UMaine Contemporary Art Exhibition ‘Without Borders’ Opens
Contact: Owen Smith, 207-581-4389
ORONO — “Without Borders IV: Play, Fast Forward, Rewind,” the fourth in a series of annual exhibits involving UMaine art and new media students, and currently on display at the Lord Hall art gallery, presents a wide range of work that is a unique melding of culture, art and technology.
The show runs Aug. 17 through Sept. 28. A reception for artists and the public, and a performance by composer and performance artist Paul Bosse and an “outstallation” performance by UMaine faculty member Raphael DiLuzio, is scheduled Sept. 14, from 5-7 p.m., at the Lord Hall Art Gallery. The exhibit is free.
This year’s show is a mix of professional artists, collectives and UMaine students. This year’s participants include:
The Beehive Collective from Machias, Maine, a group of artists who use their creative skills for social activism, solidarity and skill-building with the people of Maine and those with whom they work in Colombia and other parts of Central and Southern Latin America.
Cory Arcangel is a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based artist known for his artistic investigations into the relationship between video games, technology and popular culture. His work has been exhibited in the Whitney Biennial, the Guggenheim and Museum of Modern Art. His contribution to this show is a Web page pairing Google ads with Kurt Cobain’s suicide letter. An entirely Web-based work, it can be viewed at: www.beigerecords.com/cory/kurt.
A River Blue is an arts-empowerment program developed by documentarian Chandler Griffin and singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur. The art work they present was created by 20 Ugandan students from grade school to high school from war torn Northern Uganda. The students live in an Internal Displaced Persons camp and participate in A River Blues program’s meant to help them heal, grow and build skills through the arts.
Canadian Gareth Long is a multi-media conceptual artist whose work investigates material specificity, issues of translation and cross-cultural experience. A 2007 graduate of Yale University, Long has submitted several works including a version of Don Quixote created with multiple digital translation tools, a book on terrorism through the prism of a non-native French-peaking Canadian, and a new version of “Platoon,” with subtitles drawn from a 1970’s Canadian draftdodger’s manual for recent emigres.
A 2006 University of Maine graduate, Rylan Shook, questions who our true monsters are with his piece “Under My Bed?” Currently, an Honors College liaison and independent filmmaker, Shook draws inspiration from philosophy, literature and a dry sense of humor.
University of Maine graduate students Sheridan Kelley and Tyler McPhee take on perhaps the world’s most wealthy, and famous, artist with their inventive collaborative piece “After Damien….”
“Without Borders IV” marks a transitional year in art studies at UMaine. Beginning August 2008, the exhibit will serve as the culminating exhibition for Master of Arts candidates in the new planned Intermedia MFA Graduate Program. It will be the first master’s level art and new media program in the state of Maine and will draw from the Departments of Art and New Media, in addition to other contributing faculty from all parts of campus.
“Without Borders IV” is sponsored by the Departments of Art, New Media, Canadian Studies, the Graduate College, the College of Education and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Canadian Embassy.
The website for the show can be found at www.intermediamfa.org.