2010 world Creativity biennial
November 15 - January 8
Modeled after the long-running Venice Biennale, held every two years in Italy, the exhibition focused on the visual arts and has as its theme, New Processes, New Approaches, New Art. The artists representing each District are pioneers in new media. Defining the theme for the Biennale, Jon Burris, director of [Artspace] at Untitled and the Biennale stated, “The theme is based on the idea that as new technologies are developing around the world, so too are new processes of creating art involving new media and new materials. Artists world-wide are embracing new methods of producing art as a result of these new technologies and it is the goal of this Biennale to introduce new aesthetic approaches that have developed as a result.”
Just over four decades ago the phrase "the medium is the message" came from the creative mind of philosopher and theoretician Marshall McCluhan. What he was proposing was that the very form of a medium has a direct influence on the way the message it presents is perceived; independent of content, a process used for creativity and communication possess is its own poer (today that might mean we are more interested in the iPad than what we put on it.) McCluhan also said, "It is the framework which changes with each new technology and not just the picture within the frame." It is precisely this idea that led to the theme, New Processes, New Approaches, New Art for this premier Biennale exhibition for the 2010 Creativity World Forum.
Acknowledging that art making is an ever changing pursuit and that the methods and materials used to make it forty years ago have changed and will certainly change even more over the next four decades, what we are focusing on in this Biennale is how art is being made and presented today. There are new processes and new approaches being used by artists as a result of developing technologies and access to new materials. What viewers will see in this exhibition are examples of how artists from locations throughout the world are working with new media born of the digital age illustrating that the medium truly is the message today.
In proposing the idea for the first Creativity World Biennale, [Artspace] at Untitled, a contemporary art center in Oklahoma City, asked each of the 14 international Districts of Creativity, including Creativity Oklahoma, to recommend artists from their regions whose work addressed the theme. Altogether 7 Districts including: Catalonia, Denmark, Flanders, Germany, Oklahoma, Rio de Janeiro, and Scotland participated and ultimately 19 artists were selected to present 13 installations in 4 separate venues in Oklahoma City.
Artists:
Flanders: LAb[au] (Design Team), Nick Ervinck, Experimental Media Group (EMG); Germany: Augustus Goertz; Scotland: Andy Law, Mil Stricevic, Henry Coombes; Rio de Janeiro: SuperUber Design Group; Spain: Joan Fontcuberta; Denmark: CAVI Fabricata (Design Team); Oklahoma: Tom Pershall, Bob Sober, Sarah Hearn, Brian Eyerman