L.A. artist Olga Koumoundouros arrived in Bellevue three weeks ago to begin her residency at Open Satellite, a brave new exhibition space that invites artists from out of town to create work here.
In a phone interview before she arrived, she told the story of wandering around Bellevue in search of a coffee and not being able to find one because the urban core is so segregated—residential versus commercial. What she found instead were two crumbling shacks right up next to a brand new high-rise.
What kind of life is dying in Bellevue, and what kind of life is sprouting up in its place? How is the new architecture designed to deliver luxury, and how well does it serve basic needs?
Koumoundouros's installation at Open Satellite, up Aug. 29-Oct. 13 and curated by Lead Pencil Studio, explores just these questions. In this conversation recorded last week, she talks about the process of making it, and about why inviting an artist whose work is socially critical was a difficult but smart way to begin Open Satellite.
