IT’S NOT JUST BLACK AND WHITE: Gregory Sale – Social Studies Project 6

IT’S NOT JUST BLACK AND WHITE
Gregory Sale – Social Studies Project 6
February 1 – May 14, 2011

Season Opening Reception:
Friday, February 18 from 7-9pm

“With a population of roughly 6.5 million, (Arizona has) over 40,000 inmates. The state of Washington, with a population slightly larger than Arizona, has roughly 18,000.” *

“A recent Pew Center report indicates that in 2008, one in 33 adults in Arizona was under correctional control, which includes jail, prison, parole and probation. Twenty-five years ago, this number was one in 79. What has changed so much is not human nature, but the offenses for which we incarcerate and the imposition of mandatory sentences.” **
– Rep. Cecil Ash, R-Mesa (Ariz.)

The Residency
It’s not just black and white is a three-month-long residency exhibition with Gregory Sale, a Phoenix-based artist who will work through artistic gestures to initiate and host dialogue, aspiring to give voice to the multiple constituencies of the corrections, incarceration and criminal justice systems. The ASU Art Museum gallery space will operate as a site for developing and displaying visual and mediated exhibitions, dance and other staged events, discussions and readings.

As the title It’s not just black and white implies, the intent of the project is to expose and examine the many often conflicting viewpoints, perspectives and values that are generated from serious considerations of justice and public safety. The project will provide the opportunity for the public to explore the impact of modern criminal justice through fact-based tours, dialogues and programs – offering more first-hand experience of the many strands that make up this complicated narrative.

ASU Art Museum Social Studies Initiative
The Museum’s Social Studies initiative is a series of residency exhibitions, begun in 2007, that explore this dialogue-based, process-oriented context by literally bringing the studio into the museum, and by engaging the public directly in the creative process of exhibition-making in the space where “the art object” is usually found.

The ASU Art Museum continues to transform museum traditions by returning to the original sociological function of the institution – to encourage the circulation of ideas embedded in the archive, to provide a safe place for curiosity and to create an exchange point for the flow of conversation between and among artists, curators, collectors, students, social and governmental institutions, and the public.

Get Involved
Calendars within the gallery, on the exhibition website and this museum blog will announce programs and performances, as well as opportunities to participate in Tent City Jail tours as they are confirmed over the course of the residency. Individuals and organizations demonstrating a sustained engagement in civil justice and themes of the project may also reserve the gallery for classes, meetings, workshops, etc. See “Open Bookings” on the website for details.

Community Partners
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, Arizona Humanities Council, Gina’s Team, The University of Arizona Poetry Center, with additional partnerships currently being developed.

Advisory Committee
Shelley Cohn, Arts Advocate and Community Volunteer; Nancy Dallett, Public Historian, ASU, School of History, Philosophy and Religious Studies; Bill Hart, Senior Policy Analyst, ASU, Morrison Institute for Public Policy; Adriene Jenik, Professor and Director, ASU, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, School of Art; Teri Murphy, Faculty Associate for Justice and Social Transformation, and Fellow, ASU, Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict; Jeremy Mussman, Deputy Director, Maricopa County Public Defender and Member, Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice; Amy Rex, Manager, Maricopa County Criminal Justice Projects, Maricopa County Manager’s Office; Matthew Salenger, Architect and Artist, colab studio llc; Arthur J. Sabatini, PhD, ASU Associate Professor of Performance Studies, Humanities, Arts and Culture, College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences; Arnim Wiek, Assistant Professor, ASU, School of Sustainability

Key Artistic Collaborators
Claes Bergman, Teniqua Broughton, Vikki Dempsey, Matthew Garcia, Stephen Gittins, Sloane McFarland, Elizabeth Johnson, Ken Lamberton, Matthew Mosher, Kara Roschi, Richard Shelton, David Tinapple, Erec Toso

Funding
It’s not just black and white is supported by grants from
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
Friends of the ASU Art Museum.

Presentation
Curated by John D. Spiak, It’s not just black and white – Gregory Sale: Social Studies Project 6 will be installed in the Turk Gallery of the ASU Art Museum’s Nelson Fine Arts Center location.

Museum Blog
Keeping checking this blog for information and updates on the project:
https://asuartmuseum.wordpress.com

*The Arizona Republic, January 28, 2011
**Arizona Capitol Times, December 11, 2009

Additional Blog Posts
Angela Davis, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Youth in Detention = Social Practice
Reconnecting – It’s not just black and white
Dream like you mean it: The Mother-Daughter Distance Dance
Another Active Week and the Schedule for April
Waiting for Release, Sentencing Reform & Welcoming Home
Invitation to Join Us for Volunteer Event – GINA’s Team
Inside & Outside – It’s not just black and white
More Similar Than Different + Tent City Jail Tour Opportunity
You can’t move forward until you know where you are
Olympic Gold Medalist, Gina’s Team and PVCC Students!
IT’S NOT JUST BLACK AND WHITE: Gregory Sale – Social Studies Project 6