The Desert Between Us
Arizona State University (ASU) has established F.A.R. @ ASU, a groundbreaking program for engaging artists with the university and greater community. Based in downtown Phoenix, F.A.R. (Future Arts Research) will host 20–24 leading national and international artists, critics and scholars each year who will conduct research in collaboration with university departments and the surrounding community. F.A.R. artists will spend periods of time in Phoenix using the city’s physical, social and intellectual landscape to conceptualize and present new research and, in some cases, produce new art work.
F.A.R. artists will follow an applied research method, focusing on three areas important to Phoenix: new technologies in the arts; desert aesthetics; and issues of justice and human rights. Artists may explore new modes of expression through technology, or examine society’s use of—or resistance to—new technologies. The second area of focus examines manifold understandings of the “desert” through the study of desert aesthetics, cultural sustainability and human interaction. F.A.R. will collaborate with other desert arts communities in this emerging field, and has already begun a residency exchange program with the Townhouse Gallery in Cairo, Egypt. F.A.R’s third field of study will focus on the examination of human rights and social action issues. Drawing inspiration from multiple academic disciplines, F.A.R. artists will map the evolving cultural anthropology of Phoenix.
F.A.R.’s inaugural residents include Max Dean, Dick Hebdige, Sandra Antelo Suarez, Natalie Jeremijenko, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Ken Lum, Ahmet Öğüt, William Wells, Joanna Berzowska, James Yamada, Richard Andrews, David Elliott, Peter Sellars, Syvie Fortin, Josiah McElheny / David Weinberg, Greyworld / Andrew Shoben, Subhankar Banerjee, Ferran Berenblit Scheinin, Peter Eleey, Mats Stjernstedt, Maria Nordman, Dana Claxton, Bernard Khoury and Walid Raad.
Director: Bruce W. Ferguson
Associate Director: Marilu Knode
F.A.R’s Inaugural Commission
F.A.R. has commissioned a new work from award-winning playwright and performer Anna Deavere Smith exploring women’s relationships to justice and the law. Debuting November 5, 2008, The Arizona Project is a one-woman play inspired by the 2006 naming of ASU’s College of Law for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, a native of Arizona.
As in Smith’s well-known previous works, The Arizona Project is comprised of several interwoven monologues drawn verbatim from a series of interviews. The work presents the stories of Justice O’Connor, as well as those of prison system employees, incarcerated women, female lawyers, activists and others with complex relationships to the American judicial system. The Arizona Project addresses several contemporary issues through these diverse stories, including immigration, domestic violence, and the challenges faced by women living on Native American reservations.
Tickets will go on sale September 29, 2008 for performances November 5 and 7, 2008 at the Herberger Theater in Phoenix. 602.254.7399 or http://www.herbergertheater.org
F.A.R.’s Inaugural Symposium: F.A.R. Xchange 1
November 20-22, 2008
F.A.R. Xchange 1: The Desert Between Us is F.A.R.@ ASU’s first in a series of exchanges featuring lectures, performances and film screenings that will link the audiences in the Sonoran desert to deserts globally. The Desert Between Us will explore the various metaphorical meanings surrounding, shrouding and illuminating the desert as a site for meditation, activation and exchange. The ideas and events that will be presented will give equal weight to the social and metaphoric knowledge generated when using forms of artistic and intellectual analysis to frame a relationship to the desert.
Participants include: Rebecca Solnit, Dr. Lawrence Culver, Rebecca Belmore / Osvaldo Yero, Colin Boyd, Jananne Al-Ani, John Meunier, Dr. Armando José Prats, Christian Bumbarra Thompson and Joe Baker. Xchange Partners: Phoenix Film Festival, Valley Art Theater and Herberger College of the Arts, ASU.
F.A.R. (Future Arts Research) @ ASU
615 E. Portland Street #156
Phoenix, AZ 85004
602.258.1852
http://www.futureartsresearch.com
For more information or to sign up for our mailing list, contact [email protected]
For more information go to: http://www.futureartsresearch.com