Current Events
Current Events
Upcoming:
Feeding the Moonfish
August 23–August 24, 2008
The Galaxy
Interdisciplinary Arts Department and Image Unit are proud to present its Feeding the Moonfish, a play directed by MFA Arts and Media candidate, Lessa Bouchard and staged by various Interdisciplinary arts and media candidates and alumni.
Past Events:
MA & MFA Thesis Exhibit #1
April 4–April 24, 2008
Reception April 4, 1104 S. Wabash Ave., Book & Paper Gallery, 2nd Floor, 5:30pm - 8:00pm
Interdisciplinary Arts Department is proud to present its 2008 MA & MFA
Thesis Exhibitions. There will be three exhibits: the first will take place
at the Book & Paper Gallery, 1104 S. Wabash, 2nd floor, from April 4 -24,
2008. Featured in that exhibit will be Krista Babbitt, Erik Austin Deerly, Kirstin Demer, Brandon Graham, Jessica Hannah, Jill Lanza, Joseph Lappie, Justus Gillette Roe III, and Liz Wolf.
Interdisciplinary Arts
MA & MFA Thesis Exhibit #2
May 2–May 24, 2008
Receptions May 2:
1104 S. Wabash Ave., Book & Paper Gallery, 2nd Floor, 5:30pm - 8:00pm
623 S. Wabash Ave., Hokin Gallery, 1st Floor, 5:30pm - 8:00pm
The second shows will be held at two locations. At the Book & Paper Gallery the exhibit runs from May 2-23, 2008, and features artists Stephen DeSantis, Loni Diep, Janeen Monique Hayes, Maureen Rae Hergott, Matthew Kopp, and Heyjin Oh. At the Hokin Gallery, 623 S. Wabash Ave. 1st floor, the exhibit runs May 2 – June 13, and features Shay Atkinson, Ali Beyer, Jean Bevier, Maureen Herlehy, Heidi Huckaby, Lisa Lewandowski, Drew Matott, Rebecca Rakstad, Leslie Reese, and Amsale Yirga Alem.
Lost and Found
October 29, 2007 - January 2, 2008
Reception, November 8, 5 - 7 pm
“Like the misplaced mitten or errant earring, each one of us eventually ends up at the lost and found. When we have been abandoned, cast away, forgotten, set free, moved on, we are confronted with a bleak universe. When we lose sight of the path, however, we are suddenly free to go whichever way we choose. Being at the lost and found is a moment of utmost distress, and at the same time, a place to begin again.” Lost and Found is curated by IMAGe Unit, a collective of the Columbia College Chicago Interdisciplinary Arts and Media MFAcandidates dedicated to the principles of collaborative and individual creative excellence. IMAGe Unit invited Columbia students of all disciplines to submit works based upon the theme “lost and found.” The exhibition features a broad range of artworks from traditional photography to multimedia installation.
The Predatory Wolf and the Immortal Duckling: A Multi-Media Story Room by Scott Beahm
Columbia College Chicago, 600 S Michigan,
Room 727 Tues. 12/11/07, 4 - 6pm Wed. 12/12/07, 5:30 -7 pm Thurs. 12/13/07 from 4 - 6 pm Fri. 12/14/07 from 4 – 5 pm
Yarn spinner Scott Beahm delivers the timeless tale of a hungry wolf and an appetizing immortal duckling. Expect to see and talk to the characters themselves and be ready to witness how broad themes like appetite, thought, and love become mythologized in this simple tale. This piece explores myth as a form of communication. Scott is interested in how complicated information can be simplified through mythical metaphor, and in turn, how that simplification can be a means for solving personal or global problems. Scott is an Interdisciplinary Arts and Media MFA candidate with skills in illustration, video, puppetry, and writing.
"Swaying Octagon" (Left) by Kristina Gosh
www.myspace.com/kristinagosh
Columbia College Chicago, 623 S. Wabash, Room 107
Tues. 12/11, Wed. 12/12, and Fri. 12/14 Hours: 5:30-7:30pm and by appt.
"Swaying Octagon (Left)" is the first installation of a video diptych that brings to life a tale inspired by the Victorian souvenirs known as sailor's valentines. Whalers brought these octagonal gifts home to their loved ones after spending many years at sea. Designs often consisted of a sailor's portrait on one side, his lover's on the other, both encased in intricate patterns of hearts and flowers created with shells. "Swaying Octagon (Left)" opens up a modern day valentine to the viewer, exposing the inner dialogue of a woman in waiting. Memory weaves into fantasy as she envisions herself turning into the valentine upon which she gazes. Longing leads to imagination, loyalty to patience as this transformation provides solace for the void left behind by her other half's absence. Kristina Gosh is a multi-media artist who likes to mix it up. She currently creates installations that combine video, spoken work poetry, audio compositions and photo stills. In her spare time she daydreams about living in a fisherman's shanty on the island of Nantucket. Gosh is a former member of ARC Gallery where she served on the Board of Directors for five years. She is currently on ARC's advisory board.
Warm Ups by Krista Babbitt
Columbia College Chicago, 600 S. Michigan Ave. Room 1309 Tues.
12/11 Wed. 12/12 Thurs. 12/13 Fri. 12/14 Hours: 5:30-7:30pm and by appt.
This installation explores gym as theater and ties the “personal” body to the “ideal” and “social” body. Warm Ups explores gym as theater using my life long involvement in gym culture and fitness. Physical exhaustion is used as a metaphor for the effort of exhuming my past history with exercise and body image. Video performance of short personal monologues interspersed with real all consuming physical exertions are rear projected in the space and audible through surround sound. A curtain made of very worn gym shoes with incredibly long laces frame the video projection. Each pair of shoes emits a trace of its former owner as well as the light odor of human toil.
