Past Lectures & Events 2008

Piero Golia

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 6 PM
Artist Lecture by Piero Golia
There is a light....

Join us for a surprise appearance by Biennial artist Piero Golia who will speak about his work, and guests may participate in his exhilarating action installation at SITE Santa Fe, Manifest Destiny.

Co-sponsored by Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art

The Art & Culture series is made possible by a generous endowment from the Marlene Nathan Meyerson Family Foundation. This announcement is funded in part by the Santa Fe Arts Commission and the 1% Lodgers’ Tax.

Molly Sturges and Chris Jonas

John Kennedy

Photo credit: Sarah Stathas

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24, 7:30 PM
MALANGAN
Musical Performance

Join us for a collaborative musical event celebrating the 2008 Biennial, built as a disarticulation and recirculation of the images, words, and spaces of the exhibition. John Kennedy, Molly Sturges and Chris Jonas will compose a piece for multiple ensembles placed throughout the installation space, involving members of Santa Fe New Music and other musicians from the area. The performers will be linked using various compositional means to explore the realms of ephemerality, collaboration and process.

In certain Oceanic traditions, malangan are funerary effigies or monuments to the dead. Mourners make these assemblages of wood or woven vines and decorate the surface with carvings of animals, birds, shells, and human figures. The perishable monument is placed over a human grave as a marker, then left to decompose, and after the human soul is understood to have left the body, the remains are gathered to fertilize gardens.

It is through this metaphor of a ceremony to commemorate the dead that the artists hope to share the transformative powers of decay and revitalization—and in the context of the Biennial—accommodating simultaneous resonances of death and rebirth, of loss and renewal, of closure and new beginnings.

Co-sponsored by Box Gallery

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 6 PM
SITE is delighted to be able to host a lecture by
Sir Neil Cossons on Art in the Age of Steam

The lecture is co-sponsored by the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, Historic Preservation Division; The Palace of the Governors, Museum of New Mexico; Office of the State Historian/NM Commission of Public Records; Historic Santa Fe Foundation; Cornerstones Community Partnerships; and the Santa Fe Railyard Community Corporation.

DOWNLOAD THE PRESS RELEASE

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 6 PM
CLASH CLASS: SALVATION SOUND
An evening with Nadine Robinson, Treasure Don and DJ DRM

Join us for Clash Class: Salvation Sound a collaborative performance event hosted by Biennial artist Nadine Robinson (a.k.a. NayRob), featuring deejay and vocalist Treasure Don and his crew, as they experiment with electronic sound and human movement inspired by the Jamaican sound system. A vanguard approach to music-making, the Jamaican sound system produced the now ubiquitous remix; it served as a blueprint for underground raves and fostered the collaborations between deejays and crews. Robinson considers the Jamaican sound system an important point of departure for her work. This mode of sound production is based on the interactions that occur between "human actors and the mechanical systems of musical amplification, including turntables, audio electronics, and speakers."1

As a group-based musical act, Clash Class reflects Lucky Number Seven’s guiding principles of collaboration, experimentation, ephemerality, and newly commissioned work. Robinson’s work and her performance is a complex anomaly of the secular and the religious through her choice of musical styles which range from roots to rock, and from reggae to Gregorian chants.

1 John Constantinides, The Sound System: Contributions to Jamaica Music and the Montreal Dancehall Scene, 2002

Co-sponsored by Mariquita Masterson

TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 6 PM
TOD WILLIAMS AND BILLIE TSIEN, ARCHITECTS
Current Work

“We see architecture as an act of profound optimism. Its foundation lies in believing that it is possible to make places on the earth that can give a sense of grace to life – and in believing that that matters.” - Tod Williams and Billie Tsien

Tod Williams and Billie Tsien’s architecture aims to alter our personal and collective experiences of space and place. Their practice responds to investigations and ideas about how buildings relate to a particular site and how one constructs forms that balance logic with intuition. Their architectural endeavors speak with great subtlety about the importance of the physical and conceptual space that exists between objects, people, and their environment. Elegant and refined, their minimalist constructions pay careful attention to context. Within the museum setting, for example, their work bridges the gap between architecture, fine art, and people by encouraging visitors to experience space through physical movement. They create and integrate multiple paths that traverse and circulate space, allowing viewers to experience their environment through various, shifting perspectives. For Lucky Number Seven, Williams and Tsien have created an exhibition design that embodies the principles of their practice, and SITE Santa Fe is honored to collaborate with them in the creation of their work for the Seventh International Biennial.

In their presentation, they will speak about their current projects in the United States, Hong Kong, and India.

Co-sponsored by Avalon Trust

TUESDAY, JULY 8, 6 PM
TALK AS TALK CAN: A Conversation with Luchezar Boyadjiev, Eliza Naranjo Morse, Nora Naranjo Morse, and Rose B. Simpson

Much has been made of the community component of Lucky Number Seven— both physically and metaphorically—and these artists could be said to personify the nature of the community of this exhibition. Through their ideological approach to their works, as well as the execution of the actual pieces, they literally make use of the community resources to amplify and enhance the message of their
respective art practices. Join us for an informal conversation between Biennial artists Luchezar Boyadjiev, Eliza Naranjo Morse, Nora Naranjo Morse, and Rose B. Simpson as they discuss how the shifting notion of community informs their respective artistic practices.

