“For those of you who don’t know where you are, you’re in the Hedreen Gallery at Seattle University,” Jessica Powers announced at the start of last week’s Lunch, a series of
events held every Friday at noon at the gallery. There were about two dozen people there, sitting on the floor on a big red rug, ready to see four writers called the Affective Collective deliver a poem-play with original music in response to Roberto Bolaño’s novel 2666. There were free sandwiches.
“This is the midterm for Affective Collective at Autonomous University,” said Autonomous University “administrator” William Owen (young, brainy, bearded), “a reading group with research sub-grouplets doing painful projects like the one you’re about to see.”
He was facing the gallery’s window—outside, along 12th Avenue, the collective had slung chapbooks over a clothesline “to be read by the elements.” Next to the rug was a small homemade wooden stage; across the room, on a stool, was a Rolodex with a flip animation of the words “Don’t Call Us We’ll Call You.” It was sent to the gallery unsolicited by Vancouver, BC, artist Erik Hood. (The gallery called him.)
The Rolodex is one of the few art objects to have been on display at the Hedreen Gallery since the yearlong project House Systems began this fall. House Systems was preceded by a series of all-night, one-night-only solo shows by artists, including Oregon Painting Society (which installed black lights and a forest of plants that were wired so you could play them like musical instruments) and Eli Hansen (who led a craft night complete with chain saws and prizes).
House Systems includes Lunch. It also includes three other regular series. Directives and Shelf happen online (at www.house
systems.us). Rebar Niemi posts a weekly Directive every Wednesday for you to take on if you like—use Gmail’s aesthetics bar, write one sentence defending your position on a cultural phenomenon such as Gucci Mane—and after, sending documentation is encouraged. Shelf is a curated online bookshelf of cultural theory readings—e.g., “The Gift of Terror: Suicide-Bombing as Potlatch” by Ross Birrell—in PDF and link form, updated Thursdays.
Face Time means an artist comes to the gallery every other Saturday for a gathering. This is the opposite of years-in-advance museum programming: Artists are invited only a few weeks ahead of time and encouraged not to show something, but instead to take advantage of the potential for a collaborative event on a university campus. Cat Clifford once led a group in trying to learn Yvonne Rainer’s noted minimalist dance piece Trio A (a lesson in skills that defy traditional dance skills). Hood (of the Rolodex) and Sam Willcocks built a Quaker cannon—one made of wood, meant to avert violence by fooling the eye—and then took a group to Volunteer Park for a ritual simultaneous singing of the American and Canadian anthems over an attempted miniature 21-gun salute in the pouring rain.
House Systems stretches over four terms of Seattle U’s academic calendar, so it is divided into four themes: Fort Club (construction-related: Clifford, Quaker cannon), Book Club (the Affective Collective, ongoing through March 19), Yacht Club (“a congregation of solemn observers on the sea”), and Night Club (a club of “hidden knowledge”).
“Maintaining a short and inflexible time frame, we aim to encourage spontaneity and the harnessing of entropic energy one engages when fighting a deadline or solving a dilemma,” Hedreen’s curators Jessica Powers and Whitney Ford-Terry write. “The space will be used, nothing will be exhibited in it. There will be objects that come and go, but our aim is to go beyond the static arrangement of objects. Accumulation is important, and so is change.”
This year at the Hedreen is about antimonumentality. The curators have an annual budget of $6,000. It’s a case of no money equaling great art.
What the Hedreen is doing fits with the fragmentation of Seattle art in recent months—and in coming years. As big projects have downsized in the crashed economy, small events are cropping up, where the emphasis is less on objects and more on inquiry, connection, collaboration, and hospitality.
Lawrimore Project, for instance, used to be housed in a gallery the size of a small museum. Its new space is one small room. But within those limiting walls there’s been more interaction with artists. The best example is artist Wynne Greenwood’s series of three intimate public interviews with other artists during her own show, which turned a solo show into an in-depth ensemble performance.
