THE CALIFORNIA FILES:
RE-VIEWING SIDE EFFECTS OF CULTURAL MEMORY
April 19-June 23, 2007
CCA WATTIS INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS
1111 Eighth Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
Phone: 415.551.9210
Gallery hours: Tues. and Thurs., 11 a.m.7 p.m.; Wed., Fri., and Sat., 11 a.m.6 p.m.; closed Sun. and Mon.
Participants: Craig Baldwin, Sandow Birk, Andrea Bowers, Kaucyila Brooke, the Center for Land Use Interpretation, Abigail Child, Sunah Choi, Jay Chung & Q Takeki Maeda, the Mayme A. Clayton Library & Cultural Center, Harun Farocki, Jill Godmilow, Jack Goldstein, Karl Holmqvist, William E. Jones, Helen Kim, Nina Könnemann, Jesse Lerner, Jenny Perlin, the Prelinger Library & Archives, Miljohn Ruperto, Susan Schwartzenberg, Allan Sekula, Danh Vo, Clemens v. Wedemeyer, and Christine Würmell
Curated by Ariane Beyn
The California Files: Re-Viewing Side Effects of Cultural Memory examines how the use and reuse of documents and artifacts can allow cultural attributions to shift, exposing less-obvious aspects of cultural memory. The exhibition brings together artists who utilize archival materials in their work or whose documentary practices echo an archival approach; it also features selections from a number of self-organized archival initiatives.
The California Files investigates the idea and reality of California as a place that lacks a fixed identity and is occupied with its own history and reinvention. The exhibition focuses on idiosyncratic details of Californian culture through a variety of documentation practices and methods.
A booklet designed by Karl Holmqvist, one of the participating artists, will accompany the presentation. To receive a free copy while supplies last, please email your name and mailing address to californiafiles@cca.edu.
Lead sponsorship for The California Files is provided by the Fleishhacker Foundation. Founding support for CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts programs has been provided by Phyllis C. Wattis and Judy and Bill Timken. Generous support provided by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Grants for the Arts / San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, and CCA Curators Forum.
Ariane Beyn is an art historian and independent curator based in Berlin. She has published numerous essays on contemporary art and film and has taught at the Universität der Künste, Berlin. She has curated several exhibitions, including Hearing Aid (about the sound work of Michael Snow) at Galerie Klosterfelde and Kunst-Werke, Berlin, in 2002, and the group exhibition Transatlantic Impulses at Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin, in 2005. Beyn was an assistant curator for Utopia Station at the 2003 Venice Biennale. In 2007 she will curate exhibitions at Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany, and Atelier Frankfurt, Germany.
Established in 1998, the CCA Wattis Institute serves as a forum for the presentation and discussion of local, national, and international contemporary art and culture. Through exhibitions, the Capp Street Project residency program, lectures, symposia, performances, and publications in the fields of art, architecture, and design, the Wattis Institute fosters interaction among the students and faculty of California College of the Arts; art, architecture, and design professionals; and the general public.
