These are not heady times, but neither are they maudlin. We’re just getting really focused on some things that are a bit more consequential.
If the Whitney Biennial 2010 is taking hits for being restrained due to budgetary cuts and the Armory is criticized for being overblown, you could say the Fountain show is optimized for impact. Now in it’s 4th year, there wasn’t any fatty hype that needed to be trimmed. With some of the machine-fog of a bubbled art market clearing, it’s not surprising that there are some strong voices here.
Fountain for me is a kind of raw, dense, and measured survey of the moment, and curator David Kesting steers this 10,000 sf. ship of serious mis-content with an uncanny skill for cutting out the flim-flam. Herding cats can be easier than directing artists, and a fair number of these felines may border on feral, but the bow is pointed in a surprisingly assured direction. Because of it’s outsider billing you could expect anarchy here but in many ways this collection of 20 or so galleries, collectives, and projects can be rather unified.
And it couldn’t possibly be more thoughtful – Whether it is a Swoon benefit rep speaking earnestly about sustainable communities, La Familia’s co-founder Jennifer Garcia explaining their nearly 50-member collective’s contemplation of the definition of family, Gregg Haberny’s hyper-wrought stabs at oil oligarchy and hypocrisy in general, street artist Zeus’ dripping corporate logos, or Dave Tree’s shovel-blunt criticisms of agribusiness’s seedless produce, you get the idea that somebody is actually studying the underbelly. All this frankness is refreshingly hopeful and many pieces are downright fun. But if these are the artists in the margins that portend our future, we may be heading for a cultural awakening and radical realignment of society.
The projects in Fountain New York 2010 include NYC based collective The Art Bazaar, Christina Ray – Swoon Benefit for the Braddock PA Studios, Leo Kesting Gallery from New York, Galerie Zeitgeist from Paris, the Brooklyn based project Open Ground, Baltimore based Nudashank Gallery, We-Are-Familia artists collective which will be displaying their keep-sake boxes with work from Whitney Biennale 2010 artist Rashaad Newsome, LA based website ArtSlant, Shelter Island Projects Boltax Gallery and Sara Nightingale Gallery, CREON gallery, UK based Holster Projects and artists installations by: Alison Berkoy, Miguel Parades, Seth Mathurin, Temporary States and Gawker Artists.
Fountain NY 2010
Pier 66 at 26th St in Hudson River Park NY, NY 10011 Telephone: 917.650.3760 Email: info@fountainexhibit.com Website: http://fountainexhibit.com Dates: March 4-7; 11am–7pm
Secret Project Robot will host a silent auction to benefit SWOON’s latest nautical art project Swimming Cities of Serenissima. The benefit will take place in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on March 14th. The bidding begins at 7:30pm and ends promptly at 10pm.Dancing and Djing by The Paw and Dirty Finger will follow the silent auction. Here is a selection of the participating artists:
SWOON
Maya Hayuk
Monica Canilao
Tony Bones
Michelle Handelman
Patrick May
Santiago Mostyn
D-Dock of Hobby Horse
Imminent Disaster
Radek Szczesny
Ryan Doyle of the Black Label Bicycle Club
"Sky Watch" (Radek Szczesny)
The Swimming Cities of Serenissima is a fleet of three intricately hand-crafted vessels that will navigate the Adriatic Sea from the Karst region of Slovenia to Venice, Italy in May of 2009. Designed by the artist SWOON, the floating sculptures are descendants of the Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea (Hudson River, 2008) and the Miss Rockaway Armada (Mississippi River, 2006 and 2007). The Swimming Cities of Serenissima are built from salvaged materials, including modified Mercedes car motors with long-tail propellers. For Swimming Cities, SWOON will collaborate with 30 artists from the United States, including OBIE award-winning playwright Lisa D’Amour. As the Swimming Cities move toward Venice, the crew will collect and install keepsakes in an ark-like cabinet of wonders that will be on display on the boats when they arrive. Once in Venice, the boats and crew will offer intimate performances that incorporate music, shadow puppetry, and story. The project is produced with the assistance of Deitch Projects, Paper Monster and Black Rat Press.
Secret Project Robot is a not-for-profit space located in the forest of Monster Island and represents the Mighty Robot A/V squad, HappyFun art group and Sound Artists Robot Death Cult. It is a 2000 square foot performance, and installation centered experimental space founded upon the idea that art should be fun.
For information contact A’yen Tran ayen@swimmingcities.org.Secret Project Robot is located at 210 Kent Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11221 (at Metropolitan).