Monday, November 28, 2011

OUT OF RUBBLE Premieres at SPACE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


November 23, 2011

Contact:
Veronica Corpuz
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
(412) 471-6082
corpuz@trustarts.org




Wafaa Bilal, The Ashes Series (2009), archival inkjet print mounted on diebond, 38.5 x 50 inches




OUT OF RUBBLE guest curated by Susanne Slavick


SPACE - December 2, 2011, through January 29, 2012.


OUT OF RUBBLE premieres at SPACE on Friday, December 2, with an opening reception from 6-8pm and a gallery talk by curator Susanne Slavick at 7pm. Slavick’s own work, as an artist and as one of the founders of 10 Years + Counting, led her to research and edit OUT OF RUBBLE (Charta, 2011), an anthology of art works by contemporary artists addressing the aftermath of current and past wars. The book includes texts by Slavick and Holly Edwards and works by international artists and architects from Diana Al-Hadid to Xu Zhen. A selection of these artists for the OUT OF RUBBLE exhibit at SPACE include: Taysir Batniji, Wafaa Bilal, Enrique Castrejon, Lenka Clayton, Jane Dixon, Hirokazu Fukawa, Monica Haller, Andrew Ellis Johnson, Jennifer Karady, Osman Khan, Samina Mansuri, Simon Norfolk, Rocio Rodriguez, elin o’Hara slavick, Susanne Slavick, and Elaine Spatz-Rabinowitz.

OUT OF RUBBLE reacts to the wake of war — its realities and its representations. The rubble that each war leaves behind shapes today and tomorrow — physically, psychologically and spiritually. OUT OF RUBBLE presents works by international artists and architects who consider its causes and consequences, its finality and future, moving from decimation and disintegration to the possibilities of regeneration and recovery. As the USA has just marked ten years of war in Afghanistan, the longest war in this country’s history, OUT OF RUBBLE is all too timely.

Facing the failure and wreckage of war, the poet Wislawa Szymborska wrote: “Reality demands that we mention this: Life goes on.” Artists meet this demand through responses that are invariably somber, both tender and unflinching. Through images and narratives bound up in the crises of truth, they acknowledge, yet strive toward the impossible task of comprehending the incomprehensible.

OUT OF RUBBLE at SPACE runs through January 29, 2012. Related events include OUT OF RUBBLE – The Phoenix Rising, a performance in the galleries by MillerDANCE on December 9 and 10 at 8:30pm with a pre-performance conversation on December 9 at 8:10pm, hosted by Karen Dacko (Dance Editor for Pittsburgh Magazine) with company director Mary Miller and curator Susanne Slavick.

The last weekend of the show features The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Gallery Crawl on Friday, January 27, and Disarming Words at SPACE on January 29. Disarming Words includes a gallery talk and poems at 1:30pm with curator Susanne Slavick; poetry readings by Lynn Emanuel and Terrance Hayes at 2pm followed by a singing escort at 2:30 with the Raging Grannies to Windows and Mirrors, Reflections on the War in Afghanistan, a traveling mural project of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) at 937 Liberty Avenue (2nd floor) where Iraqi readers and Warrior Writers will also present poetry, followed by discussion in the gallery. Windows and Mirrors continues through February 12, 2012.

The OUT OF RUBBLE exhibit subsequently travels to: Bowling Green State University Galleries, OH, August 28 – October 7, 2012; The Marlin and Regina Miller Gallery, Kutztown University, PA, October – November 18, 2012; String Room Gallery, Wells College, Aurora, NY, and Harris Art Gallery, University of La Verne, La Verne, CA, in 2013; Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, and UC Art Museum, Boulder, CO, in 2014 with a related symposium.

OUT OF RUBBLE is a project of 10 Years + Counting. 10yearsandcounting.org

http://www.chartaartbooks.it

http://www.artbook.com/9788881588107.html

10 Years + Counting

http://www.10yearsandcounting.org/

10 Years + Counting blog post:

http://10yearsandcounting.wordpress.com/2011/08/03/out-of-rubble-artist-susanne-slavick-on-art-and-war/


SPACE gallery, a project of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, is located at 812 Liberty Avenue, downtown Pittsburgh Cultural District. Gallery Hours: Wed & Thurs: 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Fri & Sat: 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Free and open to the public. Information: www.spacepittsburgh.org


EVENTS IN OTHER FORMAT:

December 9 and 10, 8:30pm

MillerDANCE presents OUT OF RUBBLE – The Phoenix Rising with a pre-performance conversation on December 9 at 8:10pm, hosted by Karen Dacko (Dance Editor for Pittsburgh Magazine) with curator Susanne Slavick and company director Mary Miller.

January 27, 5:30-9pm

Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Gallery Crawl

January 29 Disarming Words

1:30 Out of Rubble Gallery Talk and Poems with curator Susanne Slavick

2:00 Poetry Reading with Lynn Emanuel and Terrance Hayes

2:30 Raging Grannies Singing Escort to 2nd floor, 937 Liberty Avenue

2:40 Warrior Writers and Public Poetry with Iraqi readers at Windows and Mirrors, Reflections on the War in Afghanistan, a traveling mural project of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) through February 12, 2012. Readings followed by gallery discussion.

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