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5/5/2010

We have as much time as it takes

CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco

CCA Presents Its MFA Exhibition, Curatorial Practice Thesis Exhibition, and Baccalaureate Exhibition

California College of the Arts will host opening receptions for three major year-end exhibitions on Thursday, May 6, from 6–9 p.m.: the MFA Exhibition, We have as much time as it takes, and the Baccalaureate Exhibition. We have as much time as it takes is the thesis exhibition of CCA's Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice, being presented in the galleries of the CCA Wattis Institute for the first time in the program's seven-year history.

All of these events are free and open to the public and take place on CCA's San Francisco campus. The MFA Exhibition will remain on view through May 15, We have as much time as it takes will remain on view through July 31, and the Baccalaureate Exhibition will remain on view through May 11.
The MFA Exhibition

The MFA Exhibition is organized by Fine Arts faculty member and critic Glen Helfand, who says, "With a particularly large group of students this year—66 in all—the show will express the dynamic, interdisciplinary identity of CCA's diverse artistic community."

The works address a wide range of subjects and issues stemming from a world in transition; they expand the boundaries of photography, painting, printmaking, sculpture, textiles, video, installation, animation, digital media, and various combinations thereof. Vibrant abstract paintings will share space with faux-museum projects exploring issues of identity, land use, and the act of finding. All of the artists demonstrate a deft handling of materials, from the industrial and machine made to the obsessively hand crafted.

One photographic project tracks the social and psychic condition of Merced, California, a Central Valley town hit hard by the economic downturn. A group of watercolors evokes the difficult history of People's Park in Berkeley. An interactive, theatrical installation allows viewers to insert themselves into an open coffin. And there is a daily, participatory acknowledgment of the moment of sunset.

The show will be accompanied by a cell phone audio tour featuring interviews with artists and an introduction by Lawrence Rinder (former Wattis Institute director, and now director of the Berkeley Art Museum).

We have as much time as it takes

We have as much time as it takes calls attention to the multiple conditions that determine artistic display in the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts. As an art gallery located within an educational institution, the Wattis Institute requires the steady production of tangible, professional results. Responding to this situation, We have as much time as it takes presents practices that
expose, directly or symbolically, the often unquestioned and overlooked systems and economies related to such a situation. The show features 10 international artists and collectives working in a variety of media, including sculpture, installation, performance, and video. Many of the works are new, site-responsive commissions created especially for this exhibition.

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:
Nina Beier and Marie Lund, David Horvitz, Jason Mena, Sandra Nakamura, Roman Ondák, Red76, Zachary Royer Scholz, Tercerunquinto, Lawrence Weiner, Christine Wong Yap

We have as much time as it takes questions and highlights expectations of achievement, productivity, and established systems of management that make up the programs and academic mission of the Wattis Institute and CCA. The artworks converge and intersect in ways that confront exhibition-making's usual emphasis on visibility and timeliness, not to mention academic and institutional deadlines. The works embody circular processes, resist completion, welcome change, and refute demands for definable results and resolution. They challenge the conventional form of the art object and the traditional parameters of exhibitions.

The title comes from the 1957 film 12 Angry Men, a dramatic play that takes place entirely in a jury room where 12 men must agree on a verdict. At one point, juror number eight argues with his fellows for more time in order to adequately review the case. The exhibition's themes emphasize careful deliberation, cooperation, and consideration, and the title points out the complex processes behind the organization of an exhibition, especially given our added challenge of 12 curators needing to come to agreement. The title is indeed also a wry, tongue-in-cheek commentary on the finality of a graduate degree.

Lawrence Weiner's architectural intervention quite literally exposes the inner structure of the gallery while addressing issues of authorship and instruction. Nina Beier and Marie Lund, as well as Sandra Nakamura, expose the often-unquestioned systems underlying art, academic institutions, and their relative economies. Roman Ondák's work suggests a utopian no-time, a dream in which the calendar's demands are never met. Christine Wong Yap's shadowy statement satirically points to its own unobtainability. Jason Mena's constant movement and reorganization of common classroom objects refers to the human drive to create systems and questions the productivity of such behavior, thus resonating directly with the context of an educational space. David Horvitz's projects utilize existing systems of distribution and publication established by institutions and exhibitions. Zachary Royer Scholz engages with the detritus of the gallery and the materials of exhibition making to create temporary, conditional sculptures.

Two collectives will present newly commissioned pieces that engage directly with the venue. In an effort to define and call attention to the physical circumstances of CCA and the Wattis Institute, Tercerunquinto's work will involve changing existing spatial dynamics by manipulating the architectural elements of public and private spaces. Red76's central concern is to come to terms with the world and to redefine those terms—to imagine "what would happen if … ?"

We have as much time as it takes is curated by second-year students about to receive their master's degrees from CCA's Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice. The students are Jacqueline Clay, Nicole Cromartie, Courtney Dailey, Emily Gonzalez, Jacqueline Im, Kristin Korolowicz, Sharon Lerner, Katie Hood Morgan, Maria Elena Ortiz, Arden Sherman, Joanna Szupinska, and Josephine Zarkovich. The show has been developed with the support of Magali Arriola, adjunct professor; Julian Myers, assistant professor; and Claire Fitzsimmons, Wattis Institute deputy director. This is the first time that the program's thesis exhibition has been presented in the Wattis galleries, and its opening is timed to coincide with the openings of CCA's collegewide graduate thesis exhibitions. We hope in this way to deepen the relationship between our program, the Wattis's programming, and CCA's academic life, and to generate interdisciplinary discourses. Our status as students and curators-in-training within an educational institution and professional environment is underscored by the show's ambition to explore the possibilities, and the limitations, of its very specific setting.

An accompanying 112-page catalog includes interviews with each of the artists, a project by current Visual and Critical Studies graduate student Matthew Rana, and texts by the local poet Jasper Bernes and the writers Erica Levin and Daniel Marcus. A robust series of public programs will take place over the course of the three-month exhibition, both inside and outside the gallery.

A dynamic series of public programs will take place over the exhibition's three-month duration, both inside and outside the gallery. On May 18 from 7–10 p.m. there will be a one-night-only screening of James Benning's 2005 film One Way Boogie Woogie / 27 Years Later accompanied by a reception and other events. There will also be workshops with participating artists Sandra Nakamura and Red76. Details to be announced soon.

Many thanks to the Getty Foundation for its support of Magali Arriola's participation in the Exhibition Project course.

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.

Image: Christine Wong Yap, Unlimited Promise, 2009. Foil, paper, light, thread, shadow. Dimensions variable. Produced in the Breath Residency at Chinese Arts Centre, UK. Installation view: Triple Base Gallery, 2009. Courtesy the artist. Photo credit: Christine Wong Yap.

Press Contacts
Brenda Tucker, Director of Public Relations 415.703.9548 btucker@cca.edu

Opening: Thursday, May 6, from 6–9 p.m.

CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts
California College of the Arts
1111 Eighth Street San Francisco CA 94107-2247
Gallery Hours
Sun. closed
Mon. closed
Tues. 11 a.m.–7 p.m.
Wed. 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
Thurs. 11 a.m.–7 p.m.
Fri. 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
Sat. 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

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