CCA News
CCA Wattis Institute Presents *Passengers*
Posted on Friday, July 20, 2007, by Brenda Tucker
The CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts presents Passengers, a permanent exhibition opening September 5, 2007, that will feature a series of emerging international contemporary artists who have never before had a solo presentation in a public arts institution in the United States.
Located in the Wattis Institute's upper gallery, the exhibition will be divided into two separate spaces: One will feature a group show of 12 artists, and the other will house a solo show by one of these 12 artists. At the end of every month, the solo artist will leave the show completely, a new artist will be introduced into the group show, and again one of the group-show artists will simultaneously move into the solo exhibition space. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
"Passengers will confirm the Wattis Institute's commitment both to supporting artists at early stages of their careers and to developing unique and unorthodox exhibition formats," says Wattis Institute director Jens Hoffmann. The exhibition will take the form of an interwoven, open-ended narrative, told by the curator/narrator to the visitor/reader, that makes explicit the act of exhibition making as well as that of exhibition going. In a departure from standard interpretive material, the signage will take viewers on a journey that addresses them personally.
By narrating the show, creating a sense of anticipation, and making suggestions about where to stand, how to look, and what to feel, the curator will make visitors acutely aware of their physical and personal situation and how they themselves in effect create their own exhibition-going experience. With each month that passes, this open-ended narrative will evolve, develop, and expand.
As every month there will be a completely different solo show and a reconfigured group show, Passengers will present a new format for exhibition making—one that is self-perpetuating, constantly changing, and permanent. By September 2008, the group portion of the exhibition will have changed completely from its initial incarnation in September 2007. The participating artists will work across a wide range of media and practices and will come from countries as diverse as Portugal, Brazil, Slovakia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Mexico as well as the United States.
The first 12 artists will include Alexandre da Cunha, Ryan Gander, the collaborative Joí£o Maria Gusmí£o and Pedro Paiva, Federico Herrero, Annette Kelm, Tim Lee, Shana Lutker, Daria Martin, Gareth Moore, Valérie Mréjen, Roman Ondák, and Ulla von Brandenburg.
Valérie Mréjen's participation in Passengers is made possible in part by a grant from Cultural Services, French Consulate General in San Francisco.
Founding support for CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts programs has been provided by Phyllis C. Wattis and Judy and Bill Timken. Generous support provided by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Grants for the Arts / San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, Ann Hatch and Paul Discoe, and the CCA Curator's Forum.