Boots Contemporary Art Space News Blog

Boots fall opening exhibition Theaster Gates

2009-09-12T09:04:00.001-07:00

photo: Sara Pooley

Holiness: In 3 Parts, a solo exhibition at Boots will give Theaster an opportunity to work through ideas surrounding the psychic space of the back yard. On opening night, with help from his performance ensemble, The Black Monks of Mississippi, Gates will bring charismatic structures of the black church into brief conversation with the formalities of City Planning Policy.

Performance will begin at 7:42pm and last till 8:53pm

Part 1: The Westside Piece (Front Space) 7:42- 7:52 (Theaster and possibly Orron Kenyatta -poet) photo by Sara Pooley

Part 2: The Glorious Picnic (Front of the back) 7:52- 8:40 (Black Monks of Mississippi)

Part 3: Stairwell to heaven and Other things from my backyard (Back of the back Space) 8:40-8:53 (Monastic Funk Band)

“Holiness in three parts could be thought of in the following way: Heaven, Hood and the City - using sculptural objects made from things in my backyard, we will move between these three loosely prescribed categories. With “The City” representing hell and the hood being somewhere between paradise and the underworld, I hope to consider three different presentation formats, in three different parts of the space in what would appear to be a Joseph Beuys styled performance that uses the black religious form to deliver thoughts on new urbanism, slave labor via the embodiment of Dave the slave potter and the history of the racialized bodythrough performance. Holiness in three parts is literally a trinity of confusion and urban rumination. Lots of stones will be left unturned, but those turned will get a good shining”

Theaster Gates

Tea Shack- photo by Sara Pooley

About Theaster Gates

Sculptor and Performance Artist, Theaster Gates works with the sacred city found just below its forgotten and often abandoned exterior. With parts of old buildings and visions of grand rehab projects, Gates, a believer in the possibility of place, begins to release some of the resonate beauty of the city’s under belly in a way that is both contemplative and frenetic.

for more info on Theaster Gates click on the link

for more info on boots click on the link

BAZUCO MEDIA CORPORATION-June 19th 2009

2009-05-09T08:33:00.001-07:00

DEAD DRUGLORDS - LIVE from BAZUCO MEDIA CORPORATION on Vimeo.

Bazuco (BZC) has been working as an art production unit in between Colombia and the USA, with cells in Venezuela, Argentina, and the Netherlands. Headed by artist Juan Obando in association with interaction designer Juan Ospina and designer/musician Juan Rios, BZC has been featured in different exhibitions and publications, including a selection for “Salon Nacional de Artistas” in Colombia in 2008.

As a performance-based unit, BZC has ventured into fashion, radio, prints, music, and video production, creating a variety of live and web shows and products that speak clearly to and about a new hybrid, deterritorialized generation defined by consumption and commercialism.

BAZUCO MEDIA CORPORATION will be creating a “pop-up” retail experience using the multilingual and heavily commercial visuals of Bazuco.
http://www.bazucobazuco.com/corporate/

The exhibition will all so include the Dead Druglords. Dead Druglords is a one-night party/event involving a DJ set, latin mash-up and live performers with a visual and interactive show that includes a narcoaesthetic language, heavily influenced by the imaginary of the latin druglord of the 80s and 90s in the USA.

This performance will include the channeling of Pablo Acosta and Amado Carrillo Fuentes that will dance from the dead while an airplane piñata full of “Colombian candy” waits to be smashed down the by St. Louis crowd. Live video projections of animated sequences and DJ sets of Salsa and Reggaeton-mashups will entertain and engage the public. Additionally, this night will include live performances by Colombo American band Drumkit, and Lafayette-based electro act Analog Zebra.

! Come one Come all !

BAD MOON RISING 3

2009-01-17T12:39:00.000-08:00

Laura Fried, Assistant Curator, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and Jan Van Woensel

Anthony Huberman, Chief Curator, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and Jan Van Woensel

STORFRONT OF BOOTS CONTEMPORARY ART SPACE

OPENING NIGHT

BAD MOON RISING Opening on JAN 16th

2009-01-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

Jason Kalogiros, Double Sunset No. 1, 2007 Analog c-print

Opening reception:
Friday, January 16th 6:30 - 10:00 pm
Curators: Jessica Silverman and Jan Van Woensel
Assistant Curator: Kara Smith

Please join us for a conversation with Curators: Jessica Silverman and
Jan Van Woensel from 6:30pm - 7:15 on opening night.

