Media Contact: Micki Leventhal, 312-344-7383; mleventhal@colum.edu
Chicago, April 2003 - Interdisciplinary artists in Columbia College Chicago's graduate program employ time arts, new and traditional media to explore themes of isolation, reality, gender communications, desire and marine biology in their Spring thesis shows.
Weapons of Mass Construction, performances and installations by Interdisciplinary Master of Arts candidates, will be presented over two weekends. Part one ofWeaponsruns Friday and Saturday, May 23 and 24. Part two runs Friday and Saturday, May 30 and 31. Weapons will take place in the college's Raw Space at 1104 S. Wabash, 8th floor, and is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with performances beginning at 7 p.m. Call 312-344-7670.
There are so many graduates this year, we have an absolute embarrassment of riches, explains Suzanne Cohan-Lange, chair of the Interdisciplinary Arts Department.
Earlier in the month we opened part one of the Trace Elementsexhibition, which focuses primarily on visual arts. Part two of Trace will open the beginning of June. In the two shows ofWeapons of Mass Construction, we present a total of ten performance art pieces and two multimedia installations. Expect the unexpected, from lyrical dance pieces to frenzied micro-bugs to living cartoons, just about anything can happen during these performances and installations.
Schedules for Weapons of Mass ConstructionandTrace Elementsare included.
NOTE: Images available as glossies or digitally.
Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts Performances and Installations
LOCATION: The Raw Space, 1104 S. Wabash, 8th floor. 312.344-7670
Performances I
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 23 and Saturday, May 24
Mermaid by Lisa Barcy. Married wite marine biologist, dissatisfied in marriage, seeks romantic rendezvous in the abyss with elusive giant squid. Discretion a must, no commitments.
One Heart Suite by Laura Foronda. A poetic one-act play in three movements starring the human heart and featuring the struggles between Systole and Diastole.
Cupped Geboren by Christine Maraia. Using several languages, movement and sound, Maraia's performance investigates memories hidden in the body.
Body of Grace by Neil Ellis Orts. Comic book narratives intertwine to create a layered exploration of identity and the human body: strength, beauty, gender, age, spirit, you, me.
...root and bone and things unknown by Wendy Parman. Balloons, dead bodies and rebirth collide in Parman' performance with music that explores a woman's transformation.
Performances II
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m.
Friday May 30 and Saturday May 31
Small Proof of My Existence by Gina Marie Gabriel. Sifting through pounds of paper to recall generations of memory, Gabriel rejects stale words and static pictures in an effort to capture a moment in time.
Lonely Islands by Meeha Lee. Is it possible to trust someone from another culture? In this movement-based performance, Lee and collaborators Lisa Barcy and Vanessa Curto explore the burdens of isolation and lack of communication that exist in all cultures.
Move Me by Brian Read. Beauty clashes with the beast as movements trigger hallucinations of light and sound. One man's quest to understand women involves sex, ghosts, basketball and tap dancing along the way.
Shadowbody by Suzanne Senese. Sense's performance-installation traces the inner structures of her ancestors for clues to heredity. What she uncovers are countless stories of broken dreams and unfulfilled talents
Seeing Ceilings by Kelly Westergaard. Youth, Pleasure, Grudge and Wisdom weave together their own perspectives of the past to reveal the relationships between themselves and the world.
INSTALLATIONS
Installations will be on view before and after performances, May 23-24 and May 30-31.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Coiled Bones by Monica Fox. Follow the path of pain through Fox's installation of mutilated bones, broken mirrors, fossils, prescriptions for living and of course, chocolate.
:// SEARCH / RESCUE by Dan Jacobson. A multimedia installation in which viewers enter a coliseum of the absurd where truth and meaning are devoured by technology. Experience the information spectacle of contemporary society. Can you distinguish the artificial from the real?
TRACE ELEMENTS
Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts and Master of Interdisciplinary Arts Thesis Exhibitions.
LOCATION: The Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts, 1104 South Wabash, 2nd floor. 312-344-6630. Gallery hours: Monday through Friday: 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Saturday's by appointment.
Trace Elements I
Exhibition: May 2 - May 22. Opening Reception: Friday, May 2, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Punctum by Robin Mucha, MFA. In these drawings on handmade paper, Mucha anticipates the moment of transition from a static object to one in motion.
Caught in the Crossfire by Elizabeth Drake, MA. This installation examines the experiences of a thirty-year-old single woman torn between life as is, and her occasional desire to play the traditional role of wife and mother. The narrative unfolds through illustration, photo manipulation, text, and handmade artist's books.
Orbis Iter by Colin Browne, MFA. Course of the World is a book of emblems starring Life, Death, Phaeton, The Wheel of Fortune, the Four Elements, the Seasons of the Year, the Sun, the Moon, bees, snakes, bison, an apple tree, and a variety of metaphors for the human condition.
Here: There by C. Joel Beaman, MFA. Imagine entering the eye of a camera that gets 8 miles per gallon. . . what would you see? Hitch a ride to nowhere (or is it somewhere?) on a van-sized camera. Try to stay awake, smile at patrolmen, don't run out of gas, and please slow down!
The Sewing Room by Rose Camastro-Pritchett, MFA. The exotic becomes familiar and the ordinary seems foreign. Through the work of a seamstress, the artist explores perceptions of vulnerability and control in this installation, performance, and sound piece.
Finding Space by Yoonshin Park, MA. An installation about the space-in-between, relocation, and unfamiliar places. Viewers will be invited into a space filled with familiar but unique materials, which the artist uses to connect personal thought with her present and past.
Trace Elements II
Exhibition: June 2 - June 20. Opening Reception: June 6, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Sanctum by Sylvia Ramos Alotta, MFA. A visual installation of a bookbinding studio modeled after the ancient Hebraic structure, the Tabernacle. This meditative space will feature drawings that elucidate the design process and showcase bookbinding furniture designed by the artist.
Readings by Jennifer Hunt, MFA. This workconsiders the relationship between language, books, and divination, and questions the role of personal experience as a filter for reading. Fine leather bindings entice the audience into this interactive installation.
Last Rites by Rosanna Mark Andreu, MA. All cultures have rites of passage to mark transitions. After witnessing her dying father draw his last image under the influence of morphine with eyes closed, Andreu's installation is an exploration of how an artist intuitively or objectively interprets the final transition of death in their last work.
Inocencio's Ark by Miriam Centeno Marrero, MFA. An archaeology of childhood that weaves stories from the Bible, family history and the Taino Indian creation myth. In an installation with book stelae and paper hammocks, Centeno Marrero tells the story of the man who stole all the women and left his progeny among the stars.