Based in Sofia, Bulgaria, Luchezar Boyadjiev makes art through communication that attempts to break down cultural barriers that all too frequently divide communities and individuals. For Lucky Number Seven, Boyadjiev organized and trained a group of young people from Santa Fe to be a part of his Art Squad. During the Biennial, they travel to different cultural institutions in Santa Fe interacting with people and speaking to visitors about subjects ranging from contemporary art to the environment. For Boyadjiev, dialogue is art, and the exchanges that occur between people often reveal new, unknown perspectives.
Eliza Naranjo Morse, Nora Naranjo Morse, and Rose B. Simpson are a family of artists from Santa Clara Pueblo. Although each artist works in her own medium, ideas about the land and community are integral to their respective practices.

For this exhibition, the artists created a line made from adobe and other organic materials that traverses the interior of SITE Santa Fe, while extending out into various off-site locations throughout the city. Taking the basic form of a line, their elegant work functions as a physical and psychological link between objects, people, space, and place.

Co-sponsored by Bellas Artes

SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 5 – 6:30 PM
Biennial Panel

Biennial artists will share their experiences in creating their commissioned works for the exhibition. Curatorial partners Alexie Glass, Colin Chinnery, and Ferran Barenblit will lead the discussion.

National Dance Institute
1140 Alto Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501

Join us for this lively and engaging free-for-all as participants outline the highlights of the Biennial exhibition experience, and welcome comments from the audience as part of the participatory component of the curatorial concept. Artists and curators will address the Biennial’s guiding principles of collaboration, process, experimentation, and ephemerality, among other topics of their choosing.

Sponsored by Gebert Contemporary & Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art

TUESDAY, JUNE 3, 5:30–7:30 PM
Kaekko Toy Exchange with Hiroshi Fuji

National Dance Institute, 1140 Alto Street
For information, please call Tim Santos at NDI, 983-7646 ext.103.

FRIDAY, JUNE 6 & SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 3–5 PM
Kaeru Art-Making Workshops with Hiroshi Fuji

Fine Arts for Children & Teens (FACT), 1516 Pacheco Street
To register, please call Stephanie Behning at FACT, 992-2787.

Hiroshi Fuji creates installations, performances, and events that focus on community. He uses materials deemed useless or valueless by society – empty plastic water bottles, discarded food packaging, and old toys – to create works of art ranging from monumental sculptures to theatrical performances that conceive art as an agent for social change. Kaekko, a project first initiated in Japan, is a hallmark of his artistic practice – one that offers solutions to over-consumption and waste. The project simulates the model of a bazaar. Children exchange their outgrown or unwanted toys with one another, creating a new market and new values for formerly worthless items. To date, Kaekko has occurred in various locales globally over 3,000 times.

Toys collected at the Kaekko will be recycled into fanciful sculptures of birds in art-making sessions, or Kaeru, led by Fuji. Kaeru means to transform, to exchange, or to change in Japanese; it is also the word for frog. A selection of these sculptures will be on view at the Museum of International Folk Art during the Biennial.

SITE Unseen 5
A SPECIAL EXHIBITION AND SALE TO BENEFIT
SITE SANTA FE’S SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL BIENNIAL
April 4 - 6

Santa Fe, NM – SITE Santa Fe will present SITE Unseen 5, a benefit art sale to raise funds for SITE Santa Fe’s Seventh International Biennial, Lucky Number Seven. A private preview and a public reception for SITE Unseen 5 will be held on Friday, April 4, 2008, and the exhibition and sale will continue through Sunday, April 6, 2008 at SITE Santa Fe.

The private preview will be held on Friday from 5-6 pm. Tickets for this preview are $100, entitling guests to view the exhibition in advance and have the premiere selection of works. For Preview tickets, please contact Jo-Anne Skinner, 505.989.1199 x 20 or email: skinner@sitesantafe.org. The public is invited to the free reception from 6-8 pm, where works will continue to be available for sale. The exhibition continues through Sunday, April 6.

A Conversation
Steina and Gene Youngblood
Tuesday, March 25, 6 pm

Gene Youngblood is a longtime friend and ardent champion of Steina and Woody Vasulka’s innovative artistic practices. He has curated exhibitions and authored numerous texts over the years that illuminate Steina’s aesthetic and visionary approach to art and technology through music. The two will engage in an informal conversation that touches on a variety of subjects, ranging from Steina’s involvement in the wildly experimental, neo-avant-garde scene that blossomed on New York’s Lower East Side in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, to her decision to move out West in 1980, her construction of machines, and views on analog and digital technologies. An internationally renowned scholar on the history and theory of experimental film, video art, and electronic media arts, Youngblood has been a pioneering figure in the development of the new media art field. He is the author of the influential Expanded Cinema (1970)—the first book to address video as an art medium. The volume remains a cornerstone for new media scholarship today. The exhibition catalogue features an illuminative dialogue between Steina and Youngblood that was recorded in Santa Fe in 2007.

Co-sponsored by EVO Gallery

Courtesy of the artist

A Contemporary Encounter
A lecure by Laura Heon
Thursday, February 21, 6 - 8 pm

Laura Heon, Phillips Director of SITE Santa Fe
A lecture on the exhibition Steina: 1970–2000

In conjunction with ARTfeast
Hors d’oeuvres provided by The Pink Adobe
Wine by Peter Gaugy

Join us for an intimate reception and talk by Laura Heon who will speak about the pioneering videos and multi-channel installations of the renowned new media artist Steina, who lives here in Santa Fe. Steina’s first in-depth retrospective in the U.S. will be on view at SITE, and features ground-breaking single-channel videos and multiscreen installations from 1970-2000. Come in from the cold, and enjoy great comfort food from The Pink Adobe and wine generously provided by Peter Gaugy, as Heon shares her insights on Steina’s artistic practice, which melds elements of music, art, and technology in extraordinary ways.

Underwritten by The Collector’s Guide
Tickets: $50 to benefit SITE and ArtSmart, 988.1234, or www.ticketssantafe.com