The traveling group exhibition Bad Moon Rising exposes some of the dark sides of the world's self-proclaimed greatest nation: the United States of America. With the election of a new President in November 2008, people are optimistic about the future of the USA's national and international politics, economy and warfare. Nevertheless, the country's continual increase in unemployment, poverty, the financial downfall, expensive and unreliable health care, equal rights and overprized education are problems that are yet to be resolved. Although the mantra-esque "Yes, We Can" encourages us to believe in a better future, we cannot start dreaming. Offensive, annoying, naughty and whimsical, Bad Moon Rising 3 helps to reminds us of some of the most disturbing facts of the USA's past and present. Through a selection of artworks, artifacts and a-historical references, major themes such as politics, religion, society, family, war and the media are disturbingly portrayed, casting a dark shadow over the USA's promised ideologies of freedom and prosperity. (JVW)

Featuring work by: Vanessa Albury & Marthe Fortun / Tariq Ali / Julieta Aranda / Yossi Atia & Itamar Rose / Claire Beckett / Brice Bischoff / Zee Boudreaux / Irma Cannavo / Lori Cheatle & Daisy Wright / Brian Conley / Meg Cranston / Custer's Revenge / Alain Declercq / Messieurs Delmotte / Blue Firth / Lonnie Frisbee & David di Sabatino / Tony Garifalakis / Daniel Goodwin / Deva Graf / Simon Gush / Hamza Halloubi / George Hennard / Jason Kalogiros / Paulus Kapteyn / Richard Kern / Ragnar Kjartansson / Wonder Koch / David Matorin / Christina McPhee / NECK FACE / Joe Heaps Nelson/ Dustin Michael Pevey / Job Piston / Luther Price / Rage Against the Machine / Lee Ranaldo/ Max Razdow / Ruth Sacks / Yoji Sakate / Joaquin Segura / Ben Shaffer / Elin O'Hara Slavick / Ginger Wolfe-Suarez & Jeanne Moen Wolfe / The Weather Underground / Philippe Vandenberg / Ben Vautier / Pete Watts / Jackson Webb

Upcoming Boot Print - Clémentine Deliss

2008-11-12T14:57:00.000-08:00

This came across the wire from DOVA at the University of Chicago: Clémentine Deliss will be speaking tomorrow on the University of Chicago campus at Cochrane Woods Fine Art Center and again on November 18^th at the Franke Institute (Details below). Deliss was interviewed for the upcoming issue of Boot Print, to be released in December, for our study section on the future of art education in the Academy. Deliss happens to be an expert on the subject with her involvement in the Metronome Press and Future Academy, “a self-reflexive investigation that relies on the free will and engagement of students from different institutions and faculties.” Here is a preview from Danyel Ferrari’s interview with her from the upcoming Boot Print Vol. 2, Issue 2:

Danyel Ferrari: Questions of space and mobility were often discussed as a part of Future Academy. What do you think about the place of architecture in the architecture of ideas, should there be walls?

Clementine Deliss: I might have a different perspective on that than, say, the students I have worked with in Future Academy. For the students I have worked with, this was actually one of the clearest issues and it came up very early on with regard to future buildings. The majority of students, whether they were based in Mumbai, Bangalore, Dakar or Edinburgh generally felt that they didn’t need buildings in the first instance. They sought more face-to-face contact in the sense that they wanted field studies in locations and therefore a kind of plug-in system to enable contact to be played out. So they proposed the “shack academy,” built on existing tea shops, usually roadside venues where more discussions took place than within the walls of the academy buildings. They effectively wanted a more informal location for the production of ideas. The Bangalore group felt that it wouldn’t be advantageous at this stage to invest in a large amount of technology, but safer to wait a while and test out the conditions that might develop over the next few years. So it wasn’t just about buying computers and various technology that would allow for this kind of plug-in mobility, it was something else. What they felt needed to be created was a quasi-business model where information, contacts and networks between these students could be developed into an economic set of relations as they became professionalized and entered into various careers. They wanted to build on the structures that they were already developing through Future Academy and create “roving colleges” that might provide a more equitable framework for them than the type of expansionism that we have known from the colonial period and that is in some cases, though not everywhere, being reformulated today.