Scott Lawrimore also is using some of his overhead savings for a publication that’s added to with each month’s show, including images and commissioned writings. Other seedlings: NEPO House, where artist Klara Glosova invites fellow artists to use her Beacon Hill home as an installation space; TARL, the group of artists that hosts events by a backyard campfire and shows in a basement; La Norda Specialo, the artists zine published by Matt Offenbacher; John Boylan’s nighttime conversations at Vermillion based around a cultural theme (most recently, Style); and Lawrimore’s Art Klatch, the early-morning open meeting Lawrimore hosts every week. The spirit of all these is the same.
“What we’re doing is we’re making culture,” artist Cris Bruch said at last week’s Klatch (Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m. at Panama Hotel). “We don’t have a plan, but we’re building something together. It’s like making a language, and we’re all making little bits for it.”
Much is in flux: Last week, Western Bridge held the first of a series of private meetings to discuss what might come out of its ashes when it closes in 2012 (so sad). Seattle Art Museum’s contemporary art curator position is open. And the University of Washington has begun the search for a new art department chair, just as the City of Seattle has hired a new director of the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, Vincent Kitch. Much is up in the air.
The ethos of what Powers and Ford-Terry are doing at the Hedreen is rooted in the conceptual art of the 1960s and ’70s with “its various challenges to the conventional notions of what one was supposed to do in an art gallery or museum,” says Seattle U art historian Ken Allan. “Rather than stand and look at an already conceived artwork in an attempt to ‘get it,’ and therefore to confirm its status as a precious object to be bought and sold, artists produced documents of an activity that had some ephemeral effect on a landscape or a situation in everyday life.”
Or a not-so-ephemeral effect. Powers and Ford-Terry, advisers to Seattle U’s art club, have begun to organize a monthly event called The Honesty Crit, where anyone can come to listen to new work under discussion. At the last meeting, more than 40 students showed up, not all from the art department. Word is starting to get out on campus. In December, Lunch hosted the first Seattle screening of the David Wojnarowicz video that the Smithsonian censored, followed by the best organized discussion on the subject that has taken place here.
The Hedreen curators work for almost nothing, but more resources may be coming their way soon, they say. “This year is kind of a beta,” Powers says. Beta is changing the city. 
Dear miss graves, sorry but this just has to be said. Let me start with taking this piece by piece:
A) does it occur to you that you get an overwhelming comment (60?)response to the Seattle Times police incident you blogged about but didnt cover, yet you get 3 comments only on this past weeks “feature” on the art of Tim Cross? (a real loser “blurb” BTW) Shouldn’t this tell you that what you are focusing on is tired, indulgent, uninteresting, pseudo grandiose and not that compelling, intellectually, culturally, and artistically? You should really give that some thought. Do yourself and your career a favor.
B) the economy SUCKS!! in case you haven’t heard. Along with that good news we get phenomenon (your perception) the likes of the Lawrimore Project “smartly” downsizing (lack of funds darling, no other bullshit excuses, no matter what they claim,simple) and the basic fact that the art world is really not buying, but most importantly that they’re really not buying second rate after the fact conceptual art. Again, simple, right?
C)these young art kids, even that’s predictable. Of course they are pretentious, full of themselves “artbratz”. That’s what being a young artist is all about. But calling it collaboration is incorrect, commiseration is more accurate. Please, they have no game. Re-hashing notions and thought processes of the 60’s and 70’s and calling it contemporary art is derivative and lightweight. This from the same crowd that cringes at the notions of actually having technique and craft in traditional art forms A brainy artist is an amazing thing, but these people are not! Again, simple, right? Lets just face it. The emperor has no clothes on Miss Powers, Miss Ford-Terry, Mr. Allen, and Miss Graves. You can’t say youre re-assessing the presence of what a gallery/museum participation means when you don’t know what it is to be celebrated in such an honored way. They have not-thus doesn’t this just sound whiny and indulgent? My bet is give these characters a real artist’s career and you’ll hear a different tune.
D) enough already! artists trying to be curators, and curators trying to be artists! And critics trying to be both-Ugh! Get over it! Simple, right?
dear artisforangels, did it ever occur to you that the reasons these ideas are being revisited by young artists is because the models upon which the art world has historically been built no are no longer sustainable and perhaps it’s not always about money?
if you think things ought to be discussed differently, why don’t you start writing for free somewhere and let us know about it.
Whitney and Jessica’s work at the Hedreen is heroic, and well worth the praise above. They’re building a Seattle I want to live in.
