April 17–July 12, 2014
Opening: April 17, 6:30–8:30pm
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts
Kent and Vicki Logan Galleries
360 Kansas Street
San Francisco, CA 94103-5130
T +1 415 355 9670
Featuring works by Martin Soto Climent, Rana Hamadeh, Li Ran, Cinthia Marcelle, William Powhida, Ian Wallace, and Real Time and Space
Many Places at Once is curated by the graduating class of the Graduateprogram in Curatorial Practice at California College of the Arts.
Decades after the post-studio turn announced by Minimalism and Conceptual art in the 1960s, Many Places at Once reconsiders the place of artistic production in our era of creative industries and flexible labor. Featuring new commissions and existing works by seven international artists, the exhibition calls attention to the nuanced circumstances that characterize the economic, social, and technological conditions under which artists work today.
The exhibition departs from the performance entitled At Work 1983 by the Vancouver-based artist Ian Wallace (b. 1943, Shoreham, England), in which the artist presented himself in the window of the artist-run Or Gallery in Vancouver, late at night, seated behind a simple desk, engaged in reading, thinking, and drawing. Staging himself before the city’s nightlife as an intellectual worker rather than a paint-spattered bohemian, Wallace embraced the new nature of art as thought over making, while reflecting on his new identity with tongue firmly in cheek. Many Places at Once includes a video of his original performance and large-scale drawings he produced during his tenure in the gallery window. It also includes works from his “Hotel” series (1986–ongoing), made for this exhibition. These pieces marry photography and painting, showing the temporary studios that are the hotel rooms Wallace occupies as he travels.
Recent works by other artists embody different notions of the place of artistic production. Cinthia Marcelle (b. 1974, Belo Horizonte, Brazil) produces drawings while attending art events such as artists’ talks. Martin Soto Climent (b. 1977, Mexico City) makes the pages of his journals and notebooks his site of production. Rana Hamadeh (b. 1983, Beirut, Lebanon) creates sculptural cabinets and vitrines where her archives are displayed, which she animates through performances. William Powhida (b. 1976, New York) generates diagrammatic drawings that reflect critically on the art world and the network it represents. Through videos and performances, Li Ran (b. 1986, Hubei, China) uses mimicry, satire, and irony to challenge the representation of artists’ identity and work. In dialogue with the above, the shared studios of the Oakland-based Real Time and Space (established in 2011) evidence a continuation of the artist’s studio as a physical location, with the added dimension of group self-organization.
Taken individually, each contemporary work presents a site: a hotel, a notebook, an archive, a network, an event, a theatrical stage. Together they constitute the many places—physical and conceptual—that at once constitute a re-imagined artist’s studio.
An accompanying publication will provide an opportunity for further engagement with each featured practice through interviews with the artists, focusing on their processes and places of production.
The accompanying public programming, consisting of several conversations and public roundtables, will engage the Bay Area arts and education communities to develop dialogues on the pressing issues facing artists and creative professionals. Many Places at Once will also feature performances by Li Ran on the night of the opening reception, and by Rana Hamadeh on Friday, April 18. See wattis.org and cca.edu/calendar for details.
About CCA’s Graduate program in Curatorial Practice
Founded in 2003, CCA’s Graduate program in Curatorial Practice offers an expanded perspective on curating contemporary art and culture. Alongside traditional forms of exhibition making, this two-year master’s degree program emphasizes the momentous impact over the last half-century of artist-led initiatives, public art projects, site-specific commissions, and other experimental endeavors that take place beyond the confines of established venues. It is distinguished by an international, interdisciplinary perspective, and it reflects San Francisco’s unique location and cultural history by placing a particular importance on the study of curatorial and artistic practices in Asia and Latin America. For more information, visit cca.edu/curatorialpractice.
About the CCA Wattis Institute
The CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts was established in 1998 in San Francisco at California College of the Arts. It serves as a forum for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary art and curatorial practice. Through groundbreaking exhibitions, the Capp Street Project residency program, lectures, symposia, and publications, the Wattis Institute has become one of the leading art institutions in the United States and an active site for contemporary culture in the Bay Area. For more information about the Wattis Institute, visit wattis.org.