Personally, I think one should be more careful and more sensitive to the fact that artists, if they work in the art college context, are actually moving into a back-stage condition. And this back-stage condition is enormously enriching for students. So sure they will teach, they’re always teaching, but they do not need to do courses so much as to be able to mediate what it is they are working on. In an art college, everybody is in a research context and for that purpose they need space. So I would argue that if you invite an artist to work within the art college, as much as possible you need to provide a certain space, a notion of “studio,” rather than creating staff rooms where they all check their emails and then go home. So I’m quite old fashioned in that I favor the artist’s studio within the art school context. And that is something that is either being reduced or is, in some parts of the world, utterly nonexistent.

Look for Boot Print Vol. 2, Issue 2 in December for the rest of her interview and others on the future of art pedagogy. In the meantime, check out her lecture if you’re in Chicago.

MORE INFO: Clémentine Deliss is an independent curator, researcher and publisher. Since 1996 she has produced Metronome, which was launched at the Dakar and Venice Biennales; the Kunsthalle Basel; DAAD, Berlin; documenta X and documenta 12; Galerie Chantal Crousel in Paris; and Kandada/CommandN gallery Tokyo. Dr. Deliss initiated Future Academy in late 2002 to investigate the transformations of the art college and, with the central input of students, forecast future conditions for independent research and art production. As a self-reflexive investigation that relies on the free will and engagement of students from different institutions and faculties, Future Academy is necessarily autonomous in its structure and thinking. The latest focus of Future Academy centers on the 'prelusive' phase within art production and a reappraisal of the artists' study collection as the possible core of a future art institute. In her talk, she will present outcomes of this research that relate specifically to international relations and economic self-sufficiency.

DETAILS:

Wednesday, November 12, 5PM (I would recommend calling ahead to confirm)
Cochrane Woods Art Center RM 157 (University of Chicago)

5540 South Greenwood Avenue

Tuesday, November 18, 3PM

The Franke Institute, JRL S-118, Regenstein Library (University of Chicago)

1100 E 57th Street

posted by Tim Ridlen

Serkan Ozkaya "A Sudden Gust of Wind"

2008-11-12T03:20:00.000-08:00

Installation view, main gallery, Boots Contemporary Art Space

Exhibition reviews/blog postings:

1. David Bonetti, A gust of wind; a blast of hot air: one exhibit of installation art is a studied essay, the other a shoddy bore, Post-Dispatch, STLTODAY.COM, F3, Sunday October 5, 2008, St. Louis, MO, USA

2. Ivy Cooper, Serkan Ozkaya works magic, St. Louis Beacon, Tuesday October 7, 2008, St. Louis, MO, USA

3. Jessica Baran, St. Louis Art Capsules, RTF, October 28, 2008, St. Louis, MO, USA

4. Rachel Gagnon, Artist Interviews: Serkan Ozkaya and Pepe Mar, Art:21 blog, October 16, 2008, USA

An interview with artist Serkan Ozkaya with Georgia Kotretsos at Boots Contemporary Arts Space

Serkan Ozkaya in front of his installation at Boots

Boots opening exhibition Sept 19th Serkan Özkaya

2008-09-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

A Sudden Gust of Wind

solo exhibition by Serkan Özkaya
Sept.19th–Oct.31th 2008

http://www.bootsart.com/html/bootshome.html

Boot Print June Issue Available NOW

2008-07-03T15:10:00.000-07:00

Boot Print is a publication dedicated to contemporary art and published by artists that serves as a non-commercial publication of cogitations, initiatives and information. Boots Contemporary Art Space is now proud to present the June 2008 issue of Boot Print. Volume 2/Issue 1 covers recent Boots exhibitions; goes to the source to talk about the role of the collector in contemporary art; discusses with two curators the US landscape in an election year; speaks with the author of Pablo Helguera’s Manual of Contemporary Art Style; and features a translation by Walid Sadek from the autobiography of Moustafa Farroukh.