Pointless fighting with @1, except to note that “pretentious,” “bullshit,” “indulgent,” and references to an emperor’s clothing, which litter the writings of would-be iconoclasts, are rarely used when making interesting or compelling arguments.
Quite possibly the “Seattle Contemporary Art Scene” is the one that is not sustainable due to the lack of original thought, intellectual heft, and quality. Art is flourishing elsewhere, ask anyone who gets out of town. In fact, that is where most of Seattle’s art scene flourishes, in collectors collecting out of town. Right Eric F.? Private meetings, judgmental and exclusionary practices by a small group desperately striving to elevate their art to a level it can never reach, primarily at the expense of others. Artificial intellectualism “informing”(I know,I hate that word too) their statements to convince the “uninformed” locally that it’s important and serious. Facing the fact that there is less there than the spin masters are telling you is the first step in getting it right. And BTW, Miss Arnold, I believe this is an open forum for all opinions, now more than ever as it’s the only one. Except your blog which I find not so…interesting.
once wuz king of fuzzies and fur white as ice blud snow blinds.
but days passed aren’t interesting – jg supreme/k. allen’s one off art historical ref doesnt mean jack shit to me and doesn’t refer to the programming in question in my humble fur-pinion. you can critique their writing and looking to teh past but teh tones you use proclaim ignorances. i like the idea of being an artbraz to use ur quotations but this artycle talks about like 7 diff things and not just one monolithic thing and i think that all involved would appreciate if you servered/partitioned responses.
so, to that end plz edit/respond with a formal complaint about content and or aesthetics that we can log, check over for amuzing spelling err-rawrs, grammatical imprecise-ties, and actualy argument.
sample q: lady who defaces nazi graf, is she jewy? if not i’d like to tell her to stop taking charge of my ppl’s history and fighting for us. i assume she is so i’ll merely say that: YOU BE THE FASCIST YOU BE TRAPPED IN UR OWN MINDS YOU BE THE COMPTROLLER OF YOUR OWN SHINY-NESS WE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU BEING DISFAVORED IT WAS UR OWN SHAME I AM A BIT PLAYER I HAVE NO SHAME I KNOW SOME MENTIONED IN ARTICLE THEY HAVE NO SHAME BUT U OBVI HAVE SHAMES.
you like:
1. street art
2. things that are like banksy but not
you have opinions 2?
-about richies
-about institutions
-about journalistas
stop confusing fax with fixtions and particularly yr sandy-ness and raw upset with squo problems. i once wuz a foolish young boi and then i shut up. i miss the animals named commenters who said funny things.
you can’t respond i dont have a position i can’t respond to you your position lacks.
I know I shouldn’t take troll bait, but I’m curious, artisforangels, have you actually been to any of the events at the Hedreen that Jen is talking about?
Your comments seem to imply that you think conceptual art is some monolithic trend that was all played out in the 1960s and 1970s rather than a constantly evolving body of approaches for interacting with ideas. The context for current conceptual art is, of course, totally unrecognizable compared with 40 years ago. Many of the issues that Jessica and Whitney are responding to (for instance the value of “meat space” in the age of the Internet) were non-issues in 1970. You may argue about the relative quality of the resultant art, but to suggest that it is a mere rehashing betrays a deep ignorance, not only of so-called art world trends but of the greater cultural context for these interactions.
That said, I think you are correct in your assessment that Seattle has traditionally not been a hotspot for great conceptual art, which is why what’s going on at the Hedreen is so interesting for folks who are kinked that way. Perhaps not all of their experiments have been resounding successes, but the fact that they are doing what they are doing where they are doing it is quite meaningful indeed. Jen mentioned the Oregon Painting Society, didyaknow OPS was profiled in Italian Vogue shortly after their performance at the Hedreen? Jessica and Whitney are specifically interested in facilitating connections with Northwest artists who are in turn making national and international connections. Sorry to break it to you, but these “artbratz” know about stuff you don’t know about, not the other way around. But the good news is, they are not snotty or cliquish in the least. All the events are free and open to the public. So if you could disarm the ol’ ego a little and put down the bitterness (SO early 2000s), you just might want to come along!
