transACTIONS

07.01.02

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 12, 2002

CONTACT:

Jennifer Jankauskas, Program Coordinator

210.212.4900 x111

ARTPACE'S ANNUAL PANEL DISCUSSION CONSIDERS THE UNIQUE
COLLABORATION CREATED BETWEEN ARTIST AND OBSERVER WHEN ART
REQUIRES ITS AUDIENCE TO TAKE AN ACTIVE ROLE

transACTIONS, A Conversation about Participatory Art

Thursday, July 18, 2002, 6:30 PM

About the Conversation

transACTIONS, A Conversation about Participatory Art, will explore the current trend in
contemporary art in which artists actively involve their audience. Moderator James
Rondeau (Chicago, IL) and panelists Minerva Cuevas (Mexico City, Mexico), Tirtza
Even (New York, NY), Ben Kinmont (New York, NY), and Ernesto Neto (Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil) will discuss critical, philosophical and practical issues, while delving into
the ways that they each persuade their viewers to become artistic collaborators. The panel
will also consider how the meaning of artwork shifts with varying levels of audience
engagement. Each of the panelists, recognized for their innovative interactive works,
approach the idea of audience participation in a unique way?onstrating how a broad
range of artistic practice is able to entice the observer into a creative partnership.

About the Artists

In 1998, Minerva Cuevas launched a long-term art project?or Vida Corporation
(Better Life Corporation). MVC focuses on public interventions that confront economic
and social practices by subtly altering standardized policies. One of her best-known
projects, 100% Free, distributed student identification cards to the public allowing access
to this well-known mode of obtaining free or discounted entry to museums and movie
theaters, along with reductions in transportation and other benefits. Cuevas utilizes the
web, existing print media, photography, video, and installation. Her work has been
shown internationally at Galeria Kurimanzutto, Mexico City, Mexico; SMACK, Ghent,
Belgium; and The Americas Society, New York, NY among other venues.

Tirtza Even, a video artist and filmmaker, creates navigable CD-ROM and web-
based works that explore political and social issues. Incorporating digitally mastered
visual effects, Even presents an uncertain view into the reality of the people and
landscapes depicted in her work. By inviting the audience to control what they encounter
within the piece, Even causes her audience to question their role as witnesses.

Widely exhibited, her museum exhibitions include the 2002 Whitney Biennial, New
York, NY. Even's work has also been featured in such film festivals as the Pandemonium
Festival, London, England, and in Rotterdam, Holland.

As part of Documenta XI, New York artist Ben Kinmont conceived a work that
investigated art in relation to what is most meaningful in people's lives. Often positing
mundane situations as artistic, Kinmont, in both Internet and interpersonal art projects,
collaborates with his audience by asking individual viewers to share and document parts
of their lives?ch, in turn, generates a response from Kinmont. Along with online
projects, Kinmont's work has been exhibited at such venues as the Institute of
Contemporary Art, London, England; the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT; and the
Museum of Modern Art, Ljublijana, Slovenia.

Ernesto Neto's sculptures engage his audience through environments that invoke the
senses. His ethereal and reflective installations encourage viewers to place their hands,
and often, entire bodies within the organic sculptures to smell aromatic spices, touch the
malleable membranes of material, and consider their body within his altered spatial
landscapes. Internationally recognized, this Brazilian artist's work has been featured in
several S‹o Paulo biennials and in the Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, PA. Recent
solo exhibitions have taken place at The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden,
Washington, D.C.; Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland; Institute of
Contemporary Art, London, England; and the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus,
OH.

About the Moderator

James Rondeau, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,
IL was recently appointed curator of Art Projects for Art Basel | Miami Beach. As co-
commissioner and co-curator of the United States Pavilion, 49th Venice Biennale (2001)
he worked with artist Robert Gober. Rondeau's recent exhibitions for the Art Institute
include Thomas Hirschhorn; Object/Image/Text: Contemporary Art 1950-Present; and
Stan Douglas. His innumerable exhibitions, catalogues, articles, and reviews all highlight
his vision into contemporary art issues along with innovative explorations into the work
of both established and emerging artists.

Seating is limited. Please call 210.212.4900 x123 for reservations.

Upcoming Event

In the Hudson (Show)Room

Glow: Aspects of Light in Contemporary American Art

Opening Reception: Thursday, July 25, 2002, 6:30?0 PM; gallery walk-thru with the
curator at 7:00 PM

On View at ArtPace

New Works: 02.2

Through September 8, 2002

Sharon Engelstein (Houston, TX), Arthur Jafa (New York, NY), Ann-Sofi SidŽn
(Stockholm, Sweden)

About ArtPace

ArtPace, A Foundation for Contemporary Art | San Antonio serves as an advocate for
contemporary art and as a catalyst for the creation of significant art projects. We seek to
nurture emerging and established artists and to provide opportunities for inspiration,
experimentation and education. Through our International Artist-in-Residence Program,
we invite 9 artists annually to participate in a 2-month residency which supports the
evolution of new ideas in art. Our broad range of panels, lectures, artist talks and studio
visits cultivates diverse audiences for contemporary art and provides a forum for ongoing
dialogue.

ArtPace is located downtown at 445 N. Main Avenue, between Savings and Martin
streets, San Antonio, TX. Free parking is available on the corner of Savings and Flores
streets. ArtPace is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 12-5 PM, Thursday,
12-8 PM, and by appointment. Admission is free.

Sponsored by the Friends of ArtPace, a group of individuals supporting the
Foundation's exhibition and education programs:

An anonymous donor, Wendy and Billy Atwell, Phyllis and Jamie Browning, Melva
Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy, Charles Butt, Catherine N. Cooke, Laura Donnelley-
Morton, Betsy Dudley, Chris and Georgia Erck, Bruce and Janet Flohr, Ronald and Jan
Greenberg, Mary Elizabeth Heard, Christopher C. Hill, Peter M. Holt and Julianna Hawn
Holt, Jeanne and Mickey Klein, Rosemary Kowalski, Toby D. Lewis, Bert Lies and
Rosina Lee Yue, Bernard Lifshutz, Mona Lowe, Nancy and Robert Magoon, Larry and
Susan Marx, Jeanne Lang Mathews, Jeff and Nancy Moorman, Don R. Mullins, Jr.,
Judith Neisser, Robert A. Price IV, Lucky and Jan Russell, William and Cecil Scanlan,
Jr., Margie M. Shackelford and Alex Caragone, Diane Smith, Penelope Speier, Rebecca
and Alexander Stewart, Julie and John Thornton, Cynthia Toles, Courtney J. Walker,
Michael and Roxana Westheimer, Margaret Pace Willson, Steve and Stacy Yndo

Additional support generously provided by:

Brett and Allison Balthrope, Havana Riverwalk Inn, H.E.B. Central Market, Ann and
Edward Hudson, Real Ale Brewery

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org