• Art Organization: Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

Opening Night at the Contemporary!

Next Friday, January 22nd, the Contemporary Art Museum debuts its new exhibitions including the Main Galleries with Sean Landers: 1991- 1994, Improbable History and Stephen Prina: Modern Movie Pop, alongside a performance in The Front Room by Xavier Cha.

Installation is in full swing, the Contemporary staff is busy in preparations for an incredible new season. Performative, expressive, and literary, Sean Landers quixotic and elusive practice has since the early 1990s defied contemporary art world trends. For the artist’s first large scale survey in an American museum, this exhibition takes as its subject the artist’s early years in the studio, constructing a broad body of work that has long gamed on sincere attempts to map the boundaries of human-nature and the self. Alongside is a new exhibition by American artist Stephen Prina, who has long been considered a critical voice in contemporary art. For thirty years he has developed a singular and multifaceted practice that encompasses painting, installation, photography, sound, and film. Meanwhile, he has cultivated a rich and acclaimed career as composer and pop musician. Presenting Prina’s recent work in multiple media, alongside his music for the first time, Modern Movie Pop explores the relationship between artistic intentions and the afterlife of objects.

Join us opening night at 7:00 pm (6:00 pm for members!).

For more information on our upcoming exhibitions, please see our website at www.camstl.org

Image: Xavier Cha, Two-Way Mirror, 2009. 4 x 8 foot acrylic two way mirror, aluminum frame, professional clowns. Courtesy of the artist.

• Art Organization: Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

Show Ending, New Year Beginning!

For those of you in St. Louis still looking for something exciting to do to bring in 2010, start with Grand Center’s First Night  on New Year’s Eve. First Night is always full of exciting entertainment and activities and is an incredibly unique experience. The buttons you receive during First Night can be recycled for discounts at different Grand Center locations. Bring it in to the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and you’ll receive free admission OR $5.00 off of a Contemporary membership.

The rest of the first weekend in 2010 can be spent at the Contemporary since it will be the last couple of days of the current exhibition. For the blind man in the dark room looking for the black cat that isn’t there will close on Sunday, January 3. On Saturday, January 2, visitors can go on the Last Chance Tour in order to check out the show and the twenty artists one more time. Then on closing day, the 3rd, the Contemporary is hosting a Piñata Closing Party. Since the beginning of the show Mariana Castillo Deball’s Klein bottle-shaped piñata has hung above the Performance Space. On this day, guests will get to take turns swinging at the piñata. Yes, there are assorted objects and candies inside, and yes, guests will get to swarm to these prized possessions as they fall to the ground. There will also be festive music and free margaritas and the artist will be present! Learn more about Mariana Castillo Deball by reading the Artist Blog Series post on 2buildings1blog.org.

• Art Organization: Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

20 Artists and Curator Talk

The Contemporary’s major group exhibition, For the blind man in the dark room looking for the black cat that isn’t there includes the work of 20 different artists. If you are interested in expanding your artist knowledge base you can do so by reading the weekly artist series blog posts on 2buildings1blog.org. This is a great chance to see a variety of art, media, and artist’s work. You will see images and be linked to gallery guides.

To even further your knowledge of these artists, as well as the curatorial process for an exhibition like For the blind man…, come to the Contemporary on Wednesday, November 18 to hear a lecture by Chief Curator Anthony Huberman and watch a film screening of Fischli & Weiss’ “The Way Things Go” (1987).

• Art Organization: Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

“Is there anything upstairs?”

One of the most asked questions by visitors of the Contemporary is, “is there anything upstairs?” The answer is YES! Here is what you will find: After your hike up the massive concrete stairs (or the journey up the elevator), you are greeted with a long hallway/catwalk ahead of you, administrative offices to your left, as well as two orange chairs that you will not be able to resist touching…go ahead, I would guess about 90% of the people who walk by either touch them, sit in them, or at least comment on them. As you walk down the hallway, tall mesh walls are on your left, and a view of the Contemporary’s performance space and high ceilings are on the right. Then you’ve made it. You have finally to the answer of the most asked question…you are viewing what is upstairs, the Exhibition Lab.

The Exhibition Lab, as defined by Tuan, Museum Educator, is: a lounge area where you’re invited to stay and relax, and learn more about the current exhibition, watch exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews, and discover different ways of accessing the exhibition through hands on activities and a library of contemporary art books.

More specifically the Exhibition Lab includes the following:

“The Lounge”

On the screen: behind-the-scenes information about the current exhibition provided by artists, Curators, and more.

On the table: hands-on, exhibition-related activities…games including chess, fortune telling cards, and visual design games to encourage different forms of play (yes, you can come to the museum and play these games!); and a glass Klein bottle model, so you can see what Marianna Castillo DeBall’s giant sculpture, which is in the current exhibition, looks like internally.

On the computers: archived interviews from past exhibitions including Maya Lin: Systematic Landscapes and Gedi Sibony: My Arms Are Tied Behind My Other Arms; Artist-related videos (including the scientific explanation of the Klein bottle shape (mentioned above).

“The Flat Files”

Walk up to what looks like a giant metal filing cabinet (which essentially is what this is), pull out the one of the drawers, and violà, you have access to the work of many area artists! How cool is that?

“The Library”

Browse through hundreds of contemporary art books! There are hard to find books on individual artists, as well as books on art movements and critical theory. You can also get a more in-depth look of art produced by artists in For the blind man… by reading artist interviews and viewing surveys of their larger bodies of work.

“The Gallery”

Yes! There is art upstairs too (the answer to another popular question). This gallery showcases the artwork made by New Art in the Neighborhood students.

And that folks, is what is upstairs!

• Art Organization: Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

An Introduction: For the Blind Man…

Anthony Huberman, Chief Curator of the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis introduces the new exhibition For the blind man in the dark room looking for the black cat that isn’t there. Click here for further information on the exhibition.