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CCA Wattis Institute Presents "Prophets of Deceit"

Posted on Monday, July 10, 2006, by Brenda Tucker

The CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts presents "Prophets of Deceit," an exhibition that looks into predictions and prophecies as guidelines to the development of history.
This exhibition explores the significance of messianic and apocalyptic cults as systems restraining social behavior. Rather than announcing unsuspected events, claims of anticipated knowledge tend to administer fear and uncertainty in order to dictate the outcome of the future.

"Prophets of Deceit" is on view September 12–November 11, 2006, in the Logan Galleries of the San Francisco campus of California College of the Arts. An opening reception will take place on Tuesday, September 12, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. The exhibition and reception are both free and open to the public.

"Looking into notions of mysticism, religion and the occult as guidelines that assess the development of history, 'Prophets of Deceit' constitutes an essay on the pervading significance of messianic and apocalyptic cults both as systems of restraint of social behavior, and as seditious exercises that seek to subvert those very same structures that brought them into play," says curator Magali Arriola.

The works in the exhibition posit a series of scenarios in which retroactive myths and self-fulfilling prophecies are enacted as exercises of ideological juggling. In doing so, they not only point to the symptoms of a widespread phenomenon that embraces the specter of authoritarian irrationalism, but also investigate the role of art within the culture industry by questioning artists' function and the interpretation of their messages in a media-saturated society.

Artists in the exhibition include Craig Baldwin, Tacita Dean, HCRH, John Menick, Raymond Pettibon, Mungo Thomson, Rod Dickinson, Christian Jankowski, Joachim Koester, Komar and Melamid, Melvin Moti, and Carl Michael von Hausswolff and Eric Pauser (PHAUSS).

About the CCA Wattis Institute

Established in 1998, the CCA Wattis Institute serves as a forum for the presentation and discussion of leading-edge local, national and international contemporary culture. Through exhibitions, the Capp Street Project residency program, lectures, symposia, performances and publications in the fields of art, architecture and design, the Wattis Institute fosters interaction among the students and faculty of California College of the Arts; art, architecture and design professionals; and the general public.

About California College of the Arts

Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts is the largest regionally accredited, independent school of art and design in the western United States. Noted for the interdisciplinary nature and breadth of its programs, CCA offers studies in 19 undergraduate and 6 graduate majors in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design and writing. The college offers bachelor of architecture, bachelor of arts, bachelor of fine arts, master of architecture, master of arts and master of fine arts degrees. With campuses in Oakland and San Francisco, CCA currently enrolls 1,600 full-time students. Noted alumni include painters Nathan Oliveira and Raymond
Saunders; ceramicists Robert Arneson, Viola Frey and Peter Voulkos; filmmaker Wayne Wang; conceptual artists David Ireland and Dennis Oppenheim; and designers Lucille Tenazas and Michael Vanderbyl.

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