Going Back: a meditation on longing
A video installation by Lessa Bouchard Going Back will open at 6 pm, Tuesday, November 27 Open for viewing: Wednesday, November 28 - Saturday, November 30, from 11 am to 1 pm. Columbia College Chicago, Room 1309, 600 S. Michigan Avenue An installation of everyday images and varied reactions to the words "Going Back" leads the viewer through a path of multiple retro-style monitors, inspiring reflection on our impulses toward re-connection- with things, places, people, and self. "Going Back" features a variety of Chicagoans and old friends, and refers to a return; to participation in some sort of cycle or rhythm. Rhythmic imagery in Going Back triggers a visual metaphor for the cycles of reminiscence, for repeated relationship patterns that speak to a need for connection. Lessa Bouchard is currently an MFA candidate in Interdisciplinary Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago. Most recently, she has worked with fellow students Stacey Stormes and Kristina Gosh to create Vestiges, a multi-channel installation about memory. She has written, directed and performed in numerous NEA award-winning projects in Detroit and Chicago, and worked with notable companies such as EP, Stage Left Theatre, and Victory Gardens.
Mediated Confines by Stacey Stormes
November 27-30 from 4-6pm
Installation Room 727 of 600 S. Michigan, Columbia College Chicago
Mediated Confines is an Interactive, multi-channel Installation by artist Stacey Stormes. The artist utilizes the compositional construct of open framing to explore the formal qualities of video and the conceptual confines we interact with daily. Openness can become a constraint, and closures may impel us to push beyond. How do our organic bodies react to mediation by electronic synthesis? Stacey Stormes is a second year MFA candidate in the Interdisciplinary Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago. She works in various print and time-based mediums to create her art. Mediated Confines opens November 27, 2007 in Installation Room 727 of 600 S. Michigan, Columbia College Chicago. The exhibit is open to the public November 27-30 from 4-6pm and may also be viewed by private appointment. Please email Stacey@lusciousproductions.com to request a private viewing. A closing reception will be held Friday, November 30, 2007 from 4-6pm.
Who’s Megan Williams by Gianina Lockley
Who’s Megan Williams by Gianina Lockley is a multi-channel installation that incorporates video, sound, performance media and text to challenge the audience to reflect upon the excess absorption of pop-culture media vs. the neglected Megan Williams’ of the world. Who’s Megan Williams will be on view at 600 S. Michigan Ave., room 1309 Opening: Tuesday, November 13, 5 to 9 pm Hours: Wednesday, November 14, 4 to 6 pm Thursday, November 15, 4 to 7 pm Friday, November 16, 3 to 5 pm
Mother Tongue by Erin Rehberg
Mother Tongue by Erin Rehberg is the commencement of an exploration of how the juxtaposition of ethnically specific sound changes one’s perception of what one should be viewing. Partnering media of a single white, female dancer performing movement descended from a variety of cultural influences with varied and blended appropriated culturally specific sounds, audiences will be asked to choose a preference, comfort zone or location of sight and sound in which to linger a little longer. Mother Tongue will be on view at 624 S. Michigan Ave., room 107 Opening: Tuesday, November 13, 5 to 9 pm Hours: Wednesday, November 14, 4 to 6:30 pm Thursday, November 15, 5 to 6 pm Friday, November 16, 4 to 6 pm
Work Out
by Krista Babbitt and Matthew Pierce
“Work Out” is an interactive installation by Krista Babbitt and Matthew Pierce incorporating ideas of voyeurism, exhibitionism and exertion using a gym locker room as a theatrical backdrop. Viewers are challenged to engage with bathroom scales while making a choice to be active by stepping into the spotlight or stand back and remain passive. A prowling “wolf” stalks the claustrophobic space creating a slightly ominous mood anticipating both doom and glee. On display in room 727, 600 S. Michigan Ave.
Vestiges
by Stacey Stormes, Kristina Gosh, and Lessa Bouchard
“Vestige” is a collaborative, interactive video installation that creates a place where memory, longing and perception intersect. Weaving ethereal and concrete imagery together, artists Stacey Stormes, Lessa Bouchard, and Kristina Gosh ask the following questions of the viewer; How do we distinguish what is real? Does memory exist only as a larger narrative or can it be compartmentalized into smaller islands of reflection? On display in room 107, 623 S. Wabash Ave.
Instinct
by Scott Beahm, Gianina Lockley and Erin Rehberg
Scott Beahm, Gianina Lockley and Erin Rehberg bring together their varied backgrounds and perspectives to explore and question the capabilities of the animal within us all-literally and figuratively. What divides the animal instinct within us all from our human spirit? Where does the insecure bridge lie that unites these two tensions? Is there a common ground? The artists hope to find out if audiences are willing to cross this bridge from thinking human to acting animal and answer these questions for themselves. On display in room 1309, 600 S. Michigan Ave.
