There is a starting point and an ending point.
We move forward, slowly and on a tilted axis.
The process is the work that enables one to move from the former to
the latter. This is the direction the conveyor belt grinds in the
Industrial Complex of creating.
LOT49
Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration
May 11, 2013 JAM HANDY 2900 Grand Blvd Detroit, MI 48202
Doors at 8:00 pm
Using the collaborative process itself as the primary medium, the performance defines art as an act of labor.
LAMINAE
Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration
May 11, 2013 JAM HANDY 2900 Grand Blvd Detroit, MI 48202
Doors at 8:00 pm
We bury, even burrow. To protect, have control, feel secure. But sometimes we have to disentomb ourselves to know ourselves.
CRUX
Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration
May 11, 2013 JAM HANDY 2900 Grand Blvd Detroit, MI 48202
Doors at 8:00 pm
We bury, even burrow. To protect, have control, feel secure. But sometimes we have to disentomb ourselves to know ourselves.
CRUX
Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration
May 11, 2013 JAM HANDY 2900 Grand Blvd Detroit, MI 48202
Doors at 8:00 pm
What is the process of creation? When did you decide what creation meant to you? What your own creation story is, how you came to be as you are today?
Our journey has taken us through some of the human paths of spirituality, self-knowledge, and self-actualization. We looked at the traditional creation stories which led immediately to delving into a diverse range of creativity.
We were also incredibly inspired by personal thoughts and stories of creation gathered from interviews and crowdsourcing. These images, these concepts, these ideas are what drove us to create the Tree of Knowledge, Concept of Creation, Diagram for Living, Idea Chart, Tree of Life….or was this all here before our inventions?
We’re working to bring some of those stories and thoughts to our audience directly in our installation/performance while also developing a visual environment that we’re hoping will resonate and spark some energy in the realm of self-knowledge and self- creation.
Knowledge comes from within, from curiosity, from discovery. Search the hidden, find yourself, find your world. Find your Self.
MOVEABLE TEXT
Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration
May 11, 2013 JAM HANDY 2900 Grand Blvd Detroit, MI 48202
Doors at 8:00 pm
Origins & Endings: Meet the participating artists
(From left) Renee Willoughby, Karilu Forshee, and Andy Hawkes are Crux
Secrets don’t make friends… they make collectives. It was almost as hard to get these three in the same room as it was to get a picture of them. True to Crux form, they adhered to their own methods and we recently sat down with Renee and Andy while Karilu skyped in. A reminder that our participants are working professionals outside of this experiment and scheduling, timing, as well as distance over the past three months has been a challenge at times.
From Renee:
From Andy:
It is a bit strange, I have always thought of art as a communal practice finding myself working alongside others and often times disliking being solitary in a studio. Somehow though, despite working next to many different creative people I have never truly collaborated with others and in a way, kept my creative practice from mixing with others. I don’t think this was an intentional choice but I won’t split hairs on this.
I am the sort of artist that thinks quietly while driving, and opens empty files on my computer, free writes a few lines and then obsesses over a sentence. And In a way I want to make that sentence come to life, and much of my time is spent trying to think of ways to visually birth a short poem into a visual experience.
For example, on my computer is a file named want.doc, and when you open it in word all it says is “Want me — Please”.
It is somewhat hard to create art with two other people, based on 3 words and so I am forcing myself to draw, to share clips from films and to try to share my ideas in ways that I am not really used to doing. I’ll have an idea while shopping for groceries and then be faced with the challenge of how to share with with two other people with different points of reference and artistic goals.
The phrase “dirty hands and something I can’t tell you” is sort of where my ideas for this project came from, and I thought almost instantly of these two scenes from Wong Kar Wai films, that deal with secrets, shame and letting go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgO_sCXrK4s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubJ09At2Pnk
Origins & Endings: Meet the participating artists
(from left) Desiree Duell, Loralei Byatt, Veronica Callan, Erin Garber-Pearson are Laminae
Why have three when you can have four? One of the special conditions for submitting to this experiment was the ability for companies, groups, or in this case- duos to submit together. Erin and Veronica have worked together for quite some time and joined OE as an ‘aerial performance duo.’ Laminae features four wonderful women and we are lucky to have each of them.
Sitting in Loralei’s studio in Detroit, we were reminded that collaboration does not always come easy. With a plethora of conceptual images and concepts (shown above is Laminae’s inspiration wall), these artists were never afraid to question their choices and examine the process with sharp-yet-eloquent critique. Strong opinions fueled with passion still managed to craft a conversation in which each member had a voice. How do the ideas of many connect in a meaningful way and take inspiration into creation? Laminae exudes a professionalism and sincerity which will answer this question with great impact.
Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration
From Laminae:
Origins ————————————————————->
Sometimes beginnings are clear like when we are born or the first day of a new job. It’s marks a distinct reference point for a “beginning.” When our artist collective, Laminae began on this journey there was a clear starting point.
4 women applied to a show and were randomly put together to create a piece of art based on the concept, “origins and endings”. Simple. Straightforward start.
Although, most beginnings are unclear as they emerge out of the chaos of an ending.
In that case, the ending becomes reference point for the beginning.
The ending creates the context for creating.
Yet, when a beginning is just a beginning without emerging from an ending
—————————————————————>Where do we begin?
Laminae, to laminate, to fuse us into a collective,
We experiment through a series of “get to know you” exercises.
Each showing work, speaking in conversations of binding and framing ourselves together for a piece.
We iron our wrinkles. Pucker our lips. Erin does back-flips.
We dance around our beginning. Some speak through the computer, some in person.
Straddling, time, space, and making through our virtual studio.
Visual artists aren’t the best talkers. We like to make.
Making together is hard sometimes because it requires talking.
Where do we begin?
Three weeks away.
Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration
May 11, 2013 Jam Handy 2900 Grand Blvd. Detroit, MI 48202
8pm $15
Origins & Endings: Meet the participating artists
Ruth Bardenstein (left), Marisa Dluge (center), Sunny Smith (right) are Moveable Text
Gnostic gospels, Nag Hammadi, crowd sourcing, collective memory, creation of self. Their energy darts across the table as quickly as their inspirations. We sat down with Moveable Text in Ypsilanti to catch up about concepts and progress. We were wrapped up in the story and their connection to each other was equally as intoxicating. Moveable Text is approaching this creative process by highlighting the individual strengths of the members. Ruth has been meticulously creating authentic replicas of Nag Hammadi, Marisa has taken an ethnographic approach to generate crowd sourced material for the performance, and Sunny has been painting depictions of creation and the source thereof.
We realize there is no exact formula for successful collaborations, however, we did leave the ladies of Moveable text with a challenge: How can the members push themselves out of their comfort zones? What happens when we hear the voice of the painter and put a paintbrush in the hand of an actor?
We are eager to see how all of this comes together on May 11th.
Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration
Moveable Text
In the rare grassland ecoystems of America, an unlikely duo stalks the prairie dog towns. North American badgers (Taxidea taxus) work with coyotes (Canis latrans) to hunt rodents who nestle below ground in a complex system of burrows that makes them tricky prey to hunt. Driven by a stressful physical environment and complementary predatory strategies, this carnivorous team creates a formidable hunting presence. Coyotes chase the rodents above ground until they scamper into their burrows, at which point badgers claw their way through and end the chase. Meanwhile, a badger’s failure to catch its prey below ground benefits the swift coyote, who thrives in the expansive plains. Together they become an efficient hunting pair with more gain than if they had attempted to hunt solo.
Intra- and inter- species partnerships are everywhere.
Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration explores what happens when human strangers (Homo sapiens) form collectives and produce new works of art.
Saturday // May 11, 2013 // 8PM – 12AM
The Jam Handy Building // 2900 E. Grand Blvd., Detroit, MI 48202
Origins & Endings: Meet the participating artists
Anna Schaap (left), Emily Roll (center), and Audrey Stanton (right) are LOT49.
Although a random drawing in February placed these haunting ladies together- we are certain that it was destiny. Sitting down to discuss their progress and hear about LOT49’s conceptual plans, we could sense a strong connection between them and it felt like they had been working together for quite some time. Dark, deliberate, and honest LOT49 prepares to explore “different stratified phases of the industrial complex of art.”
“There must be a starting point and an ending point, and the process is the work which would enable one to move from the former to the latter. This became the setup for the ‘industrial complex’ of creating artists… Moving from phase to phase, you start with the development of technique and exploration of knowledge.”
Read the full story here at LOT49’s project blog
CIRCUS, Will this be Gallery Project’s last hurrah?
Gallery Project presents Circus, a multimedia exhibit in which 25 local, regional, national, and international artists explore the changing nature of the circus in American culture. Curated by Origins & Endings participant, Erin Garber-Pearson, this exhibit will be on display until May 5th.
Hours: Thursday-Saturday, noon-9; Sunday, noon-6pm.
The gallery is closed Monday-Wednesday.
For more information, contact us at 734-997-7012 orgalleryproject@gmail.com, or through our website: www.thegalleryproject.com.
CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE:
Melissa Avery, Rachel Beckman, Thom Bohnert, Seder Burns, Sue Coe, C. Ryder Cooley, Sara DiDonato, John Dinser, Erin Garber-Pearson, Timothy Gaewsky, Dellas Henke, Herring & Herring, Lou Krueger, Heidi Jensen, Pamela Joseph, Joe Levickas, Jamiyla Lowe, Seamus Liam O’Brien, Tom Linder, Robert Sites, Silvia B, Spilt Sugar Photography, Ryan Standfest, and Brett Day Windham
Founded in April 2005, Gallery Project is a fine art collaborative directed by Rocco DePietro and Gloria Pritschet. Its mission is to provide a venue for contemporary art that is culturally aware, individualistic, courageous, and thought provoking. Gallery Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It is located at 215 South Fourth Avenue in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Earlier this year we selected thirteen artists to participate in our latest project, Origins & Endings: Experiments in Collaboration. The event will kick-off CR’s annual fundraising effort and will showcase the work of an incredibly diverse group of creatives. By luck of the draw we placed the participants into four collectives and commissioned them to create a visual installation and a corresponding performance piece. I have had the pleasure of connecting with each of these collectives recently and I am thrilled with their concepts and progress - more on who these artists are and what they have been up to soon!
lo•ca•tion // noun
JAM HANDY: A perfect combination of Detroit history and creative energy.
We are excited to announce the Jam Handy as our venue for Origins & Endings. Once a film production studio, this massive building plays host to many arts and culture events in Detroit including, Detroit Soup and productions from new CR client The Hinterlands. The building is named after Henry Jamison ‘Jam’ Handy, 1904 Olympic Medalist, filmmaker, and prankster (his wiki reveals a spicy disruption during his time as an undergrad at The U of M). One of his better known films created at the studio, Detroit: City on The Move (1965), was a promotional film made for the City of Detroit, an unsuccessful bidder for the Olympic Games. With views of city highways, automobile manufacturing, a diverse population, and social activities, all shot prior to the city’s economic decline.
Now owned and operated by Simeon Heyer, Jam Handy presents Detroit with another deconstructed playground for the arts. We look forward to opening the doors to you this May.
Jam Handy hard at work.
Creative Rights is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free legal services, educational programs, and coordination of professional support services to the creative community. We serve artists and creators throughout Michigan, with a focus on the Detroit and Ann Arbor areas. Visit www.creative-rights.org for more information.
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