Sanford Biggers
Louis Cameron
Kianga Ford
Kira Lynn Harris
Sach Hoyt
Arthur Jafa
Jennie C. Jones
Yvette Mattern
Camille Norment
Kambui Olijimi
Karyn Olivier
Nadine Robinson
SoundLab
George Lewis
Douglas Ewat and
Douglas Irving Repetto
Tom Lloyd
Benjamin Patterson
Cassel Oliver
Sound and Light in Contemporary Art. The work of a new generation of artists who are working not only as an audiovisual landscape, but also as an interactive form. It will include recent works 16 artists. The exhibition will also feature select canonical works by 3 autors that place these 21st-century sound and light works in context with the history of the genre.
Sound and Light in Contemporary Art
curator of the exhibition: Cassel Oliver
2007-This spring, the
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston will present Black
Light/White Noise: Sound and Light in Contemporary Art,
the first comprehensive review of contemporary black artists
working with sound and light, building on a longstanding
tradition of artistic experimentation through the work of 16
diverse artists. Organized by Contemporary Arts Museum
curator Valerie Cassel Oliver, Black Light/White Noise will
be on view in Houston from May 27 to August 5, 2007.
The Museum will also present Perspectives 156: Impulse, a
biennial exhibition curated and organized by members of the
Museum’s Teen Council. Guest juror Francesca Fuchs, the
painter whose latest museum exhibition, Perspectives 155,
precedes the Teen Council’s show in the Zilkha Gallery, will
select the works from submissions by Houston-area high
school students. Perspectives 156: Impulse will be on view
from May 4 to July 8, 2007.
“The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is dedicated to
discovering and presenting the newest and most exciting
contemporary art, running the gamut from experimental
practices and critically-acclaimed artists to the reflections of younger generations and unexplored
talent,” said Contemporary Arts Museum Houston director Marti Mayo. “These two exhibitions
reinforce our commitment to leading the vanguard of visual culture, both at home and abroad.”
Black Light/White Noise presents the work of a new generation of artists who are working with
sound and light not only as an audiovisual landscape, but also as an interactive form. It will
include recent works by Sanford Biggers, Louis Cameron, Kianga Ford, Kira Lynn Harris,
Sach Hoyt, Arthur Jafa, Jennie C. Jones, Yvette Mattern, Camille Norment, Kambui
Olijimi, Karyn Olivier, Nadine Robinson, and SoundLab. The exhibition will also feature
select canonical works by George Lewis (in collaboration with Douglas Ewat and Douglas
Irving Repetto), Tom Lloyd, and Benjamin Patterson that place these 21st-century sound and
light works in context with the history of the genre.
Artistic experimentation with “sons et lumières,” or sound and light, was first seen in the work of
the Symbolists and Dadaists, who brought attention to the static but intangible nature of art, and
later was used by Fluxus artists to inject time and performative aspects into their work. Their
experimentations evolved into such contemporary disciplines as sound installation, kinetic
sculpture, video installation, performance art, and interactive installation work. Black Light/White
Noise will be the first exhibition to explore the contributions of black artists within the historical
context of the sound and light aesthetic, blending them with the dynamics and sensibilities
inherent in black art.
“As prolific as the use of sound and light in art has been over the past eighty years, we have
rarely viewed this practice from a non-European perspective, and we know little about the many
sound and light artists who come from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds,” said exhibition
curator Valerie Cassel Oliver. “The expansion of the sound and light genre through a younger
generation of black artists is remarkable, but has never been explored in depth. Black Light/White
Noise reflects the innovation of these 16 artists working within this tradition.”
Recent works slated for the exhibition include Arthur Jafa’s My Black Death (2003-2006), an
installation with modern jazz blasting forth from a Trans-Am in a darkened room; Sach Hoyt’s 8-
Track Shack (2006), a six-foot-high structure housing the artist’s library of vintage 8-track
cartridges; and Kianga Ford’s The Complex (2005), an arrangement of cozy plastic pods with
listening stations offering readings of her original fiction. The exhibition will also feature Nadine
Robinson’s Wormwood (2005), an installation of more than 500 light bulbs arranged to form a
seven-pointed star; Karyn Olivier’s Whispering Domes (2004), featuring domed sculptural spaces
that amplify and alter the voices of visitors; and Camille Norment’s Driftglass (2001-2004), a
full-length mirror with audio that varies depending on viewers’ proximity to the piece.
