Photos of some of the Sparkplug installation at DCAC that ran from May 2 -11, 2008.

Congratulations and thanks to everyone that helped make this show a reality. Can I just tell all of you how impressed I am with everyone's contributions and thankful I am that you have welcomed me in participating in this experience. The learning and resources shared by this "gang of nine" in the past 4 weeks has surpassed what I had ever imagined and is only the beginning.

call to ACTION! from the 12/9/07 meeting

1-The Wack! Show at the National Museum of Women in the Arts ends on Sunday (12/16/07). Of the 7 of us that were at last Sunday's meeting at least 4 of us were interested in going so we thought it would a good jumping off spot for discussion. We set a loose schedule to be at NMWA between Noon & 2:30 PM. If you prefer to go on your own or can't make this time frame, that's cool, but I do hope you see the show.

To start off the discussion here is a link to a review I wrote in October of the WACK! show at NMWA on my school blog. If you are "afraid" this is just a show of feminist art, or artists that are "Feminists" I think you are wrong. Take a look at the review.

National Museum of Women in the Arts, is at:
1250 New York Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20005, 202-783-5000, 1-800-222-7270

Admission
Adults: $10.00, Visitors 60 and over: $8.00, Students: $8.00, NMWA members: Free
Youth 18 and under: Free, Free Community Days are the first Sunday of every month.

Hours
Monday-Saturday: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Sunday: noon - 5:00 p.m.

2- We also discussed an installation that sparked an interesting discussion about drawing. It is called Loop and is by Jennifer Steinkamp's and seems like it is on view right now as part of the Corcoran's permanent collection. The Corcoran graciously provided this archived link to info about the piece called Loop. It would be interesting if WE ALL went and looked at it and then talked about it in relation to drawing. Once again the loose plan is to meet here at 2:30 PM, Saturday 12/15/07 if you are interested. The Corcoran is at 500 Seventeenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20006, 202) 639-1700.

Hours

10 a.m.–5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m. Thursday. The Gallery is closed Tuesdays.

Admission
General Admission $6, Children aged six and under admitted free of charge.
Complimentary Admission for Members. General admission gains the visitor access to the Corcoran’s permanent collection galleries. All reciprocity agreements will be honored. However there is an additional charge for the special exhibition (Annie Leibovitz & Ansel Adams)- we were not really focusing on that, just "Loop" in the meeting so don't be compelled to see it except for your own edification.

I wish more people had been able to come the talks that Dos Pestañeos and Skote gave at DCAC. I think these two groups really showed the two extremes that collectives go to. Dos Pestañeos showed us some very high quality intellectual/curatorial oriented group exhibitions, while Skote, (which started as much freer investigation of process and identity in a group of friends animating alter-egos, creating a product that was not originally meant for public consumption) is tentatively taking their provocative style of collectivized improvisation, ego investigation and nostalgia for naive TV public through DVD technology and the constructs of performance art. Still, both these groups - and in other collectives I've experienced, developing ideas about WHY the work was together even if the idea is fluid or generalized is tantamount.

A very important way in which these two collectives are similar is that neither shys away from entertainment and product, though certainly questioning this commodification is also part of the dialouge There are plenty of other art collective models that exist soley to question (maybe even undermine) the commodification of art. I would point out, that after going to both the Dos P's & Skote's talks that both groups stressed that making product happen (making catalogs or videos and treating your grant proposals like they were works of art in and of themselves) as a component of exhibiting - though it took crazy financial and work commitments, have to become a part of your repertoire as an artist. We might all know this already, but certainly Dos P's and Skotes frankness about having achieved and having to achieve these things collectively is a practicality to keep in mind as we move on.


Check Dos P's and Skote out at:

http://www.dospestaneos.com/

http://www.skoteshine.com/index.html