a greater appreciation for contemporary art and focus on the larger socio-cultural realm of race and gender.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008, 6:30 p.m.
Gallery Walk with Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, Ph.D., Director, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art
In Focus: “Big Gurl” by Lauren Kelly and “Easy to Remember” by Lorna Simpson
Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 6:30 p.m.
Conversation with Curators
An informal conversation with Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, Ph.D., Director, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art and Valerie Cassel Oliver, Curator, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, moderated by Karne Comer Lowe, Comer Art Advisory
Thursday, March 8, 2008, 6:30 p.m.
Gallery Walk with Anne Collins Smith, Curator of Collections, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art
In Focus: Video Art and Classic Cinema
Thursday, March 20, 2008, 7 p.m.
Lecture: María Magdalena Campos-Pons
María Magdalena Campos-Pons, one of the most significant artists from post-Revolutionary Cuba, creates work that explores the role of history and memory in shaping identity. Her lecture will focus on recent projects and the video installation titled “History of a People Who Were Not Heroes: A Town Portrait” (1994), which is featured in “Cinema Remixed and Reloaded.” This program is organized in partnership with Atlanta Celebrates Photography.
EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
“Cinema Remixed and Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image Since 1970” will be accompanied by a significant catalogue featuring contributions by the organizing curators and noted scholars including Isolde Brielmaier, Rhea L. Combs, Romi Crawford, Makeba Dixon-Hill, Merrill Falkenberg, Leslie King-Hammond, Lowery Stokes Sims and Anne Collins Smith. It will also include an exhibition checklist and color reproductions of works in the exhibition as well as artists' biographies and bibliographies. The catalogue will be available May 2008.
LOCATION
The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is located in the Atlanta University Center on the Spelman College campus in the Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby Academic Center at 350 Spelman Lane.
HOURS AND ADMISSION
The Museum is open Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m. The Museum is closed Sundays, Mondays, major holidays and official College breaks. For more information on the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, visit www.spelman.edu/museum. Suggested donation $3/parking $3.
ABOUT THE SPELMAN COLLEGE MUSEUM OF FINE ART
The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art provides a learning environment for students, faculty, staff and alumnae. Museum activities enhance the cultural and intellectual development of the College's community through the collection, preservation, exhibition and interpretation of important works of art. Artists affiliated with the Atlanta University Center are of particular interest. As the only museum in the nation that focuses on works by and about women of the African Diaspora in its collections, exhibitions and programs, the Museum serves as a complement to local, regional, national and international art resources. Recent exhibitions organized by the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art include “Hale Woodruff, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet and the Academy” (2007) and “Amalia Amaki: Boxes Buttons and the Blues” (2006 in collaboration with the National Museum of Women in the Arts).
ABOUT THE CONTEMPORARY ARTS MUSEUM HOUSTON
The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is a non-collecting institution dedicated to presenting the best and most exciting international, national and regional art of today, and to providing a forum for the discussion and understanding of the art of our time. Through dynamic exhibitions accompanied by scholarly publications and accessible educational programs, the Museum reaches out to local, regional, national and international audiences of all ages. Recent CAMH-organized exhibitions include “Andrea Zittel: Critical Space,” the first comprehensive solo exhibition of Zittel’s work in North America, named “Best Architecture or Design Show of 2006” by the International Association of Art Critics, as well as two comprehensive exhibitions which have examined the contributions of black artists to the field of contemporary art: “Black Light/White Noise: Sound and Light in Contemporary Art,” the first comprehensive review of black artists working with sound and light, and “Double Consciousness: Black Conceptual Art Since 1970,” which examined the conceptual practice of black artists since the 1970s.
###
Spelman College:
Founded in 1881, Spelman College is the only historically Black college in
the nation to be included on the U.S. News and World Report's list of top
75 "Best Liberal Arts Colleges — Undergraduate," 2005. Located in Atlanta,
Ga., this private, historically Black women's college boasts outstanding
alumnae, including Children's Defense Fund Founder Marian Wright Edelman;
U.S. Foreign Service Director General Ruth Davis; authors Tina McElroy Ansa and
Pearl Cleage and actress LaTanya Richardson. More than 83 percent of the
full-time faculty members have Ph.D.s or other terminal degrees and the
student-faculty ratio is 12:1. Annually, nearly one-third of Spelman
students receive degrees in the sciences. The students number more than
2,186 and represent 43 states and 34 foreign countries. For more
information regarding Spelman College, visit: www.spelman.edu.
