One on One
Terry Allen
Hasan Elahi
McCallum & Tarry
Kaari Upson
February 6 – May 9, 2010
1606 Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505.989.1199
Terry Allen creates works in a wide variety of media including music, painting, sculpture, drawing, video, theater, and installation. SITE will present Terry Allen’s latest work GHOST SHIP RODEZ, a multi-dimensional, multimedia exhibition inspired by an episode in the life of the great French theater visionary, poet, and artist Antonin Artaud (1896-1948).Taking its title from the French mental institution “Rodez,” where Artaud spent a number of years, this exhibition will consist of drawings and multimedia works blending sculpture and video. Allen invites us to take a journey into the depths of Artaud’s mind as he sees it — a place where the boundaries of time and space are broken, where the past and future come together in the present.
In 2002 Hasan Elahi was falsely accused by a misinformed neighbor of involvement in the 9/11 terrorists plots, and was subsequently subjected to a sixth month long investigation by the FBI. Provoked by this ordeal, Elahi initiated Tracking Transience: The Orwell Project a web-based project that provides his location in real-time and archives the traces of his life, such as photographs of every meal he has eaten and his bank transaction records. Elahi’s obsessive use of technology to track himself is “an exaggerated version of the life we live now,” where photographic and electronic surveillance have become the norm. SITE will exhibit the most complete presentation of Tracking Transience to date with a multimedia installation streaming material drawn from an extensive database representing Elahi’s activities over the last eight years.
The husband and wife team McCallum & Tarry create works that investigate issues of social justice. Their practice includes a variety of media including painting, photography, video, sculpture, and public interventions. By focusing on the voices of individuals, McCallum & Tarry create works that highlight the personal dimension of issues such as civil rights, homelessness, and war. In a significant number of their works, McCallum & Tarry have used themselves as their subjects. SITE will present three of their most intimate and poetic video-based works: Topsy-Turvy (2006), Cut (2006), and Exchange (2007). These works explore the complex legacy of race and the way it figures into contemporary relations, particularly rooted in their own experiences as an interracialcouple.
Kaari Upson‘s The Larry Project, is a multi-disciplinary investigation into the life of a man she has never met. Initially based on the life of a real person, Larry has become more fiction than fact, and Upson’s relentless investigation of the minutia of his life offers extraordinary insight into the mind of the artist herself. Through an archival method, Upson has given Larry a multifaceted life while simultaneously assimilating her life with his. Upson conceived of the project in three chapters, representing different levels of psychological engagement. Selected works from each of these chapters, including drawings, paintings, video, and sculpture will be presented at SITE.
Funding
These exhibitions are generously funded by the Board of Directors as well as by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Terry Allen is made possible in part by a generous grant from Lannan Foundation.
Hasan Elahi’s Tracking Transience: The Orwell Project is a project of Creative Capital.
Press Contact: Anne Wrinkle, 505.989.1199, direct: 505.820.3170, or wrinkle@sitesantafe.org