This season’s exhibitions at Boots Contemporary Art Space kicked off with guest curator Dana Turkovic’s group show, Amass; followed by the solo exhibition of Kansas City artist Dylan Mortimer, aptly titled Amen Bitch; and finished up with the second installment of the Pedestrian Project by Brett Williams.

Boot Print Volume 2/Issue 1 gets deep into the mind of the collector of contemporary art by speaking with some of the most innovative and influential collectors worldwide. From private collections in Mexico and Angola, to corporate, museum and new ideas of collecting in Germany, Boot Print contributors connect first hand with Eugenio López Alonso of the Fundación/Colección Jumex, Sindika Dokolo of the Sindika Dokolo Foundation, the Deutsche Bank Collection under the direction of Friedhelm Hütte, the Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst under the direction of Barbara Steiner, and the innovative art fund collection of Rik Reinking.

In addition, Boot Print contributors explore the history of the collection, the business of art advising, the education of collecting, and the place of an art fair in collecting work through articles on and interviews with, respectively, Helene Zucker-Seeman, Christos Savvidis, Orhan Taner, and The Hugh Lane.

The year 2008 brings a focus on the political landscape of the United States as two featured projects reveal. Laura Fried speaks with Nato Thompson about his recent tour and series of Town Hall Meetings on the subject of Democracy in America, and Boots Director Juan William Chávez speaks with Charles Esche, Kerstin Niemann, and Stephanie Smith about the Heartland project an exhibition at the Van Abbemuseum later this year, and at the Smart Museum of Art in 2009.

This issue also features profiles St. Louis art institutions: the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, Laumeier Sculpture Park, and the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

Boot Print will reach 2000 art professionals in print form via postal mail in the United States and abroad; over 3000 via email in its electronic form. Follow the link below to http://www.bootsart.com to download Boot Print Volume 2/Issue 1. Soon available in print at Boots Contemporary Art Space in St. Louis.

Help contribute to the distribution and circulation of Boot Print!
Spread the news and forward the links. Thanks!

Boots Contemporary Art Space thanks the Boot Print advertisers, the St. Louis art community and the Boot Print friends for funding our vision.

In Loving Memory of George Carlin (1937-2008)

2008-06-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

"Reminds me of something my grandfather used to say. He used to say "I'm going upstairs and fuck your grandmother." Well, he was an honest guy, you know? He wasn't going to lie to a 5 year old."
- George Carlin -

George Carlin on Language

In Athens with David Bonetti-Art Critic, St. Louis Post -Dispatch

2008-06-11T10:34:00.000-07:00

David Bonetti at The Breeder gallery in front of Stelios Faitakis’ work.

It’s been great having David in Athens. The conversations were great; the walks pretty long and the wine always chilled. Yesterday, we put our comfy shoes and hit the streets of Psirri for some art viewing. We visited the “Lion under the Rainbow” at D.ART, “Entropy” at Kappatos, “Loop Ahead” at Qbox, “Wake me up before you go go I wasn’t planning on going solo” at a.antonopoulou.art, “What a great day” at The Breeder and finally the opening reception of “Mail Order Monsters” at Andreas Melas Presents (AMP).

Andreas Melas of AMP with Jeffrey Deitch of Deitch Projects

“Mail Order Monsters” is a group exhibition curated by Kathy Grayson, exploring new trends in fucked-up figuration. Every generation has its unique take on the figure and the freshest figurative art seems to portray the figure as broken, decaying, uncanny, and monstrous! The show was first shown at Peres Projects in Berlin, it then traveled to Deitch Projects in New York and now it is here in Athens at AMP.

Kathy Grayson, Gallery director of Deitch Projects

Cody Critcheloe of Ssion, Leone Reeves and Jaimie Warren

And Yeahhhh! Our own Boots girls were here to represent in classic mid-western style… they performed in rocking standards and dimensions songs by Ssion and here are the photographs to prove it!

Oh! We had to document the happy reunion.

