Two new exhibitions
Audience as Subject, Part 1: Medium
October 30, 2010 – February 6, 2011
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Gallery 1
Yoshua Okón: 2007-2010
October 30, 2010 – February 6, 2011
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Gallery 2
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
701 Mission Street
San Francisco CA 94103
www.ybca.org
Audience as Subject, Part 1: Medium
Audience as Subject, Part 1: Medium is presented as part of YBCA’s Big Idea “DARE: Innovations in art, action, audience.” Organized by Betti-Sue Hertz, YBCA Director of Visual Arts, Audience as Subject is a two-part exhibition that reverses the role of the audience from that of spectator to subject, exposing the dramatic mechanisms underlying public gatherings of people. By focusing the viewer’s attention on the characteristics and behaviors of individuals in a group environment—body language, facial expressions, attitudes, gestures and actions—the artists challenge our perceptions about participation in civic life. They reveal what we collectively become when we gather together to participate in a common experience and investigate the effect this process has on our individuality. The two parts of the exhibition will take place at YBCA over a period of approximately two years. Part 1 explores medium-sized audiences in such venues as concert halls, theaters and lecture halls. Part 2 examines the differences between large audiences, such as those attending sporting events, political rallies and outdoor performances, with audiences for smaller, more intimate events, including television viewing and computer interaction.
Artists include caraballo-farman, Stefan Constantinescu, Danica Dakić, Adrian Paci, Shizu Saldamando, Gabriel Acevedo Velarde and Ulla von Brandenburg.
Yoshua Okón: 2007-2010
Yoshua Okón: 2007-2010, is a collection of five of the artist’s emotionally charged, multichannel video installations as part of YBCA’s Big Idea “ENCOUNTER: Engaging the social context.” Yoshua Okón’s video installations are built on improvisational narratives created by the artist and his collaborators, mostly non-actors willing to participate in a game of social chance that may easily spiral out of control. Centered around emotionally charged expressions of power and contemplations of fear, death, sex and nationhood, these works provoke viewers to consider questions of social conduct and the behavior of individuals within systems of social restraint. Okón further challenges viewers to question their own attitudes towards power, ethics and prejudice, particularly as they relate to class and race. Maintaining a belief that humanity holds within its grasp a complex web of fears and desires, Okón places psychological violence on the stage with absurdity and humor. The rather serious antics that unfold yield to audience reactions of shock or disbelief, while at the same time providing a space to laugh at one’s own frailties. Okón’s works are both performative and interactive, in that they are not complete without the participation and complicity of the audience as they react to what they experience on screen.
*Image above:
Peter Blum Gallery, New York.
