Matt Kenyon Presents at Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts
A&D Associate Professor Matt Kenyon Faculty will take part in a panel discussion held in conjunction with the exhibition iraqimemorial.org at NYC’s Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts.
iraqimemorial.org is a participation-based conceptual project launched in 2007 as an internet platform for artists, designers, and architects to propose concepts for memorials to the unrecognized civilian casualties incurred during the ongoing conflict in Iraq. Existing as an open call and growing archive of ideas and works, iraqimemorial.org is an effort initiated by one individual to call upon the collective creative community to consider the cost of war from all sides. Over the four years of the project’s existence, the site has evolved to feature over 175 speculative memorial concepts and documentation of a variety of completed memorial projects.
From September 9 through October 22nd, 2011, EFA Project Space will present an exhibition of plans and responses selected out of the pool that now exist on the iraqimemorial.org site. The proposal guidelines encourage participants to use a wide range of locations and mediums to create collective memory and unity, drawing upon traditional and expanded ideas of memorial. The exhibition on display at EFA will present a selection of several dozen of the most striking submissions as selected by two juror’s reviews in 2008 and 2009 as well as more recent projects that have been uploaded to the site. Featured projects span a range of creative practices including: architecture, social media, geomapping, performance, video and the visual arts.
EFA: iraqimemorial.org exhibition
Panel Discussion: Iraqimemorial.org — On the Efficacy of Creative Remembrance
Thursday, October 20, 2011 from 6:30 — 8:30pm
EFA Project Space, 323 W. 39th St., 2nd floor
The panel discussion will be moderated by project director and exhibition curator Joseph DeLappe, and include juror Yaelle Amir, and artists Wafaa Bilal, Matt Kenyon and Sayoko Yoshida. A wide-ranging discussion will ensue regarding the efficacy of the conceptualization and realization of contemporary memorials, monuments and counter-monuments to the victims of war.
Joseph DeLappe is a Professor of the Department of Art at the University of Nevada where he directs the Digital Media program. Working with electronic and new media since 1983, his work in online gaming performance and electromechanical installation have been shown throughout the United States and abroad. He has lectured throughout the world regarding his work, including most recently at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Yaelle Amir is an independent curator and writer based in Brooklyn, NY holding a Research Scholar position at NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts. Her writing and curatorial projects focus primarily on emerging and mid-career artists whose works meld the creative process with immediate social concerns, with an emphasis on photography, video, and new media. She has curated exhibitions at Artists Space, ISE Cultural Foundation, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Nurture Art, and Wallach Art Gallery, among others, and her writing has appeared in numerous art publications including Art in America, ArtLies, ArtSlant, and Sculpture Magazine.
Wafaa Bilal is an Assistant Arts Professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He is known internationally for his on-line performative and interactive works provoking dialogue about international politics and internal dynamics. Bilal’s work is constantly informed by the experience of fleeing his homeland and existing simultaneously in two worlds — his home in the “comfort zone” of the U.S. and his consciousness of the “conflict zone” in Iraq. He came to the U.S. where he graduated from the University of New Mexico and then obtained an MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Matt Kenyon is an Associate Professor in the School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan where he teaches physical computing, video and 3D animation. He received his M.F.A in painting from Virginia Commonwealth University, and find interest in the convergence of art, emerging technologies and popular culture. Many of his recent works feature wearable computing technologies and robotics as a means for making cultural critique, including his collaborative projects for S.W.A.M.P.
Sayoko Yoshida is a New York based multidisciplinary designer with a solid graphic design background. She earned her MFA from Parsons The New School for Design in 2009 while working as a Senior Information Designer at Parsons Institute for Information Mapping (PIIM). Sayoko is constantly seeking possibilities to explore new interactive technologies and visualization techniques.
http://www.efanyc.org/iraqimemorial-exhibition/?SSScrollPosition=0