Today the Front Room opened with work from Croatian-born artist Vlatka Horvat and London-based German artist Eva Weinmayer.

Horvat works in a range of media, from video and photography to works on paper, performance and text. Often at the center of her practice is an interest in sites of break-down, fragmentation, or collapse, and the possibilities for repair and renewal. In The Front Room, Horvat explores the effect of frames and systematic limitations placed on the body.

Invested in the behavior of written and spoken language is artist Eva Weinmayer, whose series of works based on newspaper headlines examine how complex realities are shrunk into sound bites. Drawn to the daily stream of information, she focuses on the narrow gap between fact and fiction, as well as notions of rumor.

Phrases from a meeting about our upcoming exhibition: “it is boring when you go to a show and you are like, ‘oh I see what they are doing, looks good’ and then move on” “people will be confused” “the best shows begin when you leave…if you start thinking about your grocery list, the show isn’t good” “there is something there” “mash up” “commenting on something really important, but I’m not sure what it is” “pulling odd items from everyday life, but not telling you why” “engaging” “there is a certain level of pop culture appropriation, but…” “ignoring the acceptable rules” “bold to put that in an art museum at all…it’s a different move” “consistently doesn’t play along” “like a bite of something you can’t quite figure out what it is that you are tasting” “gothic, horror” “stairwells and basements” “animal-like” “quick edits” “add noise” “provoke anxiety” “sexploitation horror films”

Starting today, visitors of the Contemporary can view the graphic symbols of the Norwegian artist Gardar Eide Einarsson. Here, the artist presents an abstract vocabulary, which plays with the signs of outlaw subculture to reveal hard-edged rebellion and political hypocrisy.

With an increasing focus on the abuses perpetrated by power structures in American culture, Einarsson’s installations are often determined by outsider communities that challenge accepted ideals.

For The Front Room, Einarsson creates a site-specific installation of a chain link fence using spray paint and a single, re-used stencil. For more on The Front Room, please visit our website.

Check out these photographs of the John Armleder and Olivier Mosset exhibition…      

If you are interested in further information on the exhibition, visit our website.

 At the end of last told you about the high school exhibitions taking place at the Contemporary this summer, well the Annual High School Juried Exhibition that I mentioned is now up and ready for viewing. The opening was last Friday and attendance tripled from last year! Schools that have participating students include Whitfield School, Fox Senior High, Villa Duchesne/Oak Hill, Marquette High School, University City Senior High School, Clayton High School, Crossroads College Preparatory, and DeSmet Jesuit High School. Here are a few photographs of the work.

 This past weekend not only led the way to much discussion and deliberation over the exhibition in our Main Galleries, it also led the way to a great deal of wonderment because of Front Room artist, Ei Arakawa. Arakawa and special guests staged a one-time live performance that lasted the whole evening. At 5:00 pm he began working in The Front Room (a few guests thought maybe we didn’t quite finish on time, others just looked bewildered). Arakawa walked in and out of the museum carrying large pieces of paper and metal, asking guests to help him hold doors open and help him stuff trash in a bag. The remains, his exhibition, were left on display in The Front Room and will remain there for two weeks. This live performance was quite an experience. Click on the video below to see what the Contemporary’s Curator had to say about this performance.

Another Opening Weekend is over. There was plenty going on this past weekend for guests to partake in at the Contemporary. During last week’s exhibition walk-through staff members, docents and gallery attendants listened as Chief Curator Anthony Huberman shared some thoughts behind this debut exhibition for our new curatorial team. He also talked a little bit about the new curatorial vision: our Main Galleries will often welcome two artists, sometimes paired by a curator, sometimes two artists will be asked to collaborate, and at other times, the artists will be unrelated.  These different circumstances all play into the idea of 1 + 1 = 3. Bring together two artists, sometimes related, sometimes not, and you get something totally new, something you may have never thought of or noticed before.

Tonight is the opening of John Armleder and Olivier Mosset. The public reception starts at 7:00 pm, but there is a Member Preview at 6:00 pm and a Patrons Preview at 5:00 pm. In just a little bit the entire staff and all of the docents and gallery attendants will take a walk through the exhibition with the curator. It is definitely a great experience for guests who come to Opening Nights, because they too will get to experience what the staff does on the walk through - access to the curator, director, staff members and artists…a chance to ask questions and to really get an idea of what the exhibition is all about. I highly recommend Openings!

In only a few days, the Contemporary’s space has changed dramatically. The space that was previously a large, open space, allowing event space and gallery space to merge as one, is now divided approximately in half. There is so much “wall talk” that goes on here: “How will constructing a wall affect our space when it comes time for events,” “do the upcoming exhibitions also need a large wall and/or smaller rooms for displaying work,” and “how will this wall change climate control?” After all this wall deliberation, it is up!And in the way of the exhibition…the work has arrived. The last couple of weeks we have been patiently waiting for the work to travel from Zürich then to New York before making here. I have word that one crate has been opened and everything is right on track.

I got to take a look at some of Mosset’s work…it’s still in plastic, but exciting to see!

The Great Rivers Biennial 2008 is almost over. The last day to view this exhibition highlighting local artists is Sunday, April 20. The Contemporary will then close for the installation of John Armleder and Olivier Mosset. Tomorrow, during the last Walk-In Wednesday of Great Rivers, the Contemporary’s education staff, Kathryn Adamchick and Katrina Hallowell, will discuss some of the ideas explored during the Great Rivers Biennial exhibition (including what critics, artists, and visitors had to say). If you are unable to attend this Walk-In Wednesday, check back here tomorrow to get the recap of the discussion and read through some of the thoughts of the exhibition.