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July Issue 2009
Weatherspoon
Art Museum in Greensboro, NC, Offers Exhibit Based on Participatory
Art
The Weatherspoon Art Museum at The University of North Carolina
at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, is presenting the exhibit, Our
Subject is You, on view through Sept. 13, 2009.
Sherri Lynn Wood
This is the first exhibition organized by the Weatherspoon Art Museum to focus on participatory art. Museum visitors are invited to collaborate on a wall mural using graphite pigeons, create and post their personal mantras on a large sign board, and pose as human sculptures using various household goods. Other works form avenues for meaningful engagement within the context of the gallery, inviting museum visitors to contribute to the creation of artwork through social interaction, collaboration, and/or performativity. Artists included in the show are Tonico Lemos Auad (Brazil/UK), Harrell Fletcher (USA), Nina Katchadourian (USA), San Keller (Switzerland), Steve Lambert (USA), Darren O'Donnell (Canada), Sherri Lynn Wood (USA) and Erwin Wurm (Austria).
Our Subject is You will prompt visitors to become aware of a collapse between the traditional boundaries that define spectator from artwork, or spectator from performer, and perceive themselves to be active participants in the creation of art and culture.
The embrace of social collaboration in art has its roots in the Happenings and interactive works produced by artists such as Yoko Ono and Allan Kaprow in the 1960s. Now reformulated by globalization and the widespread use of the internet, the works in the exhibit reveal how participatory practice has increased in relevance - and prevalence - among artists over the past decade.
Our Subject is You is co-curated by conceptual artist and UNCG Assistant Professor of Art, Lee Walton, and Weatherspoon Curator of Exhibitions, Xandra Eden. Support for San Keller's work is generously provided by Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council.
The Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro acquires, preserves, exhibits, and interprets modern and contemporary art for the benefit of its multiple audiences, including university, community, regional, and beyond. Through these activities, the museum recognizes its paramount role of public service, and enriches the lives of diverse individuals by fostering an informed appreciation and understanding of the visual arts and their relationships to the world in which we live.
For further information
check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Museum at
336/334-5770 or visit (www.weatherspoon.uncg.edu).
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