St. Louis Light Project

K!
I've been missing you! and blogging!...almost "back in business" as my favorite boss used to say. I have several posts on back order, and I'm not sure where to begin. Here's a little one:

When I was in St. Louis, A drove me to the St. Louis Light Project. A red-headed Social History Professor suggested I check it out, explaining his current writing and research over breakfast and toys in Edwardsville the day before. After 2 days of corn fields, a harvest fest, 4-year-old princess antics, an anxious lecture, and threatening racial tension, it was the perfect "relevatory" experience.

The church was a ghost, a grave for a historical social foundation. Only the main walls of the structure remained---the frame for so many. Within the old body, was an organized skeletal scaffold. Hardware, metal and stone, cold and vacant. Floating effortlessly above, in the form of the pitched roof, hung more than 200 lights. Warm liveness. A variety of shapes, colors, styles--they looked great together, a unified community of difference. Beautiful, magical, and conceptually minded--it reminded me of the majestic light that enters the stained-glass windows of a deeply Gothic cathedral, the sort of sensationalism and dramatic theater used to create an awakening of spiritual experience from an otherwise dark, wordly existence. Only this was outwardly glowing, and not consquentially pointed. It was like a memorial of the very human connection, the dynamic life that exists within a tired (and in this case, dead) institution. What's more, the lamps came from people in the surrounding community. (you know how I'm a sucker for inclusion!) With each lamp, personal current histories combined to reflect on the history of the church, dialogically celebrating the past and present. You can see many of the lamp donors and their lamps here: http://lamp-collection.pulitzerarts.org/category/lamp-project-at-the-spring-church/collection-process/donors-and-their-lamps/.

And learn more about the artists and other light projects around the St. Louis area here: http://lightproject.pulitzerarts.org/completed-work/kehres-hungerer/


You have some cute nostalgic lamps to offer, right k?
Good to be back!
k

Home Page

Dear K, 

Bookmarks are in! Check out my "Devouring a Book" here. It was oh so exciting to receive a full set in my mailbox recently. I loved being a part of this project... it got me making, thinking and making and thinking in multiples. 

Just keeping you in the loop. Busy times. How are you? How was your exhibit?

We should start noodling on our "Home Page"

Love, 

K.

Alternatives to the alternative

Dear K, 

Whoo.. We have both been so busy lately. In addition to everything going on down here, wanted to post about a major project happening in good ole Rochester that I worked on while assisting Nathan Lyons. "John Wood: On the Edge of Clear Meaning" is a major retrospective exhibition that is traveling around Rochester, NY spaces this fall as well as the International Center for Photography. A major project including a DVD with interviews of the artist, a forthcoming book published by Steidl and a plethora of mixed-media, photo-based prints, artists' books and drawings done by artist, John Wood. My mailbox is waiting patiently for my pre-ordered copy.

I particularly enjoy how Wood incorporates drawing into photography... a difficult task. From the VSW website: "John Wood's style refuses to be shoehorned into one category. A master of straight photography, collage, cliche verre, solarization, mixed media, lithography, drawin and more, he decisively incorporates a variety of media." 

Other things are swirling.. my life is so very mixed media these days. Talk soon. I promise to post again shortly.

Love, 

K.

Ode 2 Laff: A Laughony

Hey k,
I want to respond to your posts, but will have to do so later. Just a quick plug for an upcoming arty event.

Project “Ode to Laff Box” needs volunteers!

Come participate in a laughter symphony! All laughs, timbres and tones needed!

On Saturday, September 20th @ 6pm, in Logan Square, I will conduct a symphony of 4 movements roughly framed around Beethoven’s 9th (Ode to Joy). The orchestra will consist of volunteers (you) playing your own pre-recorded laughs with your cell phones (utilizing VoiceNotes/voice memo), arranged in orchestral sections based on tonal quality (pitch and texture). The performance will last 20 minutes—excluding commercial breaks between movements. (There are even opportunities for solos!)

