MA Exhibition: We Are Close In Distance
We Are Close In Distance was an exhibition considering how physical, temporal, and archival space has the power to unite as well as divide through the excavation of interpersonal, intergenerational, and spatial intimacies. The participating artists comprised a diverse and multigenerational group.
MA Practicum Exhibition
Exhibition on view: Nov 5 – Dec 2, 2022
Location: Roski Graduate Gallery
1262 Palmetto Street, Los Angeles CA 90013 (Los Angeles Arts District)
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Sadie Barnette, Edwin Bodney, Tonya Ingram, Amanda Gentry, Carl George, Felix Gonzalez-Torres and Ross Laycock, Ozzie Juarez, Vishal Jugdeo, Jose Guadalupe Sanchez III, Anna Sergeeva, Ron Tarver, Joey Terrill, Xirin, and Diana Zeng
EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
View the exhibition catalogue here.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
We Are Close In Distance was an exhibition considering how physical, temporal, and archival space has the power to unite as well as divide through the excavation of interpersonal, intergenerational, and spatial intimacies. The participating artists comprise a diverse and multigenerational group. Working across media including painting, photography, poetry, performance, video, sculpture, and zines, the artists participating in We Are Close in Distance explore how intimacies are constructed, deteriorate, and are consequently reclaimed as part of the culmination of the continuously unfolding present and the lingering past. Investigating the poetics of a fleeting closeness from personal and cultural perspectives, the artists excavate the contested nature of legacies and diasporas. Challenging conceptions of our relationships with one another, with communities, and between generations, works created by the artists featured in the exhibition range from the deeply earnest to the irreverently critical in their introspective social critique. Extending the gallery into a corresponding environment of zines, poetry installations, and postcards for visitor activation, We Are Close in Distance considers how art can illuminate often overlooked cultural, familial, and interpersonal relationalities. Through programs including live performances and film screenings, and by encouraging interaction with zines and mailable art, the exhibition empowers visitors and artists alike to question how one can care for and nourish their community through art, performance, and ephemera.
CURATORIAL TEAM
We Are Close In Distance was organized by the USC Roski School of Art and Design 2023 MA Curatorial Practices and the Public Sphere cohort: Storm Bria-Rose Bookhard, taylor brock, Nadia R. Estrada, Tracy Fenix, Jiayi Hu, Valencia Monroe, Adrianne Ramsey, Diego Dela Rosa, Jonas Short, Haiyang (Kevy) Yang and Bryce Zeffert.
RELATED EVENTS
Nov 4, 2022
Opening Reception & Poetry Slam
Poetry Slam featuring poets Aman Batra, Matthew Cuban, Jireh Deng, Kito Fortune and Yazmin Watkins.
Nov 14, 2022
Hybrid Film Screening: Shane Aslan Selzer’s film “I Love You No Matter What”
Activating The Carl George / Felix Gonzalez-Torres / Ross Laycock Archive
A short interactive archival film animating Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ close intimate relations with his former partner, Ross Laycock and close friend, Carl George produced and directed by Shane Aslan Selzer and the Social Action Archive Committee. This event is offered in-person and virtually (with the zoom link shared upon reserving tickets).
Dec 2, 2022
Closing Reception & Performance by Xirin
Multidisciplinary, New York based artist, Xirin, re-enacting her work Kissing Sisters (Kiss Piece 4), a new performance about the bittersweet fate of achieving power after pain by offering kisses to the women, girls, and queer population of Iran who currently are demonstrating their resistance to oppression.
We thank ONE Archives Foundation, Visual AIDS, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts for their promotional support.
Images
