February 2011

701 Center for Contemporary Arts in Columbia, SC, Features International Exhibit of New Media 

701 Center for Contemporary Art in Columbia, SC, is proud to present Faster Forward, an exhibition highlighting the work of 10 artists from Israel, Canada, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States whose new media, experimental film and video works explore contemporary visual culture mediated through popular technologies. The exhibition will be on view through Mar. 4, 2012.

The exhibit demonstrates the artists’ unmitigated command of film, video and new media technologies. Many of the works provoke questions about the broader, often disquieting, implications of our ever-accelerating technological evolution. The artists represent a broad spectrum of cultural backgrounds, geographies and perspectives, and the works in the exhibition resonate with diversity, both aesthetically and technically. They are at once experimental, interactive, dynamic, reflective and multivalent.

The ten artists included in the exhibition are: Yoni Goldstein (Israel) and Meredith Zielke (United States), Sean Hovendick (United States), Jillian Mcdonald (Canada), Sarah Boothroyd (Canada), Blake Carrington (United States), Brooke White (United States), Simon Aeppli (United Kingdom), Bill Domonkos (United States), and Pascual Sisto (Spain).

Guest curator Frank McCauley has organized several exhibitions in the new media genre including The Big Switch at Sumter County Gallery of Art in Sumter, SC, as well as Channelling and Art & Television as part of the annual Accessibility project in downtown Sumter. He is currently the assistant director and chief curator of the Sumter County Gallery of Art. McCauley states “theses types of shows are exciting because they highlight the recent transition from mechanical, chemical and analogue processes to those that are electronically and digitally based. Now artists are provided with an extraordinary range of creative opportunities.”

701 CCA’s current artist in residence is 50-year-old David Cianni, who lives in Aiken, SC, and was born in Guatemala. Cianni has been creating life-size, robotic, cyborg-like sculptures from post-consumer, recycled materials for two decades. The sculptures, which include light features, have never been exhibited and will have their world premier during Cianni’s March – May exhibition at 701 CCA. The sculptures also feature in a story written by Cianni that the artist eventually envisions as a comic book. During his January – March residency, Cianni will produce additional sculptures and build an elaborate cave system with light and sound features that together will create a gallery-wide environment for his exhibition. During his residency, Cianni, who owns a metal construction company, will conduct workshops for children about creating sculptures from recycled materials.

701 CCA is a non-profit visual arts center that promotes understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of contemporary art, the creative process and the role of art and artists in the community. The center also encourages interaction between visual and other art forms.

701 CCA will present the 2012 Columbia Open Studios on Saturday, Apr. 21, 10am-6pm & Sunday, Apr. 22, noon-6pm.

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Center at 803/238-2351 or visit (www.701cca.org).

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