Blonds first: Leone Reeves, Photo guest, Jaimie Warren – Brunettes: Cody Critcheloe, Georgia Kotretsos, Photo guest

David Bonetti, Critic, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Helena Papadopoulou of Nice & Fit, Sarah Crowner of Dexter Sinister at the AMP opening

Jeff Koons and Jeffrey Deitch outside the entrance of AMP

Dj’n at Mamacas at GAZI (after-party)

post by-Georgia Kotretsos
Boots agent/Boot Print,Editor-in-chief

Mapping the European Biennial Network Conference

2008-06-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 1st, 2008, Athens
@ B & M Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts and Music
organized by the Athens Biennial

Augustine Zenakos, Co-Director, Athens Biennial, and Project Manager, Biennial Exchange and Residency Programme

Did you know of the European Biennial Network?

How about its members? Well, here they are: Athens Biennial, berlin biennial, Göteborg Biennial, Istanbul Biennial, Manifesta, Liverpool Biennial, Lyon Biennial, Periferic Biennial (Iasi, Romania), Tirana Biennial and Venice Biennial.

Apparently, the European Biennial Network is a collaborative structure in the field of contemporary art that aims to promote dialogue, interaction and collaboration between contemporary art biennials in Europe. It intends to use the knowledge, experience and wealth of information accumulated by organisers of large-scale periodic art events, in order to support the communication and mobility of artists and art professionals.

Also, the European Biennial Network has initiated the BERP (Biennial Exchange and Residency Program), a two-year cycle of activities co-funded by the European Commission, that includes workshops, research visits, traineeship programs for art professionals, artist residencies, etc

The participants of the conference took part in a closed workshop the previous day, the results of which were presented at the conference. This is the first public presentation of the European Biennial Network.

It was an introductory presentation within a supportive, friendly and comforting setting.

A discussion regarding the pros and cons of such a network has yet to take place.

It’s always disappointing seeing less than 10 artists at a conference in Athens and especially when the guest speakers are of this caliber. Other than that, during intermission, some orange juice and a cookie of sort should be offered to the attendees of a 10 am to 5 pm conference.

Overall it partly satisfied my geeky nature on a 96 degree Sunday.

Berlin Biennial: Maike Cruse, Communication and Press & Renate Wagner, Coordination office & Istanbul Biennial:  Maya Ersan, Exhibition Management

Lyon Biennial:  Frederique Gautier, Artistic Coordination with Liverpool Biennial: Antony Pickthall, Head of Marketing & Communications & Despoina Sevasti: International Projects Coordination, Athens Biennia

"Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk? - Visibility and research, can they go together?": Cush Martinez, Director, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, and Chief Curator, MACBA; "The biennial and art as norm":  Lars Bang Larsen, independent writer and curator & "Networked Cultures and the Politics of Connectivity": Peter Mörtenböck, Professor of  Visual Culture, Vienna University of Technology, and Visiting Fellow, Goldsmiths College, London  & Helge Mooshammer, Research Fellow, International Research Center for Cultural Studies, Vienna, and Visiting Tutor, Visual Culture Department, Goldsmiths College, London

Art Athina 2008

2008-05-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

A taste of the opening night at the VIP lounge and this year's Garage Project, which is curated by Marina Fokidis who focused on local artistic production.

The Art Athina Art Talks featured discussions between art professionals on various subjects, such as narcissism, ownership, consumption and criticism. Among the participating speakers were Catherine David and Christian Viveros-Faune.

Helena Papadopoulou of Nice & Fit gallery; Clare Kenny of MarcdePuechredon gallery; Myrtia Nikolakopoulou of Qbox gallery; Sylvia Kouvali of Rodeo; Monitor video & Contemporary art gallery; Laura Bartlett gallery; Balice Hertling gallery; George Georgakopoulos of Cheapart; The Breeder; Tristesse deluxe gallery; Standard gallery and Upstairs Berlin gallery.