Action/Interaction: Book/Art
May 26 – July 7, 2007
Held in conjunction with the book arts conference Action/Interaction: Book/Art at the Center, this juried exhibition is a survey of contemporary work from centers of book arts around the country, and provides a source of discussion for conference participants. In the desire to represent a broad range and artistic depth, the Center has invited individual institutions/organizations in the U.S. to select compelling, cutting-edge work that exemplifies the strength of the current artists’ book work in that region, encouraging an innovative interpretation of “the book”
Shoot an Iraqi
Iraqi-born artist Wafaa Bilal's latest installation, Domestic Tension,' has been catching the attention of Internet users. During May, Bilal is living in Chicago's Flat File Galleries, where a 24-hour web-cam is allowing visitors to his Website to scrutinize his daily routine, chat with him, or even to remotely shoot him with a robotic paintball gun. Bilal's uncanny performance is documented by a video-diary posted at YouTube, as well as a slide show--hosted by local newspaper Chicago Tribune--in which a series of images illustrate the project while a voice-over (of the artist himself) explains its origins, intentions, and results. 'Domestic Tension' is rooted in the artist's interest in audience engagement via interaction and the combination of real and virtual experiences. However, the work supersedes the discussion of this critical issue in new media art, becoming a powerful allegorical examination of US politics in relation to Iraq. On the one hand, he created a sur! veillance system that evokes the military apparatus; on the other, his confinement alludes to the current symbolic captivity of the Iraqi population. This topic is further explored by the use of a technological device that brings to mind the playful video games found in so many Western homes that simulate the violence that characterizes the Iraqi region during the current war. If the name of the piece articulates the anti-Bush protests that recently stormed the US, nevertheless the title that Bilal initially envisaged better express the meaning of the piece: 'Shoot an Iraqi.' Which, in fact, is what has been taking place at Flat File Galleries considering that, as reported in the Chicago Tribune of May 10, 'As of lunchtime Wednesday [...] about 1,850 rounds have been fired in the room...' - Miguel Amado
http://www.wafaabilal.com
Estrogen Fest
May 16-25, 2007
Estrogen Fest
The mission of Estrogen Fest is to bring together, in performance and in dialogue, diverse, female artists with strong voices in an entertaining, biennial Chicago festival.
CHANCE OF SHOWERS
Sex, Diversity, and YOU!
Get the FYI on your ROI with the best in office leadership.
As new hires for the fictional corporation, audience members will participate in a Sexual Harassment Prevention Training seminar, Sex, Diversity, and YOU!, designed to integrate them with the goals of the corporation and, simultaneously, the satire of Chance of Showers.
CHANCE OF SHOWERS is a performance collective initially inspired by the movie 9 to 5. As three icons - Blonde, Brunette, and Redhead - they examine the culture and politics of the American work place through their own fictional corporate world.
www.chanceofshowersperform.com
2007 MA Thesis Exhibition
Interdisciplinary Art
Exhibition: April 27 - June 15, 2007
This exhibition includes the work of Michael Angelo Brosius, Jet Eveleth, Julie Farrow, Sharon K. Finley, Heather Hartley, Dorian Jones, Holly Laurant and Jacob Worley-Hood.
2007 MFA Thesis Exhibition
Interdisciplinary Arts Book and Paper
Exhibition: April 27 - May 18, 2007
The M.F.A. Book & Paper Thesis show is noted for its high level of craft, concept and overall artistry. The definition of what a book is and does, is stretched to its furthest extremes. From the traditional to the most innovative, from installation to the very intimate, the exhibition will be the culmination of the students’ three-year work in the program.
This exhibition will feature work of Renee Bair, Jen Blair, Jenny Kim, Mark Moroney, Lani Shembrimai Schuster, Lisa Switalski and Isaac Williams. With the installations of the M.A. students, Young Kim, Lisle Mitnik and Jamie Rey.
2007 MFA Thesis Exhibition
Interdisciplinary Arts & Media
Exhibition: March 30 - April 19, 2007
The Interdisciplinary Arts Department at Columbia College Chicago is presenting its M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts & Media Thesis Show at the Book & Paper Center. The Interdisciplinary Arts Department’s unique curriculum urges students to cross pollinate with a number of art disciplines in order to come up with new and unexpected art forms.
This exhibition will feature work from Diane Derr, Todd Kephart, Rita Marquez, Mel Racho, Emily Sepik and Joshua Siegal.
Working Frameworks
An exchange of work and ideas between students and faculty at Columbia College Chicago, Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and The Ohio State University / BLD Studios
Fall 2006
IMAGe Unit and Interdisciplinary Arts Department students from Columbia College Chicago are collaborating with students at Cornell University, artists at BLD Studios, and students at Ohio State University. Our exhibition is about the potential relationship between the artists collective, the university, the corporation, and the museum and/or gallery. Overall, we propose a higher consciousness of exhibition practice within our universities. We believe raising the bar would bring us closer to explicit integration of the above art world institutions. Rather than perpetuating a self-determined historical model, one placing emphasis on individual genius, we place stock in the collective action of emerging and established professionals working in tandem with students.
The Working Frameworks collaboration is in the form of an exchange. It is an exchange of artwork, exhibition space and resources, and ideas. Saul Appelbaum, an architecture student at Cornell University, has gained the support of the Dean of Art & Architecture at Cornell University, Buzz Spector, in bringing the Exchange to fruition. Cornell University has dedicated gallery and museum space toward an exhibit for the fall of 2006. The exhibit will then travel to Ohio State University / BLD Studios for exhibition at Sky Lab galleries and the Knowles School of Architecture on Ohio State University's campus. The final destination will be the Columbia College Chicago's Glass Curtain gallery, as well as other off-campus venues.
IMAGe Unit and Interdisciplinary Arts Department participants have been involved in organizing and exhibiting in this traveling exhibit.
MEDIATED BODIES
Glass Curtain Gallery, Columbia College Chicago
June 22 - July 22, 2006
Curated by Beth Berolzheimer, part-time faculty in the Interdisciplinary Arts Department, Columbia College Chicago. Todd Kephart, Assistant to the Curator.
