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| Biennial Arts in Denver, Part One |
| Leanne Haase Goebel | 7/26/10 |
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| Back to the News Summaries |
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This article by arts journalist Leanne Haase Goebel originally appeared in Art Ltd Magazine.
Denver became the official capital city of the Colorado Territory on December 9, 1867, nine years before the state joined the union. The gold-domed state capitol building was completed in 1908 and Denver's Carnegie Library, designed by Albert Ross in a Greek Revival style, was built the following year. It was the first substantial construction in the Frederick Law Olmsted designed Civic Center Park.
That first library is now the 28,000 square foot McNichols Building, and sat vacant for decades until it was repurposed as an anchor venue for the inaugural Denver Biennial of the Americas, July 1-31, 2010.
It was the building, and its potential, that attracted curator Paola Santoscoy from Mexico City to take on the task of curating a portion of the Denver Biennial in less than six months. Santoscoy was hired in January and her exhibit was conceptualized and artists contracted within a few short months. "It was not a white cube, but a historic building in the process and stages of renovation. It was a very generous space and provided a good opportunity as a platform to create something in terms of an exhibit project," Santoscoy says. Continued...
Pink Project: Table (detail) [Bad Girls, New Museum, found pink plastic objects, 1994] 2010. Portia Munson. Print, pigmented ink on paper, 24" x 30" Photo: courtesy the artist and PPOW Gallery, NYC |
Although Santoscoy goes on to admit that it has been challenging to work within the McNichols building and try to connect her team's exhibit to other elements of the biennial--such as the roundtables, summits and citywide exhibits at 26 different venues--she has embraced all the challenges as part of the framework for the project. Her exhibit's title, "The Nature of Things" is derived from a poem by Lucretius written in the first century B.C. about how humanity perceives the world and continuously attempts to make sense of it through perception.
"In our exhibit we are attempting to explain different phenomenon in the world today, current and relevant for different countries in the Americas," Santoscoy says. Inherent to this process of perception is conflict and the convergence of different voices. "The moment the exhibit started to come together is when the artists' voices started entering the scene. Their voices, criticisms, and ideas are what really made the project stronger, what brought it to life," she explains.
 Conflict was not part of the original biennial conceptualized by Bruce Mau. Mau's biennial was to have seven themes: health, energy, environment, habitat, economy, education, and technology, run seven weeks, and "inspire people to create a new kind of dialogue and engagement."
But after a mutual parting of the ways, Denver Mayor John W. Hickenlooper (who is now running for governor) decided to press on. A new team was put in place and the Biennial reduced to four weeks, condensing to four new themes: innovation, sustainability, community, and the arts. Some of the challenges for Santoscoy result from citywide partners still focusing on the original themes, since they began planning long before Santoscoy came on board.
At the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Adam Lerner and Paul Andersen are presenting the first stage of their mutual research project called "Energy Effects: Art and Artifact from the Landscape of Glorious Excess." The premise is that how a country uses their excess energy is what defines its culture. Through the process of developing this idea and seeking out artists, Andersen and Lerner came up with four categories with their own definitions. Scale Energy: what is required to overcome something different in size. Transformative Energy: what is required to change from one state to another.
Assembly Energy: what is embodied in the complex accumulation of materials or people. Terminal Energy: what moves a person or object to a threshold. Their exhibit will leave the viewer pondering a question they never thought they'd ask: What do thermal nuclear bombs and knitting have in common? Nineteen artists will attempt to answer that question, and inspire even more.
Local Denver artist Lauri Lynnxe Murphy is working with MCA Denver to present an exhibit in response to "Energy Effects" called "Objectophilia." The second largest exhibit in the Biennial, it will also feature the most local and regional artists, culminating in an exhibition of between 45-48 artists spread over 20,000 square feet in two locations: one at 1490 Delgany and the other at 16th Street Mall and Delgany at the base of the Millennium Bridge.
"Objectophilia" is based on the psychic condition where people fall in love with buildings or objects and believe that the love is reciprocal. Internationally recognized artists Sarah Applebaum, Portia Munson and David Buckingham will be featured along with a bevy of local and regional artists.
Read Part Two, tomorrow... |
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