welcome to the new future::

In the 50s and 60s projections of the future ran rampant. TV shows like the Jetsons showed a civilization with conveyor-belt sidewalks, automated houses and robotic maids, Sci-Fi authors like Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury wove tales of space travel and new colonies on Mars. Fashion and Architecture shone with metallics and repeated boomerang shapes.

Things would be so wonderful-- your alarm clock would make your coffee and toast. You’d hop into your hover-mobile to get to work, and then beam yourself to Hawaii for a quick weekend getaway…

Fast forward 50 years, and things are a little different than expected. There are no moving sidewalks, and we’re using the same space rockets that launched 50 years ago.

In this new millennium, years of frivolous spending, producing and depleting have come back to haunt us. Environmental concerns combined with mounting tensions in the global arena have left us earthlings on the edge of our seats, fingers crossed!!…

The artists in this show bring to you a ‘new future’-- not as shiny and new as the ’old future’ but not dull either. Together, they present a mash-up of the past, present and future- leaving the viewer with ideas of what the next 50 years may have in store.

The New Future Features : :

Jade Doskow (Brooklyn, NY)
Benjamin Edwards (Washington, DC)

Jo Wonder (London, UK)
Urban Scout (Portland, OR)

*catalog available at the opening reception, or by request

*sunglasses provided at the opening reception

*tell your friends! mark your calendars!

Friday, Dec. 14th 7-9pm, DCAC Gallery

opening night pictures! ::

Here are some pics from the opening night. Thanks again to all of the artists, the DCAC staff and everyone who came out for the event!

the calm before the storm

artist Jade Doskow recieves well wishes on her cell

artist Urban Scout hangs out in his tipi before his performance

crowd shot::

DCAC director, B Stanley, kicks off the artists' talk

kb delivers a little statement before the artists speak

Jade Doskow talks about her Worlds Fair photography project

Benjamin Edwards explains his crazy computer generated cityscapes

Urban Scout teaches the crowd how to 'rewild' in his deer-hide shorts and roadkill cap

montage:: guests rock their complimentary 'new future' sunglasses::

My pals Jitesh, Nijole and Naomi looking like rockstars

Faith Flanagan of SurroundArt vogues!

Nick P. of Gypsy Eyes Records, Lizzie of Paisley Fig Catering, and Erik Jackson of the Apes look hot in their shades

kb and the awesome Jayme McLellan of Civilian Art Projects strike a pose

crowd shot featuring some of my fave artists and art collectors!

Scout's performance continued on 18th street where he schooled us in the art of making fire!..until the cops came and gave us the evil eye

such a fun night!!..the show runs until Jan 13th so there's still time to check it out.
DCAC is open Wed-Sun from 2-7pm

cool press::

Kriston Capps of the Citypaper did a profile on Benjamin Edwards and his part in the New Future show. Check it out here

Lavanya Ramanthan from the Washington Post did an awesome preview of the show in last Friday's Style section. You can read that here

And Kelly Rand of DCist reviewed the show here

that should give you a good idea of what you're in for when you come see the show.

the opening night was a blast! photos of the installation and opening coming soon!

Meet the Artist :: Urban Scout

The concept for this show came to me after reading an article about Urban Scout in an issue of Readymade Magazine. Urban Scout is the alter-ego of Peter Bauer, a native of Portland, OR.

Scout leads a 'pre-postapocalyptical' lifestyle in which he has combined survival skills, native american philosophies, hunting-gathering and blogging in order to survive (and have fun!) in our scary world. Living in a teepee in his friends backyard, Scout has learned which city 'weeds' are edible (check out his recipe for dandelion fritters !), has hunted squirrels, makes his own medicines and even built a solar powered charger for his ibook so he can spread his messages through his blog: http://www.urbanscout.org/


Urban Scout lives an oxymoron in that he's chosen to 'leave civilization behind' while living in a city. What struck a chord with me in terms of this show were his ideas of people needing to rewind time and undo decades of learned behaviors in order to come out on top in the future...



Urban Scout lives his life as an ongoing performance which he describes as, "part fact/part fiction, part man/part myth...[using] comedic irony and the novelty of our situation as a clever disguise to cloak and spread a truly sustainable world view, for a time beyond our own."

At a recent lecture at the alternative conference Ignite Portland, Scout boiled his ideas down to an essence while speaking of the future:

'..We're talkin' about the collapse of civilization here. Is this the apocalypse? Are we gonna have a bad time or a good time? let's have a good time..'