Mediated Bodies features six interactive, multi-media installations created by students of the Interdisciplinary Arts and Media MFA Program at Columbia College Chicago. Considering technology as a mediated space energized by bodily experiences, these works suggest the transmission of psychological trauma through physical or virtual agency.
Co-sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Arts Department and the Television Department.
Participating artists are Todd Kephart, Matthew Kopp, Mel Racho, Emily Sepik, Joshua Siegal and Barrie Broadie.
I mean c'mon fluff my pillow
Inns of Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
May, 2006
I mean c'mon fluff my pillow moves into its 3rd year with a May 2006 one-night stand at its favorite rendezvous in Richmond's The Inns of Virginia on Broad Street. In '04 the event kicked off with the question "Why aren't exhibitions more interesting?" The artists wondered what it would take to make an irresistible show; to put on an event that made you feel that on that evening The Inns of Virginia was the place to have been. In May 2004 VCU artists used three of the hotel rooms to stage interventions, exhibits, and performances. In room 101 a performer repeatedly rehearsed a five-minute hotel-arrival routine. Visitors to a second room were accosted by a dubious stranger who offered to massage their feet and tell them stories. In the third room were exhibitions in viewfinders and videos of elevator exercise regimes. Out in the courtyard were the art cheerleaders strutting and chanting about the headaches and highs of art school. The opening then moved into the hotel bar for a karaoke party, and finally took over the swimming pool in the courtyard. A wild precedent had been established.
In May 2005, VCU artists were joined by others from the University of Cincinnati and Ohio State University. Now nine rooms were used and the interventions became more eclectic. Fat Elvis clones led a homage to Kubrick's 2001. A dead hooker lay in a pool of blood. Amplified noise overwhelmed conversation. Musicians improvised songs about superhero fantasies. A guide took visitors on a post-apocalyptic tour of the hotel grounds. Paintings depicted the hotel as it appeared in the "Forces of Nature", the 1999 Bullock/Affleck movie. A bathroom became a toxic underworld, irradiated in green light. Karaoke performances of the highest caliber continued in the bar till midnight.
iDMAa 2005 IDEAS Exhibition
Orlando, Florida,
Spring 2005
iDMAa iDEAs is a showcase for creative projects, works of art, and thought-provoking applications of digital media in both artistic and cutting-edge industrial contexts that reflect novel approaches to the relationship between media tools and content. The exhibition is something between an art gallery, a showcase of new ideas, and a playroom, with some resemblances to a ward for brilliantly unstable people. iDEAs is what it is named - a platform for ideas - art and projects that go beyond the medium and into the realm of creative thought that will provide fodder for interaction with iDMAa attendees.
Organized in conjunction with the IDMAA Conference
Participating artists: Video Installations in the juried show were presented by two MFA in Arts and Media students, Elizabeth Wuerffel and J.T. Newman. Technical Assistance, Mel Racho.
Variations on 9-5
The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
March 2005
Variations on 9-5, a series of live solo webcast performances in response to themes found in the movie, 9 to 5. Developed in the Performance Media Images course taught by Beth Berolzheimer.
Performance Media Images is a capstone class for the Interdisciplinary Arts and Media M.F.A. candidates at Columbia College. The students are in the second year of a three-year program. PMI is co-taught by two interdisciplinary artists. The class has two projects that build over the semester culminating in a final performance and media event. For the first project performance workshop methods are used to deconstruct a cultural product, in this case a movie. The subsequent live performance is web cast to the Mattress Factory. The performer without an the audience observing the performance projected in the lobby of the Mattress Factory.
Participating artists: Elizabeth Czekner, Ania Greiner, David Jude Green, Bridget Kies, J.T. Newman, Imants Ozers, Dan Schwarzlose, Liz Winfield, Elizabeth Wuerffel
Redux: Porky's II
The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
February 2006
Redux, Porky's II , a series of live solo webcast performances response to the themes found in the movie, Porky's II. Developed in the Performance Media Images course, co-taught by Beth Berolzheimer and Mary Walling Blackburn.
Performance Media Images is a capstone class for the Interdisciplinary Arts and Media M.F.A. candidates at Columbia College. The students are in the second year of a three-year program. PMI is co-taught by two interdisciplinary artists. The class has two projects that build over the semester culminating in a final performance and media event. For the first project performance workshop methods are used to deconstruct a cultural product, in this case a movie. The subsequent live performance is web cast to the Mattress Factory. The performer without an the audience observing the performance projected in the lobby of the Mattress Factory.
Participating artists: Barrie Broadie, Todd Kephart, Matthew Kopp, Rita Marquez, Mel Racho, Emily Sepik, Josh Siegal, Claudette Roper
NEW INSTALLATIONS, ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE: CUBA
The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
October 3, 2004 - April 24, 2005
Un libro escrito por dentro y por fuera: Where is Luis Gomez?
In a darkened gallery, images from four computers are projected onto the four walls. One is a projection of a series of computer screens showing the translation of a text that describes the symbolism of the whale in art and literature. The text is translated from Spanish to English and through twenty-two more languages until the Babel Fish Internet translator breaks down.
Images transmitted live from webcams in the homes and studios of Luis Gomez's friends throughout the world are projected on the other three walls. The individuals participating in this project will change over the course of the exhibition, but will never include the artist.
In Collaboration with Luis Gomez, produced by Mel Racho and Jeanine Mellinger, a live webcast from Interdisciplinary Arts Department, Columbia College Chicago to The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
DEPARTMENTAL CONTACT INFORMATION
Department Chair: Michelle Citron
Graduate Contact: Kris Johnson
Office Information: 624 S. Michigan, Room 1100
Phone: 312-369-7669
Email: kjohnson@colum.edu
Feeding the Moonfish
August 23–August 24, 2008
The Galaxy
Interdisciplinary Arts Department and Image Unit are proud to present its Feeding the Moonfish, a play directed by MFA Arts and Media candidate, Lessa Bouchard and staged by various Interdisciplinary arts and media candidates and alumni.
