Eleanor Antin
Rea Baldridge
Olaf Breuning
Chris Burden
CAC TV
Peter d'Agostino
Jaime Davidovich
Douglas Davis
Paul Forte
Terry Fox
Mario Garcia Torres
Lynn Hershman
Christian Jankowski
Martin Kersels
Paul & Marlene Kos
Noah Krell
Joel Kyack
La Mamelle
ART COM
Stephen Laub
Chip Lord
Phil Garner
Whitney Lynn
Tom Marioni
Raul Marroquin
Luis Felipe Ortega
Daniel Guzman
Ricardo Rivera
Bonnie Sherk
Barbara Smith
SOON 3
Pierrick Sorin
T. R. Uthco
Ant Farm
Bill Viola
Performance, Video, and Television. Using the publications and archives of the now-defunct gallery La Mamelle / ART COM as a frame of reference, the exhibition interrogates the range of different relationships between audience and artist through the presentation of a variety of traces-including photographic and filmic documentation, remakes, performances, ephemera, and broadcast-based works.
God Only Knows Who the Audience Is: Performance, Video, and Television Through the Lens of La Mamelle / ART COM is an exhibition produced by the graduating class of the Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice at California College of the Arts with the support of the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts.
The exhibition investigates the notion of "performing" as a medium and a site of mediation. Using the publications and archives of the now-defunct gallery La Mamelle / ART COM as a frame of reference, the exhibition interrogates the range of different relationships between audience and artist through the presentation of a variety of traces—including photographic and filmic documentation, remakes, performances, ephemera, and broadcast-based works. Though the basis of the show is "historical," referring back to artistic developments of the 1970s and 1980s, the exhibition traces and extends the conversations within these questions of media, representation, and audience up to the present day through the inclusion of works by contemporary artists.
Give Them the Picture is a literary extension of the exhibition. This accompanying publication is not an exhibition catalog but rather a selected anthology of essays taken from La Mamelle and ART COM magazines. It places in dialogue 24 articles, penned by critics and artists. This collection represents the complexity of the above ideas as they were grappled with at the time of their original publication and positions them as contemporary questions. It also features conversations between the curators and two of La Mamelle / ART COM's key figures, Nancy Frank and Darlene Tong. The publication will be available at the opening reception.
The artists include: Eleanor Antin, Rea Baldridge, Olaf Breuning, Chris Burden, CAC TV, Peter d'Agostino, Jaime Davidovich, Douglas Davis, Paul Forte, Terry Fox, Mario Garcia Torres, Lynn Hershman, Christian Jankowski, Martin Kersels, Paul & Marlene Kos, Noah Krell, Joel Kyack, La Mamelle / ART COM, Stephen Laub, Chip Lord & Phil Garner, Whitney Lynn, Tom Marioni, Raul Marroquin, Luis Felipe Ortega & Daniel Guzman, Ricardo Rivera, Bonnie Sherk, Barbara Smith, SOON 3, Pierrick Sorin, T. R. Uthco & Ant Farm, and Bill Viola.
Image: Whitney Lynn, Explanation Attempt, 2007. Photograph, Courtesy of the artist
Press Contacts
Brenda Tucker - Director of Public Relations 415.703.9548 btucker@cca.edu
Opening Reception April 21, 6–8 p.m.
Lower and Upper Galleries
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts
California College of the Arts, San Francisco campus 1111 Eighth Street (at 16th and Wisconsin) San Francisco CA 94107
Gallery Hours
Tues. & Thurs. 11 a.m.–7 p.m.
Wed., Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
Closed Sun. & Mon.