Notes, Icons, and Symbols

Remember the Rockville Arts Place (RAP)? Well, they are now called VisArts and opening with a reception from 3 to 5 on Sunday, November 19 (the exhibit runs through December 16, 2006), they have what sounds like a very interesting show.

The exibit is "Notes, Icons, and Symbols," and as his contribution to the exibit, the very talented John Borstel will be presenting a new installation titled "Closet Opera" which has been described as a "grand romantic and Fairy opera in 40 fragments."

According to John, "the piece features a series of photo-based images in which the artist himself portrays nine characters, altering his appearance through the use of simple props, accessories and a single costume manipulated into various distinctive configurations."

Notes, Icons, and Symbols also features work by Sharon Murray and Carien Quiroga. A panel discussion with the artists, titled “A Question of Identity” takes place on Sunday December 3 at 3pm.

VisArts is located at 9300 Gaither Road, Gaithersburg, MD. Further information is available at www.visartscenter.org or by calling 301-869-8623.

City Hall Collection in the WaPo again

The WaPo's District Extra section has a nice review of the new City Hall Art Collection curated by Sondra Arkin. So far the collection is getting very positive reviews from all sort of unexpected sources.

Read the piece by Paul Schwartzman here.

Recently I walked the collection with Kristen Hileman and Anne Ellegood (curators from the Hirshhorn) and Dr. Jonathan Binstock and Sarah Newman (curators from the Corcoran), as we were taken around by Sondra.

I will offer my impressions of the visit soon.

A Phenomenon of Nature

Curated by the vastly talented Dr. Claudia Rousseau, A Phenomenon of Nature, opens tomorrow (Nov. 18) with a reception from 5 - 7 pm at the unexpectedly huge and gorgeous BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown, Maryland.

The exhibition includes work by Syl Mathis, Michael Janis and Tim Tate, and also features a retrospective of photographs by Mark Evan Thomas.

If you haven't seen this massive arts venue yet, this is a perfect opportunity for a Saturday drive. The BlackRock Center for the Arts is at 12901 Town Commons Drive, Germantown, MD 20874, Phone: 301.528.2260

Veni, Vidi... Volo In Domum Redire

I've been to DC most days this week, but yesterday (when I planned some 3rd Thursday gallery stuff) was an absolute traffic and weather nightmare! More later.

Girl with Roaches
Remember this post where I discussed gallery-goers' reactions to Scott Lassman's photograph "Girl with Roaches"?

"Girl with Roaches," has been published in Black & White Magazine, one of the premier national magazines dedicated to black and white photography.

The photograph was selected as part of the magazine's 2007 Single Image Contest Awards and is published in their B&W Special Issue, which is available in bookstores and newsstands now.

Congrats to Lassman and it's on page 167. Check it out!

Congratulations



To my good friend Bill Dunlap, whose monograph will be published by the University Press of Mississippi later this month. And on December 4, 2006, at the Corcoran, there will be a book signing and also Dr. J. Richard Gruber, director of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, and Julia Reed, senior writer at Vogue and contributing editor at Newsweek will "discuss and deconstruct" the book. Details here.

The Paradise Institute at the Corcoran

By Katie Tuss

Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller’s highly lauded installation The Paradise Institute has returned to the Corcoran Gallery of Art to join other ground-breaking modern and contemporary works of art as part of the Corcoran’s museum-wide exhibition redefined: Modern and Contemporary Art from the Collection.

On the outside The Paradise Institute is little more than a shed with stairs, but inside the set up is far from plebeian. Upon entering, the maximum audience of sixteen people has a choice of the first or second row in a balcony of a perfectly modeled, technically astounding miniature theater. Cardiff and Miller succeeded in fitting a full-scale classic movie house, complete with architectural molding, red velveteen seats, and a big screen into a one-room gallery space. But the illusion has only just begun.

Viewers don headphones and a thirteen minute film noir mystery starts rolling. Within ten seconds of starting, a latecomer scoots noisily along the back aisle. This disturbance is followed by a couple’s unsolicited commentary, popcorn crunching, and a requisite cell phone ring shrill in your left ear.

As the movie unfolds, the plot grows murkier and the separation between the action on the screen and the activities of the audience blurs. The rankling sense of inescapable narrative immersion is more palpable than the dark story told by the film projector.

For those who have experienced any of Cardiff’s acclaimed sound walks, including Words Drawn in Water, which was commissioned by the Hirshhorn Museum last fall, the female whisper in your ear may sound familiar. But it may also feel distinctly different. Both use binaural audio soundtracks to capture the texture of surround sound. Whereas Words Drawn in Water seemed to be an intimate stroll amongst friends, The Paradise Institute is an unnatural, sometimes disconcerting expansion of the viewer’s understanding of narrative.

Cardiff and Miller are married and work both independently and as a team. Their multimedia pieces are internationally recognized, but none more highly than The Paradise Institute, which rightly won the prestigious Benesse Prize at the 2001 Venice Biennale.
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The Corcoran Gallery of Art is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm, and until 9:00 pm on Thursdays. The Paradise Institute every half hour daily, starting at 10:30 am with the last viewing beginning at 4:30 pm and at 8:30 pm on Thursday nights.