Past Events:
MA & MFA Thesis Exhibit #1
April 4–April 24, 2008
Reception April 4, 1104 S. Wabash Ave., Book & Paper Gallery, 2nd Floor, 5:30pm - 8:00pm
Interdisciplinary Arts Department is proud to present its 2008 MA & MFA
Thesis Exhibitions. There will be three exhibits: the first will take place
at the Book & Paper Gallery, 1104 S. Wabash, 2nd floor, from April 4 -24,
2008. Featured in that exhibit will be Krista Babbitt, Erik Austin Deerly, Kirstin Demer, Brandon Graham, Jessica Hannah, Jill Lanza, Joseph Lappie, Justus Gillette Roe III, and Liz Wolf.
Interdisciplinary Arts
MA & MFA Thesis Exhibit #2
May 2–May 24, 2008
Receptions May 2:
1104 S. Wabash Ave., Book & Paper Gallery, 2nd Floor, 5:30pm - 8:00pm
623 S. Wabash Ave., Hokin Gallery, 1st Floor, 5:30pm - 8:00pm
The second shows will be held at two locations. At the Book & Paper Gallery the exhibit runs from May 2-23, 2008, and features artists Stephen DeSantis, Loni Diep, Janeen Monique Hayes, Maureen Rae Hergott, Matthew Kopp, and Heyjin Oh. At the Hokin Gallery, 623 S. Wabash Ave. 1st floor, the exhibit runs May 2 – June 13, and features Shay Atkinson, Ali Beyer, Jean Bevier, Maureen Herlehy, Heidi Huckaby, Lisa Lewandowski, Drew Matott, Rebecca Rakstad, Leslie Reese, and Amsale Yirga Alem.
Lost and Found
October 29, 2007 - January 2, 2008
Reception, November 8, 5 - 7 pm
“Like the misplaced mitten or errant earring, each one of us eventually ends up at the lost and found. When we have been abandoned, cast away, forgotten, set free, moved on, we are confronted with a bleak universe. When we lose sight of the path, however, we are suddenly free to go whichever way we choose. Being at the lost and found is a moment of utmost distress, and at the same time, a place to begin again.” Lost and Found is curated by IMAGe Unit, a collective of the Columbia College Chicago Interdisciplinary Arts and Media MFAcandidates dedicated to the principles of collaborative and individual creative excellence. IMAGe Unit invited Columbia students of all disciplines to submit works based upon the theme “lost and found.” The exhibition features a broad range of artworks from traditional photography to multimedia installation.
The Predatory Wolf and the Immortal Duckling: A Multi-Media Story Room by Scott Beahm
Columbia College Chicago, 600 S Michigan,
Room 727 Tues. 12/11/07, 4 - 6pm Wed. 12/12/07, 5:30 -7 pm Thurs. 12/13/07 from 4 - 6 pm Fri. 12/14/07 from 4 – 5 pm
Yarn spinner Scott Beahm delivers the timeless tale of a hungry wolf and an appetizing immortal duckling. Expect to see and talk to the characters themselves and be ready to witness how broad themes like appetite, thought, and love become mythologized in this simple tale. This piece explores myth as a form of communication. Scott is interested in how complicated information can be simplified through mythical metaphor, and in turn, how that simplification can be a means for solving personal or global problems. Scott is an Interdisciplinary Arts and Media MFA candidate with skills in illustration, video, puppetry, and writing.
"Swaying Octagon" (Left) by Kristina Gosh
www.myspace.com/kristinagosh
Columbia College Chicago, 623 S. Wabash, Room 107
Tues. 12/11, Wed. 12/12, and Fri. 12/14 Hours: 5:30-7:30pm and by appt.
"Swaying Octagon (Left)" is the first installation of a video diptych that brings to life a tale inspired by the Victorian souvenirs known as sailor's valentines. Whalers brought these octagonal gifts home to their loved ones after spending many years at sea. Designs often consisted of a sailor's portrait on one side, his lover's on the other, both encased in intricate patterns of hearts and flowers created with shells. "Swaying Octagon (Left)" opens up a modern day valentine to the viewer, exposing the inner dialogue of a woman in waiting. Memory weaves into fantasy as she envisions herself turning into the valentine upon which she gazes. Longing leads to imagination, loyalty to patience as this transformation provides solace for the void left behind by her other half's absence. Kristina Gosh is a multi-media artist who likes to mix it up. She currently creates installations that combine video, spoken work poetry, audio compositions and photo stills. In her spare time she daydreams about living in a fisherman's shanty on the island of Nantucket. Gosh is a former member of ARC Gallery where she served on the Board of Directors for five years. She is currently on ARC's advisory board.
Warm Ups by Krista Babbitt
Columbia College Chicago, 600 S. Michigan Ave. Room 1309 Tues.
12/11 Wed. 12/12 Thurs. 12/13 Fri. 12/14 Hours: 5:30-7:30pm and by appt.
This installation explores gym as theater and ties the “personal” body to the “ideal” and “social” body. Warm Ups explores gym as theater using my life long involvement in gym culture and fitness. Physical exhaustion is used as a metaphor for the effort of exhuming my past history with exercise and body image. Video performance of short personal monologues interspersed with real all consuming physical exertions are rear projected in the space and audible through surround sound. A curtain made of very worn gym shoes with incredibly long laces frame the video projection. Each pair of shoes emits a trace of its former owner as well as the light odor of human toil.