"Lion Under the Rainbow: Art from Tehran" curated by Alexandros Georgiou organized by D.ART opening reception on Saturday, May 24th

"M12" Mission Impossible 2 @ K44Saturday, May 24th
participating artists: Loukia Alavanou, Emanuel Almborg, alssopp&weir, Dafni Barbageorgopoulou, Antonakis Christodoulou, Anastasia Douka, Dimitris Ioannou, Maria Karantzi, Yaron Lapid, Theo Michael, Alexandra Navratil, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Theo Prodromidis, Raymond Taudin Chabot, Giorgos Tsalamanis, Conrad Ventur, Zoe Zillion Curated by Konstantinos Dagritzikos

posted by
Georgia Kotretsos
boots agent/Editor-in-chief

ART ATHINA

2008-05-23T01:50:00.000-07:00

Reporting from Art Athina, last night at the opening of the fair I met with friends, colleagues and got to see some great art. Staytuned... next week I'll fill you in with artworks, galleries and faces. Peace!

Georgia Kotretsos
boots agent/Editor-in-chief

May ‘68 Film Series at CAMSTL

2008-05-23T01:36:00.000-07:00

For three evenings in May, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis will host a series of double features that center on a critical moment in French history when the cultural and political reverberations were felt across the globe. Spurred by the successful Tet Offensive in Vietnam, the suppression of the Prague Spring, the rise of Euro-communism, and the Algerian crisis, the May ‘68 events in Paris belonged to a broad swath of social unrest that cut across Europe, Asia, and North America in the sixties—all of which yielded lasting political impact. From Jean-Luc Godard’s prophetic visions of revolt, to the oppositional politics of Paris’ young filmmakers, to the rapid transformation in the US from dream to disillusionment, each film registers a spirit of dissent that cannot be forgotten four decades later. The Contemporary is especially pleased to present a special screening of Serge Bard’s rarely seen 35 mm print of Fun and Games for Everyone (1968), featuring current exhibiting artist Olivier Mosset.

Thursday evenings in May (beginning May 15) at 6:00 pm & 8:00 pm.

May 15, Politics and Poetry: Jean-Luc Godard in the Sixties6:00 pm: Le Petit Soldat (Jean-Luc Godard, 1961/1963, France)8:00 pm: La Chinoise (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967, France)

May 22, A Cinéaste’s Revolution: Filmmaking in 1968 Paris6:00 pm: Fun and Games for Everyone (featuring Olivier Mosset, directed by Serge Bard, 1968, France)8:00 pm: The Society of the Spectacle/La Société du Spectacle, (Guy Debord, 1973, France)

May 29, Let it Bleed: the Death of the Sixties Across the Pond6:00 pm: Gimme Shelter (David Maysles, Albert Maysles & Charlotte Zwerin, 1970, USA)8:00 pm: Zabriskie Point (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1970, USA)

The Netherlands meets Boots in the Heartland

2008-05-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

Van Abbemuseum is working on an exhibition about the Heartland.

Press release
March 2008

Heartland is multi-dimensional project in Eindhoven featuring existing and newly commissioned art works and an international music programme called Into the Heart of Music. The project is dedicated to art and music that emerges out of the area’s rich cultural and geographic diversity. The programme also includes a series of debates and lectures, two publications, an artists-in residency programme and various special projects with local and international partners. It is the first time that a project of this scope has been initiated in Eindhoven. The official premiere / opening is scheduled for 3 and 4 October in Eindhoven where the project will run until 25 January 2009. After that, part of the exhibition will travel to Chicago. The collaboration between the Van Abbemuseum and the Smart Museum promises to combine insider and outsider perspectives on visual culture in the region in which individual artworks will be related to each other while being able to speak clearly about particular cultural, social and natural phenomena.

Why heartland? The image that we in the Netherlands have of the US is mainly the result of media reports coming from the major cities on the East and West coasts, as well as the main trade centres of the US. With Heartland, we want to steer away from these positive and negative clichés. The Heartland, the interior of the US on the banks of the Mississippi and its tributaries, has seen many crucial historical developments. With its diverse indigenous and immigrant cultures, the ‘delta’ is a benchmark for the country’s multilayered identity. It has become an intriguing mix of old and new traditions, where it seems that the social and political climate is largely determined by religion and race. Examples that have touched the region in significant ways include the population’s steady move westward, the Civil Rights Movement, the ebb and flow of the many waves of religiosity and its constant development as a major economic force. These factors have found their way into the art and culture produced in the region or commissioned for this exhibition. The Heartland project also coincides with the next US presidential elections and will inevitably form a artistic and musical counterpoint to the non-stop media coverage of politicians and reporters.