TAKE THE TROLLBAIT E. POTHAST WILL DESTRO E. OY YOU.
First of all @7, Italian Vogue! Say no more! As for “knowing about stuff I don’t know about” WHAT?,stupid comment, on many levels. And FYI, I wasn’t invited to the the “private emergency meeting” at the Western Bridge which reeks of “snotty and cliquish”.The very mention of the silly “SO early 2000” (very juvenile, BTW) negates as usual, any real intelligent discourse of the worthiness of any of it-good or bad. Just because someone says its good or right, don’t make it so…
2) @ 5, WHAT?!?!?
This is EXACTLY what I’m talking about. What’s up with the “jewy?” Do you have to be Jewish to care about rights and people? Didn’t you get it that she’s most concerned about people like you and your recklessness?
(your brilliance)
“sample q: lady who defaces nazi graf, is she jewy? if not i’d like to tell her to stop taking charge of my ppl’s history and fighting for us. i assume she is so i’ll merely say that: YOU BE THE FASCIST YOU BE TRAPPED IN UR OWN MINDS YOU BE THE COMPTROLLER OF YOUR OWN SHINY-NESS WE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU BEING DISFAVORED IT WAS UR OWN SHAME I AM A BIT PLAYER I HAVE NO SHAME I KNOW SOME MENTIONED IN ARTICLE THEY HAVE NO SHAME BUT U OBVI HAVE SHAMES.
you like:
1. street art
2. things that are like banksy but not”
and for the record, I love Banksy, it’s just past it’s expiration date when it bares his brand these days, as is your tragic use of the English language.
3) @8 uh huh…
ah excuse me, i meant one of these two things: jewess or jewry. this wuz in jest b/c: 1. lame internet rules dictate holocaust refs, as jew i like to make jokes about this 2. as jew i am bummed by our continual reference in debates what have nothing to do with us.
ah excuse me, i had no idea that i was being a nazi graf artist.
ah excuse me, i didn’t get that you liked banksy too, i only understood that you liked the derivations/repetitions of taxtix that have existed forever. BUT OF COURSE THEY’RE HIS TACTICS AND BELONG TO HIS BRAND RIHGT?
ah excuse me, i also forgot to make joke about ur bad typistry//formatting, i should have.
ah excuse me, ??????? DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT I CALLED YOU OUT IN REALLY SERIOUS AND IMPORTANT WAYS THAT DEFINITELY INDICT YOUR COMPLICITY IN THE SYSTEM YOU CRITICIZE AND TOTALLY BANKRUPT YOUR CASE 4 DISCOURSE?!
AH EXCUSE ME – you should come to the honest criticism tonight at the hunthausen building on SU’s campus, if you (like some others) have a facebook there is an event you can search or a link to follow: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=19…
clearly these foolish youth need THE PUBLICS VOICE AND THE VOICE OF THE COMMUNITY AND THE REPRESENTATIN OF CORRECTLY ENUMERATED ARGUMENTS. plz come. i serious, i think you’d enjoy.
ah excuse me – italian vogue comment was hilarious, why u have to ruin it by mentioning that?
ah excuse me –
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=19…
excused
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event…
We have some link failure, @10-11, but I do join you in inviting artisforangles to participate in tonight’s crit, which will be held in Seattle University’s Hunthausen room 40 at 7:00pm. Myself, SU’s Visual Artist In Residence, local sculptor Dan Webb, and local writer/high school debate coach Rebar Niemi will be providing honest and constructive feedback on whatever students choose to bring in. The crit sessions are organized by Seattle University’s art club, who have this to say about the program:
“Every 4th Thursday ArtSideOut will hold a student fine arts critique where 8 students will each present their works of art (finished, in the process, or merely ideas/concepts) to the community. These presentations will inspire conversation & relationships. All are welcome (art makers, art lovers, art haters, Seattle U kids, community members, anyone & any who).”
If you have any questions, please give me a ring at 206-940-8329. I’d love for you to experience the event and to talk to you about your work!
See you soon,
Matt Browning
Here’s a documentary that Summer made about the free lunch performance previous to this one (video by Summer Robinson, who runs Pilot Books with me):
http://vimeo.com/20043603
@artisforangels, if you’re making money in your market, I applaud you, I’m not sure why your dumping your deep ignorance of the market that supports, me, Jessica, Whitney & Eric. It’s a small market, but we’re doing just fine & have had plenty of opportunities to bring our expertise to the global art market.