Black Light/White Noise will be accompanied by a catalogue published by the Contemporary Arts
Museum Houston reflecting the exhibition’s unconventional subject matter. The publication will
include essays by Cassel Oliver, curator of the exhibition; Romi Crawford, director of education
and public programs at the Studio Museum of Harlem; and Greg Tate, composer, musician,
playwright, and contributor to The Village Voice. It will also contain extensive photographic and
audio documentation on each light and sound installation, a DVD with reproductions of the nonstatic
work, as well as biographical and bibliographical information on each artist.
Perspectives 156: Impulse
Concurrent with Black Light/White Noise, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston will present
Perspectives 156: Impulse, an exhibition curated by the Museum’s Teen Council. Every two
years, the Teen Council plans a juried exhibition organized by its members for the Museum’s
long-running Perspectives series. The members establish a theme, choose a guest juror and issue
a call for entries to high school students throughout the Houston area.
Works will be selected by guest juror Francesca Fuchs, the Houston-based painter whose first
solo museum exhibition, Perspectives 155, precedes the Teen Council’s show in the Zilkha
Gallery. The Teen Council, working with Museum staff, will organize all aspects of the
exhibition’s presentation—including the catalogue, installation, and education programs—under
the supervision of Teen Council Coordinator Jason Kishell and Education Director Paula Newton.
Perspectives 156: Impulse will be on view from May 4 to July 8, 2007. It will be accompanied by
a Perspectives-format catalogue with reproductions of exhibited work and statements by Fuchs,
Teen Council members, and Museum staff.
A number of education programs for adults, families, and schools will accompany these
exhibitions at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. For more information on public
programs, please call (713) 284-8257.
EXHIBITION FUNDING AND SUPPORT
Exhibitions presented in The Brown Foundation Gallery are supported by the patrons,
benefactors, and donors to the Museum's Major Exhibition Fund: Major Patrons—Eddie and
Chinhui Allen and Fayez Sarofim. Patrons—Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Ballard; George and Mary
Josephine Hamman Foundation; Mr. and Mrs. I.H. Kempner III; Ms. Louisa Stude Sarofim; and
Michael Zilkha. Benefactors—Jackson Hicks/Jackson and Company; Elizabeth Howard; Rob and
Louise Jamail; King & Spalding L.L.P.; Leigh and Reggie Smith; Susan Vaughan Foundation;
Vitol Inc.; and Mr. and Mrs. Wallace S. Wilson. Donors—Baker Botts L.L.P.; Robert J. Card,
M.D./Karol Kreymer; Isabel Stude Lummis; Judy and Scott Nyquist; KPMG LLP; Karen and
Eric Pulaski; David I. Saperstein; Karen and Harry Susman; and Stephen and Ellen Susman; and
Joan Holt and J. Roger Wich Foundation.
Perspectives exhibitions are made possible by a major grant from Fayez Sarofim; The Studio, the
young professionals group of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; and by donors to the
Museum’s Perspectives Fund: Toni and Jeffery Beauchamp; Bernstein Global Wealth
Management; Suzette and Darrell Betts; Sanford and Susie Criner; Heidi and David Gerger;
Marley Lott; Apama Mackey; Jeff Mackey; Belinda Phelps and Randy Howard; Beverly and
Howard Robinson; and William F. Stern. Catalogues accompanying Perspectives exhibitions are
made possible by a grant from The Brown Foundation, Inc.
GENERAL SUPPORT
The Museum’s operations and programs are made possible through the generosity of the
Museum’s trustees, patrons, members, and donors to its programs. The Contemporary Arts
Museum Houston receives partial operating support from the Houston Endowment, Inc., the City
of Houston through the Houston Museum District Association, and the Texas Commission on the
Arts.
ARTPHONE
The Artphone, a random access, handheld, lightweight audio device with interpretive information
about all Museum exhibitions is available at the Information Desk, and is free of charge to all
visitors. The Artphone is supported in part by Will Golden.
Continental is the official airline of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
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