We will sound together (phono sym) our individual “canned laughter” in theme and variation, sequence and imitation, rhythmically “sweetening” the episode and establishing the laugh pattern for the live audience (also you)!

Come for silliness, come for spectacle!

Laughers/Players/Performers and Everyone else wanted:
· No musical or performance experience necessary
· Bring your laughter and a cell phone that will record and playback your voice
· Only 1 hour of your time gets you a shared experience you won’t forget
Meet on the steps under the monument in Logan Square @ 5:45 pm for section placement, tuning and warm-ups.

Let’s fake-laugh in “sweetened” harmony, and then “real”-laugh at ourselves! Hope to see you there.
~Conductor Sit Com (Situationist Comedy) ....a.k.a. "k"

Email questions to: kaycebayer@yahoo.com

It's a political circus!

Hey K, 

What a weekend... full of many highs and lows. A high was seeing someone finally broaching the subject of art + politics. These two have co-mingled for a long time, and what better time to make work about/around/opposing politics, than now? FAU had a great show, Political Circus, that exhibited a wide variety of interpretations of art + politics. Faux campaign slogans and media slandering were all around. . . as were unusual materials. Above were hand-knit ski masks of all of the senators; coupled with pieces by Laylah Ali and Marcel Dzama (two of my favorite contemporary artists) and a big-whigs such as Kara Walker and Kenneth Tin-Kin Hung. A variety of media were shown, which was refreshing, and the audience seemed to really respond to the work. 

As you know, I always like exhibition titles that wrap around more than just a one-liner pun. Phrases like "sideshow freaks" and "the ringmaster" came to mind... holding up the performance aspect of politics. How much of it is show and how much is substance? Most of the time, I feel like I'm stuck in one of those carnival "house of mirrors"... luckily, FAU provided solid ground for me to stand on. 

In other news, we sideswiped a major hurricane... by the skin of our teeth. Classes are just getting into the swing of things, I had a great yoga class yesterday, and the clouds are looking quite poetic tonight. I'm starting a new photo-based project on clouds; a la Alfred Stieglitz's Equivalents.   I like the idea of starting fresh by capturing something simple again, a way to further integrate art into life. 

Love to you, 

K.

I too, am a Beautiful Loser

Dear K, 

Oh how I wish this film was coming anywhere remotely close to home. Good news: you can see it! Check it out for me and let me know how it is, looks great! Beautiful Losers features artists Margaret Killgallen, Barry McGee, Chris Johanson and more! Love their slogan, "Make something from Nothing." 

I'm preparing for a hurricane instead of making art. Sheesh. 

Love as always, 

K.

A shark bites the home

Dear K, 

Loved the shark reference. A perfect hysterical example of the occasionally oxymoronic art world. It's such a series of dichotomies - constantly contradicting itself. I completely agree with your correlation between art stars and celebrities, I'm sure it is a let down of sorts. Constant pressure and an inevitable hollowness that follows fame.

On a more down to earth level... Above are some photos from artist Roy McMakin. I was first introduced to him at Red Dot, where we had his ceramics piece, Untitled, (Vases about Language and Redemption). As much as I was attracted to these delicately simplistic forms, I wasn't sure that these vases had anything to do with "language and redemption". I find that this happens quite often... artists trying to make things into something they are not. Of course, the minute I see this title, I think that I might be missing out/missing the point. How can one be redeemed from the slight curve of a vase? Maybe some can... but I am left wanting either more explanation, or even less. 

Regardless, Roy McMakin has some interesting ideas. A recent NYTimes article highlighted his newest project, an "Alice in Wonderland" house of sorts. I like the hollowed out walls and the simplistic design, yet attention to purist architectural archetypes. He manages to be playful with the architecture, without going over the top. (A tendency used frequently with aforementioned Damien). Would you live here??

Where is the line? And is it the role of the post-modern art world (if we are even still in this category, which is also up for debate) to continually draw and re-draw "THE LINE"? 

Went swimming last night looking for sharks,

K.