From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2000 8:24 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Dec. 2 (6-9pm) Reception: Opening "Dystopia +
Identity" in East Village, NYC



*For Immediate Release*

"Dystopia + Identity in the Age of Global
Communications"
Curated by Cristine Wang (Director, New Media
Initiatives, Alternative Museum)

Opening Reception: Saturday Dec. 2 (6-9pm)
Tribes Gallery 285 East Third Street, NY
Dec. 2, 2000-Jan. 13, 2001
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    "Machines will lead to a new order both of work and
of leisure" 
        
            --Le Corbusier, Vers une Architecture (1923)

Artists at the beginning of the 20th century sought to
work in hybrid forms, as a socially-oriented movement,
a utopian vision which embodied the idealism of a new
order, believing itself capable of changing,
reforming, reordering--totally changing all aspects of
human life.  They embraced the notion of the
all-encompassing role of art: the profound belief in
the ability of art to affect change.

Almost one hundred years later, into the new
millenium, we have seen the effects of this utopian
vision: the failure of modernism and its various
permutations on a global basis.

At the dawn of the new millenium, what are the new
paradigms for living in this Age of Global
Communications?  We see that in the work of Betty
Beaumont, for instance, in her "Ocean Landmark
Project" (1978-1980), located 40 miles beyond New York
Harbor, that here is a prototype for sustainable
living. It is itself, both an underwater sculpture on
a massive scale: 500 tons of an industrial waste
product made of processed coal-waste, a potential
pollutant that has undergone a planned transformation
into a flourishing ecosystem:  a poetic vision 70 feet
below the surface, on the floor of the Atlantic
Continental Shelf.  Contrasting with this positive
paradigm for inhabitation or regeneration in the
world's oceans, Cristoph Draeger offers us his
catastrophic vision in his video "Oil" (1998). 
Utilising found footage of the world's oil spill
disasters, he comments upon the way in which we easily
forget the question of technological failure,
deconstructing our concept of reality as mediated by
the news media, hollywood, and other sources of
stimuli in the global media-saturated village.

    "At the end of the 20th century, catastrophe has not
become a paradigm of world experience, but rather,
because of its ubiquity in the media, the definitive
image of "accelerating standstill" (--Paul Virilio). 
The magnitude of a catastrophe is no longer measured
by the number of its victims, but rather by its medial
valuation and resulting telepresence--whose impressive
images present us with horror as an aesthetic
experience."

            --Dirk Blubaum, The Security of Risk

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Cristine Wang 2000  


Participating Artists in the Gallery + Online
Exhibitions include:

Mark Amerika, Daniel Garcia Andujar, Zhao Bandi, Betty
Beaumont, Mike Bidlo, Natalie Bookchin, Heath Bunting,
Young-hae Chang, Shu Lea Cheang, Mariah Corrigan +
Jonathan Herder, Critical Art Ensemble, Andy Deck,
Ricardo Dominguez, Christoph Draeger, Laura Emrick,
Fakeshop, Peter Fend, Zhang Ga, Joy Garnett, Leam
Gilliam, Rick Globus, Ken Goldberg, Marina Grzinic,
GH Hovagimyan, Fran Ilich, Eduardo Kac,
Yael Kanarek, Olga Kisseleva, Tina LaPorta, Patrick
Lichty, Mark Lombardi, Diane Ludin, Jenny Marketou,
Hilary Maslon, Jennifer + Kevin McCoy, Emil Memon, Zhu
Ming, MTAA, Mark Napier, Carsten Nicolai, Eamon
O'Kane, Roxy Paine, Cary Peppermint, Wang Qingsong,
Francesca da Rimini, Willoughby Sharp, Jeremy Stenger,
Zhou Tiehai, and Gu Wenda.

For more information:
email: 
[log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask] 
tel:
(212) 674-3778   
(917) 318-0081
website: 
http://www.tribes.org/gallery
http://www.artnet.com/tribes.html


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