Overview
Southern Constellations
The 3rd exhibition in Transformer’s four-part Do You Know Where Your Art Comes From? series in collaboration with American University’s Visiting Artist Program.
April 2 - May 29, 2016
American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center
4400 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20016
Opening Reception: Saturday April 2, 6:00 - 8:00pm
Gallery Talk with George Scheer & Victoria Reis: Thursday, April 28, 6:30 – 7:30
Southern Constellations Convergence: Exploring Experimental Practice and Resources in Southern Cities: Saturday, April 30, 11:00 – 5:00
Southern Constellations is the 3rd exhibition in Transformer’s four-part Do You Know Where Your Art Comes From? series being presented over two years at the American University Museum and the Rotunda of the Katzen Arts Center. Southern Constellations profiles the work of Elsewhere and highlights their curatorial initiative to extend experimental practices and creative networks in the South.
Elsewhere’s Southern Constellations brings six artists, born or based in the Southern United States, to their living museum and residency each year to create new site specific works that explore the museum, its collection and communities. Connecting a regional network of experimental artists and arts spaces, Southern Constellations considers the conditions and context for experimentation in the south, as well as the resources that sustain and engage practitioners in the region.
Do You Know Where Your Art Comes From? investigates current and future models of art organizing and highlights various contemporary platforms, artists and arts organizations initiated to develop, create, and present art. This exhibition series was inspired by the launch of Common Field (commonfield.org), a new network of artist projects and spaces. Transformer is a Founding Member. Do You Know Where Your Art Comes From? is curated by Victoria Reis, Executive & Artistic Director of Transformer, in collaboration with Tim Doud, Associate Professor of Art and coordinator of the Visiting Artist Program at American University.
About Elsewhere
Elsewhere Museum and Residency is an artist-run non-profit contemporary art organization set in a former thrift store in downtown Greensboro, NC. Utilizing the massive 58-year inventory, artists from across the globe utilize Elsewhere’s environment of art and everyday objects to invoke new modes for creative response, living, doing and exchanging. The museum is open daily to the public and provides a unique cultural anchor for downtown Greensboro. It presents a changing, interactive environment of artworks, objects, and events that inspire new ways to look at and re-purpose recent cultural surplus. An experience at Elsewhere activates contemporary memory and brings new concepts, perspectives, and life practices to visitors.
Southern Constellations Programming:
Gallery Talk with George Scheer and Victoria Reis
Thursday, April 28, 5:30-6:30pm
Join George Scheer, Executive Director of Elsewhere, Victoria Reis, Executive & Artistic Director of Transformer and Tim Doud, Associate Professor of Art at American University for a discussion of the artworks in Southern Constellations and its presentation as part of the Do You Know Where Your Art Comes From? series.
Southern Constellations Convergence: Exploring Experimental Practice and Resources in Southern Cities
Saturday, April 30, 11:00 – 5:00
Presented in collaboration with Elsewhere and the Southern Constellations exhibition being presented at the American University Museum, the Southern Constellations Convergence will be a full day of back-to-back panels with breakout sessions, mapping art space and artist led projects around the southeast region with a focus on planning for the next national Common Field convening to take place in Miami, FL fall 2016.
Participation is free; advance registration is required: SouthernConstellations.eventbrite.com
Image Credit: Nsenga Knight, Make Safe, Make Space, 2014
