November 19, 2011–February 19, 2012
David Winton Bell Gallery
Brown University
Providence, RI, United States
Hours, address, and events:
news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2011/10/nostalgia
Outbreaks of nostalgia often follow revolutions.
—Svetlana Boym, The Future of Nostalgia
If nostalgia looks toward the past, progress belongs to the future, or so it would seem. Technology connotes progress, and new media art (usually defined by its use of technology) connotes cutting-edge, future-focused work. Yet this exhibition springs from the growing body of work by artists who make free use of technology in ways that undermine this past/future dichotomy. Nostalgia Machines, curated by Maya Allison, features kinetic sculptures that use mechanics to nostalgic effect.
Nostalgia is a powerful, complicated sentiment, intimately connected to progress. The artworks here subtly engage the ongoing tension between progress and nostalgia. Certain characteristics emerge, notably the repurposing of found technology, visible use of mechanics, and a contemplative pathos. The technology itself is not old or nostalgia-inducing in the sense that an Underwood typewriter might be. Its poignancy lies in its visibility: the gears and wires give the pieces a laid-bare quality.
The visibility of the motors and gears welcomes our anxiety around technology and progress, drawing the viewer deeper into the content by inviting contemplation of the gears and wires on a symbolic level. Remarkably, the artworks exploit tech-anxiety to initiate a progression toward meditation, perhaps even to a state of reflective nostalgia, defined by Boym as “backtracking, slowing down, looking sideways, meditating on the journey itself.”[1]
OPENING COLLOQUIUM:
Friday, November 18, 2011, 5:30pm: Keynote speaker Domenico Quaranta on his most recent book, Media, New Media, Postmedia. After his talk, four of the exhibition artists will present on their work, and Quaranta will moderate a conversation with the audience. For additional events, please visit the gallery website.
BIOGRAPHIES
Meridith Pingree‘s work has earned critical praise and awards, including a SmackMellon fellowship and a Skowhegan residency. Pingree recently earned her MFA in sculpture at RISD. She has since exhibited extensively in the U.S., at Freight and Volume (New York), the Soap Factory (Minneapolis), BravinLee Programs (New York), among others.
Jasper Rigole is a Belgium-based artist and filmmaker. His work has been featured in exhibitions and film festivals throughout Europe, including the Manifesta 8 Biennial, in Murcia, Spain. He has degrees from the Academy of Fine Art and The Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Ghent. This will be his first exhibition in the U.S.
Jonathan Schipper has exhibited widely in Europe and the U.S., most recently at the Swiss Institute in New York, the Marfa Ballroom in Texas, the Tinguely Museum in Switzerland, and a solo show at the Pierogi Gallery.
Gregory Witt was recently awarded “Emerging Artist of the Year” and a solo show by Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. His work garnered positive critical press in New York when he showed with his Skowhegan cohort in Brooklyn during summer, 2010. He recently earned his MFA from Carnegie Mellon.
Zimoun is a sound and installation artist based in Switzerland. He has exhibited and performed extensively worldwide, installing solo shows at the Ringling Museum of Art in Florida, the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco, Contemporary Art Museum MNAC Bucharest, Art Museum Liechtenstein, Galerie Denise René Paris, and Bitforms Gallery.
Maya Allison is an independent curator, recently departed as Curator at Bell Gallery, to relocate to Abu Dhabi. Exhibitions curated include Music Video/Silent Film: Innovations in the Moving Image and co-producer of Wunderground: Providence 1995-2005 (both at The RISD Museum), and Alison Owen: divisibility (at the Bell Gallery). She was also program director of Pixilerations 2008–2009 and director of the 5 Traverse Gallery. She holds a BA from Reed College, and an MFA from Columbia University.
[1] Boym, The Future of Nostalgia, p. 348.
