Audible Interupptions
Presented by The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
Organized by Kevin Harris
Audible Interruptions, a series of site-specific sound installations launching in fall 2013, will infuse the museum’s utilitarian spaces with art. Familiar areas such as hallways, restrooms, and elevators will provide unique and unexpected auditory experiences as CAM seeks to expand the ways visitors experience art beyond the exhibition galleries. Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of CAM’s building, the series will begin in September 2013 and will run through August 2014.
St. Louis-based artist, musician, and engineer Kevin Harris is guest curator for the series and has chosen seven local artists to participate. Harris is the former proprietor and curator of Floating Laboratories, a St. Louis multimedia performance space. His most recent artwork uses multi-channel audio and video synthesis to present complex sensory environments.
FALL 2013 FEATURED ARTISTS (SEPT 6–DEC 29)
Brett Williams is concerned with the pleasures and absurdities of communication, exploring these ideas with the techniques of stage, film, television, video games, and web 2.0, with a recent interest in hacking technology. He is represented by the Bruno David Gallery in St. Louis. Williams will present a new piece entitled Slow Nature Memory, a sound composition of manipulated recordings of a plastic ball being dropped into a metal bowl.
Jessica Baran is a teacher, art writer, poet, and independent curator. She is the author of two books of poetry, Equivalents (Lost Roads Press, 2013) and Remains to Be Used (Apostrophe Books, 2010). Baran’s project will feature a four-channel language-based piece, installed in and split between the women’s and men’s restrooms.
SPRING 2014 FEATURED ARTISTS (JAN 24–APRIL 13)
Nathan Cook is a sound artist, graphic designer, and visual artist. His work with sound focuses on the spatial exploration of physical settings, and he considers sound a subtle, duration-based medium that requires extended attention and participation from an audience. Nathan is a member of Close/Far, an artistic collective and recording label. He performs solo as N.N.N. Cook and is active in many artistic collaborations.
Andrew James is a multimedia artist and proprietor of the Good Citizen Gallery in St. Louis. He received his MFA from UC Berkeley in 2003 and has shown his work at the Foundry Arts Center, Applebee Gallery at MacMurray College and in group shows at the St. Louis Artist Guild, St. Charles Community College, and the National Ornamental Metals Museum in Memphis.
SUMMER 2014 FEATURED ARTISTS (MAY 9–AUG 10)
Cameron Fuller’s work has been shown at Fort Gondo, White Flag Projects, Maps Contemporary Art Space, and Gallery 210 in St. Louis and at La Esquina in New York. In addition to his personal work, Fuller also has collaborated since 2008 on installations with Sarah Paulsen at Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis; Open Lot, St. Louis; The Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO; and Saint Charles Community College, St. Charles, MO.
Sarah Paulsen is an artist, animator, and teacher. She has worked internationally on politically focused art and animation projects. Her recent animated documentary Que Sera, Sera? is the story of undocumented Mexican youth struggling with immigration issues in St. Louis and has been shown in numerous national film festivals.
Van McElwee is a professor of electronic and photographic media at Webster University and is the recipient of numerous grants and awards. His body of work includes more than fifty video installations and single-channel works.