17 REASONS WHY:
a visual archeology
BARGE (the Bay Area Research Group in Enviro-Aesthetics)
Mission 17′s 2009 Visual/Cultural Criticism Resident
April 24-May 30, 2009. Opening Reception Friday April 24, 6-9 pm.
David Buuck and BARGE present “17 Reasons Why”, a site-specific installation and research office that will present a visual archeology of the Mission and 17th Street environment, as part of an ongoing multi-media investigation into how we see, know, and understand our everyday urban spaces. As part of Mission 17′s Visual/Cultural Criticism Residency, BARGE brings its toolkit of aesthetic and critical practices to tackle the thorny task of representing a diverse site, with all its historical and cultural complexities.
With this exhibition and its related public programming, BARGE aims to create a space for reflection on the complex intersections of place and memory, change and nostalgia, history and its representations. A critical poetics of visual and cultural criticism will emerge, as maps, photography, writing, found materials & performance provide the basis for a ‘sampling’ of the site and its environs, with the installation space functioning as a kind of laboratory for materialist (re)mixing. BARGE will install a ‘research office’ in the gallery space, where BARGE will be conducting investigatory projects throughout the run of the exhibition, inviting participation in the gallery and online, and expanding the installation and catalog as the residency unfolds. Rather than merely presenting ‘finished work’ that sits idly in the gallery, The BARGE research office will be an ongoing performative space, foregrounding the contingent, everyday forces and transitions in the Mission, while also making visible the methodologies of visual criticism and interpretation at work—and at play.
PUBLIC PROGRAMS:
Reading: 3 Mission Writers
Saturday, May 9th, 4-6pm
Alejandro Murguía (This War Called Love)
Lorna Dee Cervantes (From the Cables of Genocide, Drive)
Michelle Tea (Valencia, Rose in No Man’s Land, Chelsea Whistle)
Reading & Talk
Wednesday, May 20th, 6:30-8pm
Erick Lyle (On the Lower Frequencies: A Secret History of the City) & TBA
with David Buuck, BARGE
Closing Reception and Performance
Friday, May 30th, 4-6pm
“Reason 17″ – a site-specific performance conducted by BARGE
All events take place at Mission 17 Gallery
2111 Mission Street, Suite 401
Gallery Hours: Wed-Sat 1-6 pm
415.861.3144 info@mission17.org