(you can watch Urban Scout's speech here)

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Urban Scout will be creating an installation in the DCAC gallery which will include his actual teepee, some of his tools & artifacts, and a series of photos documenting his forward-backward lifestyle.

At 8:00 on opening night (12/14), Scout will treat gallery visitors to a demonstration of a fundamental skill (don't worry B- it won't be like supple!)

Meet the Artist :: Jade Doskow

Jade Doskow is a current MFA candidate in photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Currently, she's been working on an obsessive project, documenting Worlds Fair sites across the globe.

new york state pavillion, queens, ny 1964

Antomium, Brussels 1958

I was drawn to her work because of the juxtaposition of these grand architectural forms that had been built for these fairs and the vacant spaces or, in some cases, unrelated cityscapes that now exist in that space.

Burodesign, Brussels 1958

according to the artist's statement about the project, the images in the World Fair series examine how a piece of architecture intended for a temporary purpose interacts with an unforeseen 21st century environment and how the ideas of each era’s Worlds Fair are reflected in these sites.

To me, her photos present a perfect mix of future thinking, nostalgia and a touch of loneliness- like when the circus leaves a town.

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Doskow will present a selection from this series for the DCAC show.

check out her travel blog here!- http://jadedoskowworldfair.blogspot.com/

Meet the Artist:: JoWonder

In 2006 artist, Joanna Woodward started to incorporate scientific themes in her work under the name JoWonder .

Most prominent are her video pieces in which she mixes up and plays out common themes of science, mythology, old wives tales and science fiction. He most recent work Flatlanders was created to draw attention to a scientific experiment which took place this fall at the Centre for European Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland.

here's an excerpt from her site:

...They will be conducting an experiment to try to recreate the sub-atomic structure of the Universe that existed immediately after the Big Bang. Some believe that they may find the elusive Higgs Boson -this is known as the 'God Particle' because of its importance to matter. Others worry that the experiment could unintentionally create a mini Black Hole, with all its fearful consequences...

..In ‘Flatlanders’, I would like to create a piece which challenges our perceptions of scale, time and gravity, reminding us that there are unseen dimensions to existence and that we are indeed ‘Flatlanders’ and that the frontiers of science reinforce this...In my installation, the activities depicted turn the logic of our world on its head; a ghostly woman dressed in an 18th century costume, rides on a swing while holding delicately balanced scales, as if like Aeacus from Greek mythology she will judge the situation. Below her, suspended on a giant cup of coffee, mortals roam aimlessly while out of the sky Icarus, both loses his wings and falls into the sea and regains his wings and is resurrected...

..For the sound track of the piece, I used live recordings of the scientists at work at CERN and the sound of the particle accelerator makes while the experiment was in action...

..I agree with philosopher David Gamez that maybe striving to provide a complete account of the world and our position in it is fatally flawed, because some of our best and most successful theories clash with each other or contradict their own basic assumptions. We want to understand everything about the world, but blindspots at the heart of our knowledge will always prevent us from achieving a final and complete description of reality for me art is an attempt to bridge that gap...

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For the DCAC show, JoWonder will be displaying Flatlanders along with two other videos.

for a glimpse at her body of video work, check out her page on the Saatchi web site here: http://video.saatchigallery.com/artist/details.php?id=16079

Meet the Artist :: Benjamin Edwards

I stumbled (literally) across Benjamin Edwards' work while moving into my new studio space in downtown DC. Ben's studio (a lot more organized than mine) has two glass doors that showcase whatever large-format painting he's working on.

aha! I said, when I saw his crazy landscapes full of computer generated shapes, bit-mapped text and strange characters against deserted backdrops.

Automatic City

After visiting his site, I was even more thrilled to read his writings and delve further into his work.

His images of houses look like CAD designs for outrageous McMansions.. perfectly fitting with the themes of excess I wanted to address in this show. The house images also remind me of science fiction writings that describe homes of the future with automatic fixtures, robotic arms a'plenty, and acid-green lawns.

House

Another series of Edwards' work is the Ether series which show a confusing world of clashing logos, characters, streets, spam texts and neon shapes.. to me they are like a 'spilling out' of the Internet onto a pristine space..like Vegas springing up in the middle of the desert, or what might happen if we ever did colonize mars..or if martians colonized earth!

Ether Study [Sera]

Ben will be showing pieces from these three bodies of work in the DCAC show.