Adventures in curating, or “The Invisible Architect”

 

Juan Downey, “Anaconda Map of Chile,” 1973. Photo by Harry Shunk, courtesy of the Juan Downey Foundation.

Just back from a trip to the East Coast to research several upcoming exhibitions and projects. My first stop was the MIT List Visual Art Center to visit the Juan Downey exhibition, The Invisible Architect, which the ASU Art Museum will be presenting this fall. It is a fascinating and complex body of work by a Chilean-born artist who experimented with new technology and its role in our society beginning in the late 1960s. Downey (1940-1993) worked with a number of artists from that period, including Gordon Matta-Clark and Bill Viola, on interactive performances and videos. Much of his early work explored the invisible connections between and among humans, the body and the built environment .

Later he started to explore issues central to his personal history and experiences. In the mid 1970s, he and his family lived for several months with the Yanomami Indians in the Amazon, arriving by canoe with their art materials and video camera. Downey made ironic, pseudo-documentary videos that critiqued Western anthropological approaches.

The sleepers in the exhibition are the beautiful paintings and drawings, many of them maps of the Americas or fantastic architectural structures. The show was featured in Artforum’s summer preview issue; after showing here in Tempe, it will travel to the Bronx Museum.

Ever since my return, I have been working with the rest of the curatorial team to plan for the installation of The Invisible Architect in three of our galleries. We are juggling multiple videos, installations — and an Anaconda.

You never know where curatorial work will take you…more soon.

Heather Sealy Lineberry
Senior Curator and Associate Director,  ASU Art Museum

Curator John D. Spiak Leaving ASU Art Museum for Position in Santa Ana, Calif.

Arizona State University Art Museum announces that John D. Spiak, Curator, will be leaving the Museum in August for the opportunity to lead an institution’s vision as Director/Chief Curator of California State University, Fullerton’s, Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana, Calif.

Spiak joined the ASU Art Museum as Curatorial Assistant in 1994, and served as Curator from 1997 until August 2011. In his almost 17 years with the Museum, he has been responsible for leading such initiatives as Moving Targets (video), Social Studies (social practice) and Night Moves (dance). In 1997 he founded the annual ASU Art Museum Short Film and Video Festival, which he continued to direct, presenting the 15^th annual festival  this past April. He’s been involved in strategic planning and fundraising efforts and has curated over 50 exhibitions, including solo projects with artists Pipilotti Rist, Josh Greene, Shirin Neshat, Jon Haddock, Angela Ellsworth, Nadia Hironaka and the recent project It’s not just black and white with artist Gregory Sale.

“It is bittersweet that I depart the ASU Art Museum and the Arizona arts community,” Spiak said. “This has been my home for 17 amazing years and the place where I was afforded the opportunity to develop my curatorial voice. This would not have been possible without the incredible support and guidance of Marilyn Zeitlin, Heather Lineberry and Gordon Knox. I have found inspiration throughout this community, from artists, gallerists, collectors, supporters and colleagues. I look forward to continuing these collaborations toward mutually beneficial projects, as well as retaining the many friendships that have developed for me and my family.”

 “John is as amazing a colleague as he is a curator,” said ASU Art Museum Director Gordon Knox. “From our internet presence to the Social Studies series to the video festival, John has pioneered the Museum’s current position. We will miss him among us on a daily basis. Although we are sad about his departure, this is a great move for him, and we are much better off for his contributions over the years. And to our continuing institutional collaborators at the Grand Central Art Center, I say, ‘Good on you! You have a wonderful and exciting ride ahead!’”

Aqua Art Miami!

I recently returned from Miami and the amazing art fair week! Through the extreme generosity of Aqua Art Miami, the ASU Art Museum presented I’m Keeping an Eye on You, a curated Video Project Space at Aqua Wynwood, as part of the ASU Art Museum Moving Targets Initiative.

Thanks to Aqua’s Jaq Chartier, Dirk Park, Joshua Weinberg and Bhavin Patel for their incredible energy and support. Thanks as well to the Scenic Group’s Craig Hensala, Simon Watson and Molly Myer for all their promotional efforts and networking support.

A thank you must also go to Jenea Sanchez for assistance in creating program material for the presentation in Miami. Thank you as well to the ASU Art Museum Advisory Board, specifically Eddie and Ellyce Shea, for hosting a preview event of the project at their home in Phoenix.

I must thank Heather Lineberry, Interm Director at the ASU Art Museum for her support in the Museum’s participation.

Lastly, this project would not be possible with out the over 425 artists who submitted work for review and made recommendations of artists for consideration, most specifically the ten artists selected for the final project; Mounira Al Solh, Rachel Garfield, Charlotte Ginsborg, Pia Greschner, Myung-Soo Kim, Yaron Lapid, Jeff Luckey, Johnna MacArthur, Michael Mohan and Corinna Schnitt. The process has been extremely rewarding and through it I have discovered numerous artists that I look forward to working with and presenting their work in future exhibitions.

I’m Keeping an Eye on You travels to the ASU Art Museum, premiering as a full scale exhibition in fall of 2009, so make your plans now to pay us a visit.

Here are some images that will give you a feel of the overall presentation at Aqua Wynwood.

Hope you enjoy!

John Spiak
Curator
ASU Art Museum

Aqua Art Miami - I'm Keeping an Eye on You banner

Aqua Art Miami - I'm Keeping an Eye on You banner close-up

Text Panel and Notebooks with complete program information inside the exhibition space.

Rachel Garfield You're Joking! as it appeared in warm-up runs of the program

Individuals enjoying I'm Keeping an Eye on You, with Michael Mohan's The Interrogation at Aqua Wynwood.

Individuals enjoying I'm Keeping an Eye on You, with Michael Mohan's The Interrogation at Aqua Wynwood.