Going Back: a meditation on longing
A video installation by Lessa Bouchard Going Back will open at 6 pm, Tuesday, November 27 Open for viewing: Wednesday, November 28 - Saturday, November 30, from 11 am to 1 pm. Columbia College Chicago, Room 1309, 600 S. Michigan Avenue An installation of everyday images and varied reactions to the words "Going Back" leads the viewer through a path of multiple retro-style monitors, inspiring reflection on our impulses toward re-connection- with things, places, people, and self. "Going Back" features a variety of Chicagoans and old friends, and refers to a return; to participation in some sort of cycle or rhythm. Rhythmic imagery in Going Back triggers a visual metaphor for the cycles of reminiscence, for repeated relationship patterns that speak to a need for connection. Lessa Bouchard is currently an MFA candidate in Interdisciplinary Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago. Most recently, she has worked with fellow students Stacey Stormes and Kristina Gosh to create Vestiges, a multi-channel installation about memory. She has written, directed and performed in numerous NEA award-winning projects in Detroit and Chicago, and worked with notable companies such as EP, Stage Left Theatre, and Victory Gardens.
Mediated Confines by Stacey Stormes
November 27-30 from 4-6pm
Installation Room 727 of 600 S. Michigan, Columbia College Chicago
Mediated Confines is an Interactive, multi-channel Installation by artist Stacey Stormes. The artist utilizes the compositional construct of open framing to explore the formal qualities of video and the conceptual confines we interact with daily. Openness can become a constraint, and closures may impel us to push beyond. How do our organic bodies react to mediation by electronic synthesis? Stacey Stormes is a second year MFA candidate in the Interdisciplinary Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago. She works in various print and time-based mediums to create her art. Mediated Confines opens November 27, 2007 in Installation Room 727 of 600 S. Michigan, Columbia College Chicago. The exhibit is open to the public November 27-30 from 4-6pm and may also be viewed by private appointment. Please email Stacey@lusciousproductions.com to request a private viewing. A closing reception will be held Friday, November 30, 2007 from 4-6pm.
Who’s Megan Williams by Gianina Lockley
Who’s Megan Williams by Gianina Lockley is a multi-channel installation that incorporates video, sound, performance media and text to challenge the audience to reflect upon the excess absorption of pop-culture media vs. the neglected Megan Williams’ of the world. Who’s Megan Williams will be on view at 600 S. Michigan Ave., room 1309 Opening: Tuesday, November 13, 5 to 9 pm Hours: Wednesday, November 14, 4 to 6 pm Thursday, November 15, 4 to 7 pm Friday, November 16, 3 to 5 pm
Mother Tongue by Erin Rehberg
Mother Tongue by Erin Rehberg is the commencement of an exploration of how the juxtaposition of ethnically specific sound changes one’s perception of what one should be viewing. Partnering media of a single white, female dancer performing movement descended from a variety of cultural influences with varied and blended appropriated culturally specific sounds, audiences will be asked to choose a preference, comfort zone or location of sight and sound in which to linger a little longer. Mother Tongue will be on view at 624 S. Michigan Ave., room 107 Opening: Tuesday, November 13, 5 to 9 pm Hours: Wednesday, November 14, 4 to 6:30 pm Thursday, November 15, 5 to 6 pm Friday, November 16, 4 to 6 pm
Work Out
by Krista Babbitt and Matthew Pierce
“Work Out” is an interactive installation by Krista Babbitt and Matthew Pierce incorporating ideas of voyeurism, exhibitionism and exertion using a gym locker room as a theatrical backdrop. Viewers are challenged to engage with bathroom scales while making a choice to be active by stepping into the spotlight or stand back and remain passive. A prowling “wolf” stalks the claustrophobic space creating a slightly ominous mood anticipating both doom and glee. On display in room 727, 600 S. Michigan Ave.
Vestiges
by Stacey Stormes, Kristina Gosh, and Lessa Bouchard
“Vestige” is a collaborative, interactive video installation that creates a place where memory, longing and perception intersect. Weaving ethereal and concrete imagery together, artists Stacey Stormes, Lessa Bouchard, and Kristina Gosh ask the following questions of the viewer; How do we distinguish what is real? Does memory exist only as a larger narrative or can it be compartmentalized into smaller islands of reflection? On display in room 107, 623 S. Wabash Ave.
Instinct
by Scott Beahm, Gianina Lockley and Erin Rehberg
Scott Beahm, Gianina Lockley and Erin Rehberg bring together their varied backgrounds and perspectives to explore and question the capabilities of the animal within us all-literally and figuratively. What divides the animal instinct within us all from our human spirit? Where does the insecure bridge lie that unites these two tensions? Is there a common ground? The artists hope to find out if audiences are willing to cross this bridge from thinking human to acting animal and answer these questions for themselves. On display in room 1309, 600 S. Michigan Ave.