@Jen, would like to note that the Affective collective is Robert Mittenthal, Joel Felix, Galen Broderick, & Cristin Miller. Their performace was a halfway point project as part of their year-long collaboration at the AU, which will be coming to a close in a little under 6 months.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkTQUtx81…
Alas, the truly sad thing here is the lack of support and defense ( 15 comments and half of them mine). I know, “you don’t take troll bait”, “you’re a jerk”, “how dare you?” blah, blah, blah, but the fact remains that when you place art out there for consideration and self promotion, “opt-out” one liners such as “I just don’t deal with that kind of criticism because you just don’t get it”, “SO early 2000’s,” or “AH-EXCUSE ME!!!” just doesn’t cut it, kids. And defense from your artist in residence boyfriend, or your soon to be unemployed former employer, or incoherent hipsters, just doesn’t have much validity. That;’s what would be curators, critics, and artists are expected to do in the public realm of art. A bitchy put down or snide remark gets you nowhere you want to be, really. Sorry, guys.
STAND AND DELIVER!
That’s what making the game and standing in the spotlight is ALL about.
that was a fun read! thanks artisforangels, just woke up and was in a fog, now I am reay to go!
@artisforangels
First of all, Jen does acknowledge that the economy sucks—she just doesn’t dwell too much on it. Maybe the solutions popping up in light of the lack of funding are not ideal (there are certainly pros and cons to the new Lawrimore Project space, for instance), but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t value to them. I think what Jen is doing is accepting that downsizing is a fact of life in the current economy and finding the positives to that. Maybe she should show both sides of the issue more rather than only lauding the chosen solutions, but at least she’s staying open-minded to the potential of these solutions.
You really never in any way offer a substantive critique of the programming at the Hedreen Gallery. For this, you substitute an ad hominem attack on Jen and on the curators. I completely agree that “re-hashing notions and thought processes of the 60’s and 70’s and calling it contemporary art is derivative and lightweight.” However, that’s not what the Hedreen Gallery is doing. While Jen is somewhat right in saying that the Hedreen is rooted in 60s and 70s ideas, it is responding to a 21st century context and bringing together original and innovative ideas to do so. It’s clear that rather than basing your arguments on an actual understanding of what’s going on at the Hedreen, you’re simply spinning Jen’s words around to your own purposes. You should try going to some Hedreen events rather than basing your judgments on preconceived notions and prejudices. The “artbratz” who run the Hedreen are, in fact, extraordinarily welcoming—there’s truly nothing exclusionary about the Hedreen, so don’t try to project your preconceived notions onto it.
In fact, the mission of the Hedreen is inherently inclusive. The Hedreen’s program House Systems is based around creating “camaraderie out of a faceless crowd.” It’s about building a community that’s open to all who are interested in experimenting, collaborating and thinking critically.
Why can’t one re-assess gallery and museum participation without having been celebrated by those traditional venues? This is an honest question. I really want to know. How is this inherently whiny and indulgent? In my mind, it’s simply critical thinking and open-mindedness. Moreover, re-assessing gallery and museum participation does not mean attempting to tear down the traditional art system at the expense of others. You seem to take this re-assessment as an affront to your values, but the Hedreen is not trying to make wholesale changes to the art world. Alternative art venues like the Hedreen can and do coexist with the art establishment, creating a rich dialogue with it rather than trying to shut it down. You’re wrong in assuming that the only motive behind re-assessing the way art is presented is not being able to make it in the established art world. I don’t think the people involved in the Hedreen have any desire for “real artist’s careers”–rather the desire is for critical thinking, learning, community, collaboration, etc. This is what undergirds the Hedreen and it’s timely and intelligent, not artificially intellectual.
Why do you simply dismiss artists as curators and curators as artists? Clearly, the boundaries between the two are eroding right now. Why not embrace that for all its potential? Rejecting these things out of hand without even offering a substantive argument is downright irresponsible.
