Group Show: ‘Peripheral Views: States of America’
MoCP, Chicago
13.07.2012 - 30.09.2012
As we debate our country’s economic and political course in this election year, Peripheral Views: States of America brings together artists grappling with the difficulty of picturing the United States in our time. Authoritative images and grand narratives give way to malleable viewpoints in this exhibition, with each artist using photography as a means to take measure of our bearings and locate certain markers—past, present, and future—within the American Dream. By using diverse and fragmented images of America as barometers of the social climate, might we create a larger view of the state of this nation? Through closely focusing on the everyday objects, places, and images of the present and immediate past, can latent hopes and desires for an America full of opportunity be revealed?
Some of the artists in Peripheral Views approach issues of class, race, and power indirectly by using information from influential institutions like Google, television, advertising, and government. Other artists evoke nostalgia, as our current anxieties coexist with a longing for a past ideal. As the artists try to bring forward a clearer understanding of the United States today, their photographs operate as synecdoche, or parts attempting to represent the whole. Ultimately their works underscore the impossibility of creating an encompassing picture of contemporary America. A team of seven people organized this exhibition, and likewise many of the artworks were created collaboratively. The multiplicity of creators and imagery reflect a contemporary American experience that is larger than any single person or community, and complex beyond concise explanation.
Featuring works by:
Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin
Veronica Corzo-Duchardt
Nicolas Krebs & Taiyo Onorato
Liz Magic Laser
Object Orange
Harry Shearer
Martin Hyers & William Mebane
Michael Mergen
Doug Rickard
Read more HERE
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