Check out the museum's web site
and read more about exhibition on the Heartland blog

Robert Rauschenberg-Dies at 82

2008-05-14T01:25:00.000-07:00

Pour a little something out for the Combines. Up Above!

"I don't think of myself as making art. I do what I do because I want to, because painting is the best way I've found to get along with myself."
(Robert Rauschenberg)

Robert Rauschenberg - Erased De Kooning

Contemporary art never tasted so good in the STL

2008-05-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

" the exhibition represents neither a curated two- person show nor two independent, solo exhibitions. Instead, it proposes an active juxtaposition of parallel (and opposite) artistic approaches, where artworks act as obstacles, and obstacles act as artworks."

Plus, that was one hell of a John Armleder cookie.

Boot Print Update from Editor-in-chief Georgia Kotretsos

2008-05-08T08:04:00.000-07:00

Boot Print Volume 2/Issue 1 is currently on my desktop. Next stop will be Bryan in San Francisco, where BP will be designed into the publication you all know. Right afterwards will go to New York for an intense proof-reading session with Joe, then to Tim in Chicago to be double checked, to me in Athens, Greece to be triple-checked and then it will be uploaded on our website and will be sent off to the printer in St. Louis.

Regarding art publications, “Kaput” (www.kaput.gr) came out with its 1st promising issue. It focuses on contemporary Greek art and beyond. Also, yesterday afternoon at the Papasotiriou bookstore “The state of things” open discussion on the shaping of the Athenian visual arts scene in recent years took place. Organized by the Athens Biennial and moderated by Xenia Kalpaktsoglou (co-director, Athens Biennial and curator) the invited guests namely:
Nadja Argyropoulou (curator)
Christopher Marinos (art historian, curator and co-editor of Kaput. magazine)
Thanos Stathopoulos (writer and co-editor of Kaput. magazine)
Efi Strousa (art historian and President of the Association of Art Critics, AICA Hellas)
Yorgos Tzirtzilakis (Assistant Professor, University of Thessaly, Department of Architecture and curator)
Denys Zacharopoulos (art historian and artistic director of the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki)
Augustine Zenakos (co-director, Athens Biennial and art critic, To Vima newspaper) had a go at the subject at stake. Great setting; good turnout; could’ve been longer.

So, all the way from here, Athens that is, stay tuned on the progress of BP. It will be reaching you all by the end of June.

Big weekend in the STL

2008-05-08T07:46:00.001-07:00

Kicking off the weekend this Friday at Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is the first exhibition organized by new Chief Curator Anthony Huberman. JOHN ARMLEDER and OLIVIER MOSSET

On Saturday our friends over at White Flag Projects are having a very special event, BENDOVER/HANGOVER: AN EVENING WITH CINEMA ZERO, organized by Amy Granat. For one night only White Flag Projects will introduce an unprecedented assembly of fast-rising national and international artists to the St. Louis art audience, including four artists featured in the current Whitney Biennial.

Its going to be a Face Melting Weekend!!

Boots Summer Break

2008-05-07T18:01:00.000-07:00

Boots Contemporary Art Space is happy to launch its News Blog. The News Blog will have up to date news events, behind the scenes on exhibitions/projects and will post on contemporary art issues locally, nationally and internationally. We hope you enjoy.

Juan William Chavez
artist/director

Boots Contemporary Art Space had one hell of a busy year. We're going to use the summer break to update and organize the web site, catch up on paper work, put the finishing touches on next year's exhibition lineup, and print Boot Print Vol. 2 / Issue 1. For the summer, and for all those who could not make it to any of our exhibitions, Boots Contemporary Art Space presents: FLASHBACK

This exhibition will highlight artists from all of Boots' past two years of exhibitions and projects. Works from past exhibitions will include: Pedestrian Project, Whoop Dee Doo: Beating Dead Horses, Slinger, and A Perfect World. Also on view will be a Boot Print reading station, and video footage from the Silverio concert at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. Feel free to stop by and visit up during regular hours
Sat and Sun Noon to 5pm