Feldman Gallery + Project Space Hosts West Coast Premiere of Signs of Change
January 13, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 13, 2010
Contact:
Becca Biggs | Director of Communications
PNCA and MoCC
bbiggs@pnca.edu | 503.821.8892
Mack McFarland | Feldman Gallery + Project Space
mmcfarland@pnca.edu | 503.821.8969
Feldman Gallery + Project Space Hosts West Coast Premiere of Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now
Exhibition | Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now
February 4 – March 19, 2010
Curator Talk | Signs of Change
Featuring Curators Dara Greenwald and Josh MacPhee
Wednesday, February 3, 12:30 p.m.
PNCA Main Campus Building, Swigert Commons, 1241 N.W. Johnson St.
First Thursday Opening | Thursday, February 4, 6:30 p.m.
PNCA Main Campus Building, Feldman Gallery + Project Space, 1241 N.W. Johnson St.
PNCA hosts the West Coast premiere of Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now, featuring hundreds of posters, photographs, moving images, audio clips, and ephemera that bring to life over 40 years of activism, political protest, and campaigns for social justice. Curated by Dara Greenwald and Josh MacPhee as part of Exit Art’s Curatorial Incubator, this important and timely exhibition surveys the creative work of dozens of international social movements.
Organized thematically, the exhibition presents the creative outpourings of social movements, such as those for Civil Rights and Black Power in the United States; democracy in China; anti-apartheid in Africa; squatting in Europe; environmental activism and women’s rights internationally; and the global AIDS crisis, as well as uprisings and protests, such as those for indigenous control of lands; against airport construction in Japan; and student and worker revolution in France. The exhibition also explores the development of powerful counter-cultures that evolve beyond traditional politics and create distinct aesthetics, life-styles, and social organization.
Although histories of political groups and counter-cultures have been written, and political and activist shows have been held, this exhibition is a groundbreaking attempt to chronicle the artistic and cultural production of these movements. Signs of Change offers a chance to see relatively unknown or rarely seen works, and is intended to not only provide a historical framework for contemporary activism, but also to serve as an inspiration for the present and the future.
Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960s to Now is an exhibition produced by Exit Art, NY, and was the inaugural project of its Curatorial Incubator Program. The program expands Exit Art’s commitment to young and emerging curators and scholars in contemporary art, by giving material, financial, and human resources to developing curatorial talent. Working with Exit Art directors and staff, fellows curate large-scale exhibition projects, learn fundraising, develop outreach and educational programs, and co-publish a catalogue. Signs of Change was presented at Exit Art in 2008 and traveled to the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, and the Arts Center of the Capital Region (co-presented with the Department of the Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY).
In conjunction with Signs of Change, PNCA presents a selection of video screenings, focusing on women’s activist movements. Screenings are co-presented and hosted by In Other Words Women’s Books and Resources, 8 N.E. Killingsworth St., Portland, Oregon.
Signs of Change Video Screenings
Tuesday, February 16, 7 p.m.
Stronger Than Before
This film documents the militant actions and creative activities of the Women’s Encampment for a Future of Peace and Justice in Seneca, New York in 1983. Although the Boston Women’s Video Collective was formed specifically to document this encampment, they continued producing video projects after it closed. (1983, 27:00 minutes, the Boston Women’s Video Collective, courtesy of the Boston Women’s Video Collective)
Uku Hamba ‘Ze/To Walk Naked
After an exhausting fight to procure housing, a group of women in Soweto, South Africa built a settlement of makeshift shacks. When police tried to evict them with bulldozers and dogs, the women defiantly stripped naked in a peaceful protest against the destruction of their homes. This unconventional action gained massive media attention and caught the attention of filmmakers who documented the struggle in “Uku Hamba ‘Ze / To Walk Naked.” (1995, 12:00 minutes, Jaqueline Maingard, Sheila Meintjes and Heather Thompson, courtesy of Third World Newsreel)
Tuesday, February 23, 7 p.m.
Carry Greenham Home
“Carry Greenham Home” is an on-the-ground look at the activities of the Greenham Common Women’s Encampment. The film focuses not just on the women’s anti-nuclear and anti-military actions, but also on the feminist practices on which their lives were based. (1984, 66:00 minutes, Beeban Kidron and Amanda Richardson, courtesy of Women Make Movies)
About Pacific Northwest College of Art
Since its founding in 1909, Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) has become a leader in innovative educational programs that connect students to a global perspective in the visual arts and design. In addition to its eight Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees, PNCA offers graduate education with an MFA in Visual Studies, as well as an MFA in Applied Craft and Design developed in collaboration with the Oregon College of Art and Craft.
PNCA is actively involved in Portland’s cultural life through exhibitions and a vibrant public program of lectures and internationally recognized visiting artists, designers and creative thinkers. With the support of PNCA+FIVE (Ford Institute for Visual Education), the College has a partnership with the nationally acclaimed Museum of Contemporary Craft. For more information, visit www.pnca.edu.