Press Release: Ann-Sofi Sid始

New Works: 02.2
07.11.02

New Works: 02.2

July 11 ?ptember 8, 2002

Sharon Engelstein Houston, TX

Arthur Jafa New York, NY

Ann-Sofi Sid始 Stockholm, Sweden

Selected by Valerie Cassel

About the Artist

Born 1962 in Stockholm, Sweden, Ann-Sofi Sid始 currently lives and works in
Stockholm, Berlin, and New York City. Sid始 studied at the Hochschule der
Kunste in Berlin, Germany (1986-1988) and the Royal Academy of Art in
Stockholm, Sweden (1988-92). Recent solo exhibitions have included Warte
Mal!, Hayward Gallery, London, England (2002); Station 10 and
Back Again, Norrk嗔ings Konstmuseum, Sweden (2001); The Panning
Eye Revisited, Mus仔 d'art Moderne de la villa de Paris, France (2001); 2
DVD Installations: Elja-Liisa Ahtila & Ann-Sofi Sid始, Contemporary Arts
Museum in Houston, TX (2000); and QM, I Think I Call Her QM exhibited
at the 1999/2000 Carnegie International in Pittsburgh, PA. Sid始
also exhibited at the 1999 Biennale de Venezia, Italy; the XXIV
Biennale de S黍 Paulo, Brazil (1998); and Manifesta 2 in Luxemburg
(1998). In 1994 Sid始 was awarded a residency at P.S.1's International Studio
Program, New York, NY, and she participated in the Rotterdam Film Festival,
Holland in 1999.

Ann-Sofi Sid始 was selected for the 02.2 residency by Valerie Cassel.
Valerie Cassel is an Associate Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum,
Houston, TX. Prior to her position at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Cassel
was the director of the Visiting Artists Program at the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago (1996-2001) and Program Specialist at the National Endowment for the
Arts (1988-1995). In 2000, she served as co-curator of the Biennial Exhibition at
the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY.

About the Project

Ann-Sofi Sid始's work examines the human psyche, social conditions, and other
institutions and infrastructures. The artist's installations, photography, film, and
performances touch on subjects of gender, paranoia, myth, and cultural and
personal identity. Often working from one source over a long period of time,
Sid始 considers and presents her theme from various angles, exposing her
subject from an objective but personal view. Her systematic investigations pan
from close observation to a broader perspective?ivating the viewer, engaging
her audience with a curiosity that borders on empathy and repulsion.

Sid始's projects scrutinize the raw material of the physical world, often mimicking
or reworking experiences into a re-created reality. Exposing the hierarchies of
social structures?ther riding horseback through fenced land, studying power
relations behind-the-scenes at a hotel, or unveiling prostitution in a post-
communist Czech Republic border town?始 makes visual the conflict
between instinct and intellect.

By discovering and revealing the mundane within these environments, which
are often unfamiliar or inaccessible to the viewer, the audience is implicated in
Sid始's voyeuristic endeavors, venturing between what is real and what might
instead be mere suggestion or associated reality.

For her ArtPace residency, Sid始 journeys through the vast Texas landscape
toward the institution that proved existence of (spatial) expansion beyond the
confines of the Earth's atmosphere. In a performance that references the
character and image of Texas, the expansion of the American west, and
ultimately the universe, the artist travels from San Antonio to the Lyndon B.
Johnson Space Center in Houston on an indigenous horse? Appaloosa.
Sid始's project appropriates a romanticized vision of American culture,
referencing her own childhood memories:

It is said that horses only see in black and white, they view a wide
panorama with a different picture on each side. My first conscious image
or understanding of America was through the "Westerns" I saw on TV. In
the 60s in Sweden, these programs were screened in black and white. I
remember watching while the shows were interrupted and noise-ridden
voices were transcribed into white subtitles, talking about the small step
for an astronaut and the giant leap for mankind.

Imitating the horse's dual-panning vision, Sid始's residency project joins these
two nostalgic

representations (Wild West meets Apollo 13) into one.

In the gallery space, Sid始 articulates the experience of her travels on the
rustic terrain of the American southwest and its juxtaposition with NASA, a
symbol of the next frontier, with life-size photographs of the start and finish of
her voyage. Akin to her larger body of work, this performance penetrates our
understanding of public and private. As Sid始 explores the shoulders of
country roads and highways, less used since the advent of the interstate, she
discovers the infrastructures that exist on the open road. The artist and her
husband, Paul Giangrossi (who joins her on the trek mapping and
documenting the process) become dependent on these infrastructures. To
complete her journey Sid始 taps into the self-contained microcosm of rural
thoroughfare?tal workers, ranchers, county sheriffs? the systems of
communication between people who travel the routes every day. On
horseback, Sid始 faces obstacles and restrictions otherwise considered
amenities: property lines, trucks, and other evidence of modern-day
civilization. Riding through small agricultural communities and eventually
entering the cosmopolitan area of Houston, Sid始 observes that the once
open land is now securely enclosed within fences in contrast to the unbounded
frontier of space. Sid始's horseback trek utilizes an obsolete form of
transportation to make a pilgrimage to the site where the future of travel has
the potential to evolve.

Exhibition sponsored in part by the American-Scandinavian Foundation's
Thord-Gray Memorial Fund.

Exhibition Dates

July 11 ?tember 8, 2002

Opening Reception

Thursday, July 11, 6:30-8:30 PM

Artists' Dialogue

Friday, July 12, 6:30-8:00 PM

Featuring Sharon Engelstein, Arthur Jafa, and Ann-Sofi Sid始 Moderated by
Valerie Cassel Associate Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston,
TX.

Brown Bag Lunch

Wednesday, August 21, 2002, 12:00-1:00 PM

Join us for a tour of New Works: 02.2 and a brown bag lunch provided
by Pecan Street Deli. Please call ArtPace to make reservations.

Event Locations

All events held at ArtPace, 445 N. Main Avenue. Free parking at Flores Street
and Savings. ArtPace is open to the public Wednesday thru Sunday, 12-5 PM,
Thursday until 8 PM and by appointment. There is no charge for
admission.

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

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