Action/Interaction: Book/Art
May 26 – July 7, 2007
Held in conjunction with the book arts conference Action/Interaction: Book/Art at the Center, this juried exhibition is a survey of contemporary work from centers of book arts around the country, and provides a source of discussion for conference participants. In the desire to represent a broad range and artistic depth, the Center has invited individual institutions/organizations in the U.S. to select compelling, cutting-edge work that exemplifies the strength of the current artists’ book work in that region, encouraging an innovative interpretation of “the book”
Shoot an Iraqi
Iraqi-born artist Wafaa Bilal's latest installation, Domestic Tension,' has been catching the attention of Internet users. During May, Bilal is living in Chicago's Flat File Galleries, where a 24-hour web-cam is allowing visitors to his Website to scrutinize his daily routine, chat with him, or even to remotely shoot him with a robotic paintball gun. Bilal's uncanny performance is documented by a video-diary posted at YouTube, as well as a slide show--hosted by local newspaper Chicago Tribune--in which a series of images illustrate the project while a voice-over (of the artist himself) explains its origins, intentions, and results. 'Domestic Tension' is rooted in the artist's interest in audience engagement via interaction and the combination of real and virtual experiences. However, the work supersedes the discussion of this critical issue in new media art, becoming a powerful allegorical examination of US politics in relation to Iraq. On the one hand, he created a sur! veillance system that evokes the military apparatus; on the other, his confinement alludes to the current symbolic captivity of the Iraqi population. This topic is further explored by the use of a technological device that brings to mind the playful video games found in so many Western homes that simulate the violence that characterizes the Iraqi region during the current war. If the name of the piece articulates the anti-Bush protests that recently stormed the US, nevertheless the title that Bilal initially envisaged better express the meaning of the piece: 'Shoot an Iraqi.' Which, in fact, is what has been taking place at Flat File Galleries considering that, as reported in the Chicago Tribune of May 10, 'As of lunchtime Wednesday [...] about 1,850 rounds have been fired in the room...' - Miguel Amado
http://www.wafaabilal.com
Estrogen Fest
May 16-25, 2007
Estrogen Fest
The mission of Estrogen Fest is to bring together, in performance and in dialogue, diverse, female artists with strong voices in an entertaining, biennial Chicago festival.
CHANCE OF SHOWERS
Sex, Diversity, and YOU!
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As new hires for the fictional corporation, audience members will participate in a Sexual Harassment Prevention Training seminar, Sex, Diversity, and YOU!, designed to integrate them with the goals of the corporation and, simultaneously, the satire of Chance of Showers.
CHANCE OF SHOWERS is a performance collective initially inspired by the movie 9 to 5. As three icons - Blonde, Brunette, and Redhead - they examine the culture and politics of the American work place through their own fictional corporate world.
www.chanceofshowersperform.com
2007 MA Thesis Exhibition
Interdisciplinary Art
Exhibition: April 27 - June 15, 2007
This exhibition includes the work of Michael Angelo Brosius, Jet Eveleth, Julie Farrow, Sharon K. Finley, Heather Hartley, Dorian Jones, Holly Laurant and Jacob Worley-Hood.
2007 MFA Thesis Exhibition
Interdisciplinary Arts Book and Paper
Exhibition: April 27 - May 18, 2007
The M.F.A. Book & Paper Thesis show is noted for its high level of craft, concept and overall artistry. The definition of what a book is and does, is stretched to its furthest extremes. From the traditional to the most innovative, from installation to the very intimate, the exhibition will be the culmination of the students’ three-year work in the program.
This exhibition will feature work of Renee Bair, Jen Blair, Jenny Kim, Mark Moroney, Lani Shembrimai Schuster, Lisa Switalski and Isaac Williams. With the installations of the M.A. students, Young Kim, Lisle Mitnik and Jamie Rey.
2007 MFA Thesis Exhibition
Interdisciplinary Arts & Media
Exhibition: March 30 - April 19, 2007
The Interdisciplinary Arts Department at Columbia College Chicago is presenting its M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts & Media Thesis Show at the Book & Paper Center. The Interdisciplinary Arts Department’s unique curriculum urges students to cross pollinate with a number of art disciplines in order to come up with new and unexpected art forms.
This exhibition will feature work from Diane Derr, Todd Kephart, Rita Marquez, Mel Racho, Emily Sepik and Joshua Siegal.
Working Frameworks
An exchange of work and ideas between students and faculty at Columbia College Chicago, Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and The Ohio State University / BLD Studios
Fall 2006
IMAGe Unit and Interdisciplinary Arts Department students from Columbia College Chicago are collaborating with students at Cornell University, artists at BLD Studios, and students at Ohio State University. Our exhibition is about the potential relationship between the artists collective, the university, the corporation, and the museum and/or gallery. Overall, we propose a higher consciousness of exhibition practice within our universities. We believe raising the bar would bring us closer to explicit integration of the above art world institutions. Rather than perpetuating a self-determined historical model, one placing emphasis on individual genius, we place stock in the collective action of emerging and established professionals working in tandem with students.
The Working Frameworks collaboration is in the form of an exchange. It is an exchange of artwork, exhibition space and resources, and ideas. Saul Appelbaum, an architecture student at Cornell University, has gained the support of the Dean of Art & Architecture at Cornell University, Buzz Spector, in bringing the Exchange to fruition. Cornell University has dedicated gallery and museum space toward an exhibit for the fall of 2006. The exhibit will then travel to Ohio State University / BLD Studios for exhibition at Sky Lab galleries and the Knowles School of Architecture on Ohio State University's campus. The final destination will be the Columbia College Chicago's Glass Curtain gallery, as well as other off-campus venues.
IMAGe Unit and Interdisciplinary Arts Department participants have been involved in organizing and exhibiting in this traveling exhibit.
MEDIATED BODIES
Glass Curtain Gallery, Columbia College Chicago
June 22 - July 22, 2006
Curated by Beth Berolzheimer, part-time faculty in the Interdisciplinary Arts Department, Columbia College Chicago. Todd Kephart, Assistant to the Curator.
