Video documentation of my first performance of “Digestion.”
Friday, September 16th, 2011 at Future Tenant Gallery, Pittsburgh. (Opening night of the group show titled “Your Place at the Banquet).
Monthly Archives: September 2011
Digestion
Preliminary sketch for Digestion, a performance and installation piece opening on Friday, September 16th at Future Tenant Gallery, Downtown Pittsburgh (as part of the group exhibition Your Place at the Banquet).
I’ve constructed a structure of wood, pipes, tubes, and found objects. The assemblage is both body and ecosystem. I will begin the “digestive process” as a live performance at 6:15 PM on opening night.
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Our Story: Artists Reflect on the Destruction of an Ecosystem
Lately fossil fuel advertisements have been bombarding Western Pennsylvanians with “real” stories of people and families whose lives have changed for the better after dealing with the industry. Whether the subjects “sold the farm” to drillers (and bought dream condos), or can now afford to retire in style (after leasing their land), what we get is a glazed-over momentary snapshot produced by corporate image-makers. What we don’t see is the long-term picture revealing contamination of drinking water supplies, destruction of ecosystems, and health issues related to exposure to toxic substances. These negative effects creep up slowly after the windfall and the photo moments are long past. Smiling corporate execs (or actors playing them) warmly assure us of the benefits of using the resources under our feet. We don’t see them discussing the amount of environmental damage (and compensation) that they are willing to take on. Throughout history, corporations have taken whatever they can get, unless people rally to stop them.
In the neighboring states of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, visual artists have come together to consider the ways in which hasty actions can have disastrous effects on our ecosystems. In organizing, Reflections: Homage to Dunkard Creek, West Virginia artist Ann Payne was compelled to take a look at the big picture. Dunkard Creek experienced a total fish kill in 2009. Water from the creek eventually makes it way to Pittsburgh and the Ohio River, a water supply for thousands.
In Reflections, artists from Pennsylvania, West Virginia and beyond were asked to remember the ecosystem of Dunkard Creek by creating renderings of the lost species. The traveling display of over 90 works (watercolors, oils, etc.) opens September 9th at an art gallery in Morgantown, West Virginia. The show is also scheduled to travel. I hope it will generate awareness and positive action. The long-term health of our country depends on it!
The piece above is my entry in the show, the freshwater drum.
For more info, please check out the project website:
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Your Place at the Banquet
Please check out this exciting project that I am involved in at Future Tenant Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA.
Illustrations are by David Pohl.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katy Peace, Co-Executive Director
Your Place at the Banquet
September 16 – October 15, 2011
Opening Reception: September 16 6-9pm
Future Tenant / 819 Penn Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Your Place at the Banquet is a visual art exhibition and public awareness initiative that critically examines the mechanisms of our industrialized food system and aims to empower people to sow the seeds of change through their daily choices and actions.
A central exhibition hub will be open to the public from September 16 – October 15, 2011 at Future Tenant in Downtown Pittsburgh. From this central hub, bike-powered mobile programming, a poster campaign, street interviews, and public performances will travel beyond the gallery walls to extend the social impact throughout the Greater Pittsburgh region.
The exhibition features new works by Rose Clancy, H.E.A.P. HQ (Kevin Clancy, Dan Mooradian, Ali Reid), David Pohl, Tom Sarver, and Zayde Buti that seek to generate public awareness, critical discussion, and collective action around issues of food politics.
Rose Clancy will contribute Local Soup, a multifaceted work that includes the serving of homemade soups during the opening reception, a sculptural banquet table, and a series of video conversations with gardeners about their sustainable methods and practices. David Pohl will illustrate a series of posters that draw public awareness to key issues, such as industrial food, safe drinking water, genetically modified organisms, and seed saving. These posters will be printed and distributed widely throughout the city. Tom Sarver will perform Digestion at the opening, a piece that comments on the unnatural qualities of processed foods and the cravings that we develop for them. H.E.A.P. HQ will construct distinct bike-powered mobile units that will travel around the city, bringing transient platforms of exchange directly to the public and returning to the exhibition space to park during gallery hours. Zayde Buti will include a collection of his parodic music videos and perform his live one-man show Hungry.
Your Place at the Banquet is made possible by a grant from The Heinz Endowments Small Arts Initiative. The Heinz Endowments supports efforts to make southwestern Pennsylvania a premier place to live and work, a center for learning and educational excellence, and a region that embraces diversity and inclusion.
Future Tenant is a non-profit art space located in downtown Pittsburgh at 819 Penn Avenue dedicated to showcasing the work of emerging artists through exhibitions that offer a cutting edge perspective on the Pittsburgh art scene.
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Tom Sarver 