One-Year Anniversary Artist, Stu Helm

http://windowcontemporary.org/WINDOW/HELM.html

Siebren Versteeg @ Window in August

Share your thoughts on Siebren Versteeg's reconfigured work from 2007, Own Nothing, Have Everything.

Once again, we've placed small pads of paper with the prompt seen below around town.  You are welcome to print and distribute these throughout your own communities as well.  Please feel free to respond via a comment on this blog, or write an entirely new post, which we would be pleased to publish.

Leigh-Ann Pahapill Opening Tonight, July 5th

Canadian artist, Leigh-Ann Pahapill, has been generous enough to allow the first iteration of her brand new project to be installed at Window this month.  It's sure to generate some conversation.  

Once again, we've placed small pads of paper with the prompt seen below around town.  You are welcome to print and distribute these throughout your own communities as well.  Please feel free to respond via a comment on this blog, or write an entirely new post, which we would be pleased to publish.

My Hair is Very Electric Here

....so forms the primary text in Toby Kaufmann-Buhler's piece In/voluntary Re/actions, created specifically for window.  (Click HERE to view the piece and read the press release).

If you are in Asheville, be on the lookout for little pads with tear-off sheets inviting your participation in discussing this work (see below).  If you're in a more distant location, feel free to voice your opinions here on the blog as a comment or as an individually authored post (which I would be happy to publish).

There will be a public reception this Friday at Henco from 5:30 to 7 p.m.  We're hoping for some good conversation!

A.D. Coleman on Robert Heinecken

I really appreciate a lot of what A.D. Coleman has to say in Part 2 of this essay on Heinecken.  You can link to it HERE (scroll to the end of the article to read Part 1, also of interest).  He closes with the suggestion that Heinecken's legacy has "gradually forced those who privilege art over photography, and artists over photographers, to confront their prejudices. The best way for both sides to thank this unlikely bodhisattva for his service would be to erase the arbitrary line that divides them."

I hope that's what we can do here at window as well.

Christopher Meerdo's Sine Qua Non

Our third installation is currently up/in/at window.  Meerdo’s contribution consists of his 2012 work, sine qua non, a digital inkjet print comprised of numerous iterations of a single subject.  In this work, the artist purposefully photographed the sun “thousands of times using an early 1990's digital camera. This resulted in the degradation of the image sensor which obfuscated its recording capabilities” (Meerdo).  

In an effort to involve the public more fully, we're going to try something new.  Each month, we'll place small pads of handouts around town encouraging people to comment on the works on view and (hopefully) turn up to the opening for discussion.  We weren't able to get the pads out in advance of this month's opening, but they will be placed around town this week.  The public is encouraged to drop off their comments at Henco where they will be collected, scanned and published here.  Those who are not local can always send their comments directly to me at dawnroe@gmail.com.

Below is a JPEG image of the handout that you can download at will.

We welcome your contributions, in any form.

 

Scott Hubener on Mark Menjivar's The Luck Archive

Asheville artist Scott Hubener came out to the opening of Mark Menjivar's installation at window last week and wrote up a nice little response.  You can read what he has to say below, and if you are so inclined, you can write your own.

Mark Menjivar at/in/on window

 

The current exhibition at window got me thinking.  Mark Menjivar's work is about luck.  Luck and interaction, really.   The site-specific installation was the launching point for my access to his work.  Only later, upon leaving the exhibition with both a chance to reflect and the time to learn more about his project through the online, aptly named Luck Archive, was I able to digest this work.

What struck me and stuck with me most from Mark's work, both in general and in relation to this project, is that the subject is secondary to the action that follows or is created by the particular subject matter.  What I mean to say is that the interaction and collaboration Mark, and by extension his audience, has with people submitting their objects and stories of luck are the real exchanges, the real raison d'etre of Mark's work, and that is the exciting thing for me. Sure, there's something for exploring luck, but luck itself is not the thing, really its the foil that gets people to share, to connect about something that can be personal and real.  Luck is the trivial subject.  The sharing of stories is the significant.   That fact is exciting for me.  I believe that much too often artists, and photographers specifically, are isolated in the creation and collaboration of their work.  While its true that a photographer may 'collaborate' with a subject in the creation of an image, often the interaction is brief and only extends as far as the subject lending their likeness to a light sensitive surface. The exchange is often unbalanced.  Its exciting to think about collaboration as being something more, both for the photographer and the audience. 

Visit Scott Hubener's Website HERE.