International Artist-in-Residence: NewWorks: 08.3

11.03.08

Media Contact: Celina Emery
t 210 212 4900 x323
f 210 212 4990
cemery@artpace.org
www.artpace.org

San Antonio, TX - Artpace San Antonio is pleased to announce New Works: 08.3 opening November 6, 2008. Guest curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects at London's Serpentine Gallery, will present new projects by Richie Budd (San Antonio, TX), Lu Chunsheng (Shanghai, China), and Taryn Simon (New York, New York).

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
At Artpace, Richie Budd's Absorbing Liminal Homeostasis, comprises an interactive sculpture constructed with medial equipment, speakers, convex mirrors, aromatherapy devices, lights, a margarita machine, and smoke, snow, and bubble machines. The sensory elements of the machine, operated by the artist from a wheelchair set within the sculpture, include the polyphonic layering of club music and audio tracks developed for business coaching. Acting as a neurological disc jockey of sorts, Budd conducts an investigation of psychological and cultural programming, and generates a powerful sensory experience for viewers.

Chinese artist Lu Chunsheng's video and photographic works integrate documentary-style imagery with fictional epic narratives. At Artpace, Chunsheng created his first hi-definition film. Shot in locations throughout San Antonio and surrounding areas, The first man who bought a juicer bought it not for drinking juice documents the life of a combine (a farm machine used for harvesting grain) from its birth in a factory to its work in the fields and ultimate destruction. Inspired by Orson Welles' radio play, The War of the Worlds, Chunsheng's film has all the trappings of a classic science fiction scenario, showing technology as a creation that threatens to undermine and enslave its creator. In this not so subtle critique of science and industry, the film joins sweeping panoramic shots of Texas farmland with long-take footage of the combine to create a diametrical opposition between the natural world and the manufactured environment.

Taryn Simon's Artpace exhibition, a photo-sculptural installation titled Sepia Officinalis, represents a departure from the artist's previous bodies of work, introducing a more intuitive atmosphere of trial and error based on the possibilities of natural phenomena. It features four aquariums, which house a unique species of marine life called Cuttlefish. The skin of the mollusk almost instantly adapts to its surroundings, taking on distinct tonalities of the surface over which it swims. Through maintenance of four separate environments-a control group of three tanks lined with natural images of sand and one tank featuring a background of a checkerboard-the artist tests the Cuttlefish's survival strategy of invisibility. Through careful construction of the Cuttlefish's environment, Simon presents a series of sculptures that blur the lines between natural and man-made, emphasizing the influence and fragility of illusion, even found in the biological world.

ABOUT THE CURATOR
Hans Ulrich Obrist was born in Zürich, Switzerland in1968. In 2006, he joined the Serpentine Gallery, London, England as Co-director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects. Prior to this he was Curator of the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France (2000-06), as well as Curator of Museum in Progress, Vienna, Austria (1993-00). He has curated over 150 exhibitions internationally since 1991, including DO IT (47 exhibitions since 1994); 1st Berlin Biennale, Germany, co-curated with Klaus Biesenbach and Nancy Spector (1998); 2nd Guangzhou Triennale, China, co-curated with Hou Hanru and Guo Xiaoyan (2005); Lyon Biennale, France, co-curated with Stéphanie Moisdon (2007); Il Tempo del Postino, Manchester International Festival, England, co-curated with Philippe Parreno (2007); and 1st Moscow Triennale, Russia (2008). He was awarded the Van Alen Institute, New York Prize Senior Fellowship for 2007-2008.

EXHIBITION INFORMATION
Exhibition Dates
On view through January 11, 2009

Brown Bag Lunch
Wednesday, November 19, 12:00-1:00 PM
Join us for a curator-led tour and brown bag lunch from Sip ($6.50). Please call Artpace for menu and reservations.

New Works: 08.3 is made possible by the Linda Pace Foundation; the City of San Antonio's Office of Cultural Affairs; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Harpo Foundation; The Cultural Collaborative; Nimoy Foundation; The Brown Foundation, Inc.; and Melva Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy, with additional support from the Texas Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art.

ABOUT ARTPACE
Artpace San Antonio serves as a laboratory for the creation and advancement of international contemporary art. Artpace believes that art is a dynamic social force that inspires individuals and defines cultures. Our residencies, exhibitions, and education programs nurture the creative expression of emerging and established artists, while actively engaging youth and adult audiences.

Artpace is located downtown at 445 North Main Avenue, between Savings and Martin streets, San Antonio, Texas. Free parking is available at 513 North Flores. Artpace is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 12-5 PM, Thursday, 12-8 PM, and by appointment. Admission is free.

© 2008 Artpace San Antonio

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org