Mediated Bodies features six interactive, multi-media installations created by students of the Interdisciplinary Arts and Media MFA Program at Columbia College Chicago. Considering technology as a mediated space energized by bodily experiences, these works suggest the transmission of psychological trauma through physical or virtual agency.
Co-sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Arts Department and the Television Department.
Participating artists are Todd Kephart, Matthew Kopp, Mel Racho, Emily Sepik, Joshua Siegal and Barrie Broadie.
I mean c'mon fluff my pillow
Inns of Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
May, 2006
I mean c'mon fluff my pillow moves into its 3rd year with a May 2006 one-night stand at its favorite rendezvous in Richmond's The Inns of Virginia on Broad Street. In '04 the event kicked off with the question "Why aren't exhibitions more interesting?" The artists wondered what it would take to make an irresistible show; to put on an event that made you feel that on that evening The Inns of Virginia was the place to have been. In May 2004 VCU artists used three of the hotel rooms to stage interventions, exhibits, and performances. In room 101 a performer repeatedly rehearsed a five-minute hotel-arrival routine. Visitors to a second room were accosted by a dubious stranger who offered to massage their feet and tell them stories. In the third room were exhibitions in viewfinders and videos of elevator exercise regimes. Out in the courtyard were the art cheerleaders strutting and chanting about the headaches and highs of art school. The opening then moved into the hotel bar for a karaoke party, and finally took over the swimming pool in the courtyard. A wild precedent had been established.
In May 2005, VCU artists were joined by others from the University of Cincinnati and Ohio State University. Now nine rooms were used and the interventions became more eclectic. Fat Elvis clones led a homage to Kubrick's 2001. A dead hooker lay in a pool of blood. Amplified noise overwhelmed conversation. Musicians improvised songs about superhero fantasies. A guide took visitors on a post-apocalyptic tour of the hotel grounds. Paintings depicted the hotel as it appeared in the "Forces of Nature", the 1999 Bullock/Affleck movie. A bathroom became a toxic underworld, irradiated in green light. Karaoke performances of the highest caliber continued in the bar till midnight.
iDMAa 2005 IDEAS Exhibition
Orlando, Florida,
Spring 2005
iDMAa iDEAs is a showcase for creative projects, works of art, and thought-provoking applications of digital media in both artistic and cutting-edge industrial contexts that reflect novel approaches to the relationship between media tools and content. The exhibition is something between an art gallery, a showcase of new ideas, and a playroom, with some resemblances to a ward for brilliantly unstable people. iDEAs is what it is named - a platform for ideas - art and projects that go beyond the medium and into the realm of creative thought that will provide fodder for interaction with iDMAa attendees.
Organized in conjunction with the IDMAA Conference
Participating artists: Video Installations in the juried show were presented by two MFA in Arts and Media students, Elizabeth Wuerffel and J.T. Newman. Technical Assistance, Mel Racho.
Variations on 9-5
The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
March 2005
Variations on 9-5, a series of live solo webcast performances in response to themes found in the movie, 9 to 5. Developed in the Performance Media Images course taught by Beth Berolzheimer.
Performance Media Images is a capstone class for the Interdisciplinary Arts and Media M.F.A. candidates at Columbia College. The students are in the second year of a three-year program. PMI is co-taught by two interdisciplinary artists. The class has two projects that build over the semester culminating in a final performance and media event. For the first project performance workshop methods are used to deconstruct a cultural product, in this case a movie. The subsequent live performance is web cast to the Mattress Factory. The performer without an the audience observing the performance projected in the lobby of the Mattress Factory.
Participating artists: Elizabeth Czekner, Ania Greiner, David Jude Green, Bridget Kies, J.T. Newman, Imants Ozers, Dan Schwarzlose, Liz Winfield, Elizabeth Wuerffel
Redux: Porky's II
The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
February 2006
Redux, Porky's II , a series of live solo webcast performances response to the themes found in the movie, Porky's II. Developed in the Performance Media Images course, co-taught by Beth Berolzheimer and Mary Walling Blackburn.
Performance Media Images is a capstone class for the Interdisciplinary Arts and Media M.F.A. candidates at Columbia College. The students are in the second year of a three-year program. PMI is co-taught by two interdisciplinary artists. The class has two projects that build over the semester culminating in a final performance and media event. For the first project performance workshop methods are used to deconstruct a cultural product, in this case a movie. The subsequent live performance is web cast to the Mattress Factory. The performer without an the audience observing the performance projected in the lobby of the Mattress Factory.
Participating artists: Barrie Broadie, Todd Kephart, Matthew Kopp, Rita Marquez, Mel Racho, Emily Sepik, Josh Siegal, Claudette Roper
NEW INSTALLATIONS, ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE: CUBA
The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
October 3, 2004 - April 24, 2005
Un libro escrito por dentro y por fuera: Where is Luis Gomez?
In a darkened gallery, images from four computers are projected onto the four walls. One is a projection of a series of computer screens showing the translation of a text that describes the symbolism of the whale in art and literature. The text is translated from Spanish to English and through twenty-two more languages until the Babel Fish Internet translator breaks down.
Images transmitted live from webcams in the homes and studios of Luis Gomez's friends throughout the world are projected on the other three walls. The individuals participating in this project will change over the course of the exhibition, but will never include the artist.
In Collaboration with Luis Gomez, produced by Mel Racho and Jeanine Mellinger, a live webcast from Interdisciplinary Arts Department, Columbia College Chicago to The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
DEPARTMENTAL CONTACT INFORMATION
Department Chair: Michelle Citron
Graduate Contact: Kris Johnson
Office Information: 624 S. Michigan, Room 1100
Phone: 312-369-7669
Email: kjohnson@colum.edu