Windows Panel Talk, Saturday Sept 6 1pm

This is the final week of WOMS 2008.
On Saturday, September 6 at 1pm, a panel discussion will be held at the Howland Public Library (313 Main St.) to coincide with the closing of the exhibit. The discussion will revolve around the artwork of the WOMS project, and aspects of art sited in situations outside of the isolated gallery setting in other projects like Ellenville's 10x10x10 and the Peeksill Project.
WOMS 2008 participating Theresa Gooby and Steven Walls will discuss their projects, and previous WOMS artist and current Peekskill Project participating curator Michael Anthony Natiello will speak about his experience in both projects. 10x10x10 curator, Judy Sigunick will discuss the nature of her project in Ellenville.

The discussion is free and open to the public.

sponsored by:
BACA, Rhinebeck Savings Bank, The Ann and Abe Effron Fund of the Community Foundation of Dutchess County.
This project is made possible (in part) through a grant from the Dutchess County Arts Council, administor of public funds through NYSCA's Decentralization Program

Eye Candy Friday: Temporeality

This weeks ECF selection is a snippet of vid I took last Saturday as Karen Brummund was installing her work at 469 Main St. as part of WOMS 2008.


The multi-staged, multi media piece incorporated adhering individual sheets of paper to the window, each carrying a portion of a window sized photo taken of the window by WOMS co-curator Matthew Slaats. The photo essentially depicts what the window saw via its reflection as Matthew was taking its picture: Matthew, standing in the street, camera to eye, some parked cars, and the Raindance boutique across the street. This treatment was repeated for the space's side window, and the window in the door.
The piece, from the start, was a temporary time based "performance" created by the window and the environment. (Karen refers to these works she creates as time-based drawings) (Please note that this is all my interpretation, as I hadn't discussed the piece at length with Karen.) A camera positioned in a parked car across the street on Saturday was automatically taking pictures of Karen installing the sheets of paper, and eventually, the wind taking them down, at which point a similarly scaled line drawn depiction of the original photograph went up in its place. The time elapsed video of this process will soon be available for viewing at Go North.

The line drawing portion of the piece.
I found this to be a particularly poetic piece, and I'm fortunate to have seen as much of is as I had on Saturday morning, as the piece was conceived to be fleeting. I was struck by the rhythmic waves moving through the mosaic of papers as the wind caught it, animating a frozen moment, depicted in photograph.

To stand in front of this piece in this window, was to stand in front of some trans-dimensional mirror, you see all the reflections you'd expect to see, except your own, which obviously would not be visible as you've been rendered a vampire. You do, however, see Matthew's ghostly voyeur aiming to snap your non-reflecting image for some nefarious purpose, like posting in a blog.

OK, I'm going too far, but this piece definitely spoke of the intermingling of past and present, the extension of a moment held indefinitely, then carried forth. The work also demonstrates the fullest extension of responding to place. Here, Karen frames her response through the eyes of another (Matthew), and through the experience of the place itself. It's a "If these walls could talk" sort of thing. Karen's is an oblique reference to history, and the brief retelling of a fading memory by an old girl on Main St.

The full piece as of Saturday evening, Aug 9
Unfortunately, the life span of the piece was curtailed due to objection by the property's owner. I'm not certain on what grounds he objected, but we certainly comply with the wishes of our hosts on matters such as this, and the piece was removed late in the evening of Aug 9. In any case, the piece was not destined to sit statically in the window through the run of the exhibit, this just expedited the dismantling and prevented viewers from experiencing the full arc of the piece, and that's a real loss.

As I said, a video depicting the rise and fall is expected to be at Go North Gallery for viewing, hopefully soon.
Much of Karen's work incorporates similar, and more ambitiously scaled architectural renderings place on the actual structures depicted. Here's a recent project described at usagnet.com and an interview with Karen on the Popcorn Youth blog

A few images, Second Saturday, Aug 9, 2008

Here are a few images from Second Saturday. After what was a very hopping day, the evening seemed a bit quiet to me, although to be sure many people were in attendance at Fovea's outdoor screening. the busy day with WOMS activities, I was spent after the WOMS activities earlier in the day, so we didn't make it very many places. We first stopped into Fovea for to sample all things China.

The work of Justin Guariglia at Fovea.

I was under the impression that Go North was having a reception for the opening of Pete Crotty's exhibit. The show did open that night, and visitors were treated to visions of the world through Pete Crotty's eyes, but the reception is scheduled for this coming Saturday, the 16. We found the artist across the street, minding the beverages at Van Brunt for the opening of the Women of New Orleans exhibit.

The Listening station at Go North, above. The gregarious madman, below.
Stage 2 of Karen Brummund's temporal Windows on Main St. installation next door to Go North.

At Van Brunt Gallery

Above & below: Gaetane michaux and Sighn at Open Space.

A final drive by snapshot of the audience gathered for Fovea's monthly screening.