Honestly, if you don’t offer any substantive criticism (which ironically you accuse the other commenters of not having), I’m not sure you deserve a substantive response, but I think the Hedreen and those involved with it deserve a substantive defense. You don’t have to like the Hedreen gallery or any of the people involved with it, but be open-minded towards it and other things like it. This sort of close-mindedness prevents growth and that’s what stands in the way of a compelling, vibrant art community and discourse, not any of the people or projects mentioned in this article.
I believe it’s listed as ‘comments’. And yet again another character makes it an attack/critique on me and my right to an opinion all the while defending the players on the public stage right to opinion and content without smart argument. In regards to the Hedreen Gallery it is not who or what I am critical of but the players involved and their game. It is clearly a good egg, i will say they should take a good hard look at the lack of community interest and support for not the institution itself but the narrow and dull focus the curators have subjected us to. It stands to reason in these hard times for art and artists that an aggressive schedule for formatting exposure and recognition for as many as possible is in order, one that exposes as many of us as possible to as much as possible. Remember, you gotta have bad to know good. It reeks of stale derivative regionalism with a huge mess of nepotism thrown in the pot. And nobody wants to risk the ire and venom of what frank opinion brings in a town like this from the prickly few in charge who operate the way they do… You might get called “SO early 2000’s.
I don’t know how you can construe my comment as an attack–it was simply an attempt to create dialog. Everyone is welcome to their own opinion, but I think that when it is expressed in a public forum there has to be accountability. In my view, you can’t throw around phrases like “stale derivative regionalism” without putting any substance behind them. The only result of that is to shut down any possibility for conversation. No one is challenging your right to have an opinion–they’re simply challenging you to substantiate those opinions.
No more of your bait shall be taken, troll. Simple, right?
obviously, you can’t take the bait if you don’t know what to do with it now,can ya? Maybe you should learn tighten up your game before talking about art then you can try to speak in defense.
simple, right?
remove ‘learn’ @22 when reading, thanks
Taking any bets on how badly artisforangels wants to fuck Jen Graves?
@22 was probably my favorite of all of these ‘comments’ (THEY STAND ALONE, NO DIALOGUE). You accuse those who participate in the Seattle art scene of being pretentious and exclusionary, but you elevate your own ‘opinions’ of what you think art is or should be to a level so high you consider the opinion of anyone challenging you to be plebeian and uninformed. All while you continue to attack an inclusive, interesting, and educational program at a great gallery.
My guess is that you’re a small-time local artist embittered by your inability to become a part of the Seattle art scene. I would venture to say that it’s probably not because it’s cliquey, exclusive or wary of/intimidated by whatever traditional skills you may have honed as an artist.
It’s probably because no one wants to interact creatively (or otherwise) with an antagonizing, defensive, pretentious jerk.
MUST FEED DA TROLLZ
umm-umm-GOOD!!!!
me like…yum yum
troll likes!
…but sorry, troll no like ‘Blossom’ look-a-likes.
you are awesome artisforangels all these haterss wann hurt you.
Dear Seattle Whiners,
Bla bla bla… say what you want to about Seattle, the economy, the press, the “scene”. It’s always been small potatoes here. And abstract art, conceptual art, performance, whatever is a difficult subject to grasp and to roll around in, period. So, no huge crowds, no rave reviews from big time writers (not many at least) not much reward for long hours of work and years of dedication. As much as people kick and scream about what Seattle SHOULD be and IS’NT, it will only ever be what YOU yes YOU make it. So stop your griping and step up.
And if you think something/someone out there is weak? Then kick their ass… not on some blog, but out in the real world, in a gallery, in a park, in your living room… then invite us over. It is utterly pointless to talk and have a “dialogue” without work to back it up. Talk is cheap.
Best,
T
My fav quote (change hip-hop with art)
“Yo Mos, what you think’s gonna happen with hip-hop?” “I tell em’ you know what’s gonna happen with hip-hop, whatever’s happening with us, if we smoked out than hip-hop is gonna be smoked out, if we alright then hip-hop is going to be alright” “People act like hip-hop is some giant living in the woods….”
I have visited quite a few small cities and there is absolutely nothing going on. I’m thankful for what we have tho it keeps getting whittled down month by month! just another unsolved opportunity. well put TLC. nothing going to happen to yourself but yourself.