Armita Raafat: A Few Words on her Practice

posted February 10, 2010 in news  |  tags: armita raafat, interview  |  no comments

Armita Raafat's current show at threewalls has been called "the most visually arresting of the work of the day" (Erik Wennermark).  We spoke with Armita about her practice, research, and experiences behind her work.  If you haven't seen the show yet, stop by threewalls by Saturday February 13th.

 
The pieces in the show appear to have almost become a part of the gallery's architecture. Can you describe your process, from idea to installation?

I usually start from an image that, most of the time, I’ve documented myself, and write about what I am planning to do. I start the piece based on my interpretation of forms and structures of the image. Also, the readings I do relate to my concept. The work is very process-oriented, and it changes a lot in the course of making. Intuitive working has a role, too. So, it’s a combination of logical/structural decisions with intuition and process making.

Along with a notion of ruin and reference to Middle Eastern structures, pattern and ornament are an integral part of your work. How do you conduct your research, both visual and historic/cultural?

I do readings on ornament, as well as destruction and ruin related to different parts of the world, not just the Middle East. I also look at different imagery. So, the research starts general, and then sometimes gets very specific. Like last year, I documented and researched Muqarnas of a specific era in the city of Isfahan/ Iran.

One of the pieces in the show is a collaboration with another artist. Tell us about that piece and your collaboration.

The collaborative piece is a beginning of series of works between me and an American/Pakistani Artist. We are both working on Muqarnas for some different and some similar reasons. We are collaborating for a bigger project to come soon.

continue reading

No Comments Leave a comment

Gestures of Resistance

posted January 30, 2010 in news  |  no comments

If you happen to be in Portland, OR before June, be sure to check out Gestures of Resistance at the Museum of Contemporary Craft.  Co-curated by Judith Leemann and Shannon Stratton, threewalls Director and Chief Curator, the exhibition is comprised of a study center, artist residencies, and open conversations.  It runs from January 26 - June 26, 2010.  A schedule, a list of participating artists, and further description of the programing is available here.

No Comments Leave a comment

2010 SALON Series

posted January 20, 2010 in events, news, salons  |  tags: ania szremski, book arts, cartography, curating, reproducibility, salons, the doctoral artis  |  no comments

The Work of Gambling Historians: Oblique Glances at the Present

.

Image: Eric Fleischauer, Assigned + Recommended Reading, 2007. Image courtesy of the artist.

2010 Schedule:

The  Doctoral Artist: Research and Art Practice
Tuesday, January 26, 7:00 p.m.

Cartography 2.0
Tuesday, February 23, 7:00 p.m.

Curating the Page
Tuesday, March 23, 7:00 p.m.

Art in the Age of Infinite Reproducibility
Tuesday, April 20, 7:00 p.m.

Join threewalls this winter for the 2010 SALONS series, The Work of Gambling Historians: Oblique Glances at the Present, a special series curated by Ania Szremski. Held on Tuesday evenings at 7:00 pm, SALONS feature guest respondents in round table discussion with the public about currents the contemporary visual arts.

The pictures of race horses crossing the finish line in The Truth Will be Known When the Last Witness is Dead from Walid Raad’s Atlas Project show the horse’s nose right before, or right after, crossing the finish line—never at the exact moment that the horse wins. This project eloquently demonstrates our inability to capture the precise moment in which we live; we need temporal and critical distance for lived experience to coalesce into something recognizable. Perhaps because of this very difficulty, there is an inevitable anxiety to understand, define and delineate the present.

The Work of Gambling Historians is a discussion series that intends to take a sidelong glance at the present moment in cultural production, while remaining cognizant of the fact that these glances will inevitably result in blurry, distorted visions. The series is inspired by a perhaps contentious intuition that technological developments over the past two decades have produced an epistemic shift in terms of our relationship to the concept of “knowledge.” A cursory glance at contemporary art production may reveal certain trends related to this hunch: today, we see art practice steeped in personal or scholarly research, that is often archival in nature, and that doesn’t necessarily result in an end product; a turn to the map and diagram to connect ideas and reveal the patterns hidden under experience; and a resurgence of interest in the publication, parallel to a voracious plundering of the possibilities of the internet and new technologies.   The Work of Gambling Historians proposes to investigate this evolution in contemporary ways of receiving, processing, and ordering information, and how this evolution is made manifest in artistic, curatorial, and critical practice.

threewallsSALONS are an ongoing project that invites creative producers and thinkers into the gallery for an open-forum discussion about currents in contemporary visual art and culture. SALONS pose a discussion topic, gather a few key contributors and then open up the floor for discussion between those actively engaged in the 'question' and anyone and everyone who would like to come and be apart of the conversation. This year’s series was curated by Ania Szremski, a dual MA candidate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Art History, Theory and Criticism and Arts Administration and Policy. This project was funded in part by The Presidential Urban Engagement Grant distributed by SAIC.

Discussions are gently moderated to keep the discussion flowing.

Check the calendar for more details.

continue reading

No Comments Leave a comment