Danielle Siembieda
Lead Curator/ SWITCH Managing Editor
www.siembieda.com

James Morgan
Art Direction
http://arsvirtua.com

Alex Gibson
Exhibition Design

Lianne Scott
Exhibition Design

Francis Estrand
Co-curator
http://rsfilms.com/

Xiaoqing Jing
Web design

Special Thanks to:
Erica Wo
Graphic Design

Joe Miller
WORKS/SJ Graphic Design

Stephanie Battle
WORKS/SJ Gallery Coordinator

Bruce Gardner
CADRE Liaison

Thanks to any volunteers who helped make this exhibition possible.

AN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION

Can’t make it to downtown San Jose? Join us virtually at SWITCH.SJSU.EDU. We will have LIVE Streaming of the opening! Watch First Friday Live starting around 8 on Friday August 7 at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/works-live.

For live First Fridays go to : http://www.southfirstfridays.com/live-stream featured live streams will be from Anno Domini, KALEID Gallery, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art and WORKS/ San Jose. There will also be a lightly moderated chat available to talk to other art patrons and perhaps even some on site.

Global climate change has far reaching ramifications, and as a result the world as we know it will not be the world of 100 or perhaps even 10 years. Armed with an awareness of how our actions impact the environment, how will this affect our ideas about who we are? This was the question posed by CADRE New Media Lab at San Jose State University in an open call to artists earlier this summer.

From entries all over the world, six finalists were chosen. Leading artist Andrea Polli, seen at 01SJ 2008, will be exhibiting her work Sonic Antarctica We are also excited to feature the work Markers and 100,000-year journey by Xavier Cortada. Other works exploring the poles include Jerome Gueneau and Catherine Rannou, Phil Boissonnet, Andrea Juan, and Erika Blumenfeld. The jurors for the exhibit include surveillance artist Hasan Elahi, new media artist Robin Lasser and writer/curator Annick Bureaud.

SPONSORS: Zero1.org, SWITCH.sjsu.edu, CADRE New Media Lab, WORKS San Jose.

Exhibition details:

OPENING:
August 7, 2009, during South First Friday Art Walk
7pm-11pm.
Location: WORKS/SJ 451 S. First St. , San Jose, CA 95113
www.workssanjose.org
live http://www.southfirstfridays.com/live-stream

ARTIST CHAT: with French artist Phil Boissonnet  and see his work CP Toms.

AUGUST 9TH: POLAR IDENTITY Family day. Bring your family in for an art workshop on Polar Identity. See SWITCH.SJSU.EDU or workssanjose.org

ONGOING: All art POLAR IDENITITY will also be exhibited virtually at SWITCH.SJSU.EDU

SEPTEMBER: Panel on Polar Identity and Global Warming. If you are interested in being on the panel please contact us at switch.sjsu.edu

CLOSING:
September 11, 2009, 7pm
WORKS/San Jose
451 S. 1st St., San Jose, CA 95113

Further questions please contact:

Danielle Siembieda
dsiembieda@wildmail.com

Annick Bureaud is a new media art critic and researcher. She  works and lives in Paris, France. She is the director of Leonardo/Olats, the French branch of  Leonardo/Isast (www.olats.org). As an art critic she contributes to the French contemporary  art magazine Art Press. She teaches at the Art School Eesi in Poitiers and has been  guest lecturer at the School of the Art Institute  Chicago/SAIC in 1999 and at the University of Quebec in
Montreal (UQAM) in 2001. In 2002, she co-edited the book “Connexions : art, réseaux,
media” published by the Press of Ensba ; she co-organized  the International Symposium “Artmedia VIII: From the  Aesthetics of Communication to Net art”, in Paris and edited
the online proceedings published by Leonardo/Olats. In 2003,  she organised the Symposium “Visibility – Legibility of  Space Art. Art and Zero G.: the Experience of Parabolic  Flight” within the @rts Outsider Festival in Paris (proceedings on the Leonardo/Olats web site). In 2004, she published “Les Basiques : art ‘multimédia'”, an online course on multimedia art on the Leonardo/Olats web site.
She is the co-curator of the 2009 @rt Outsiders Festival: “(Un)Inhabitable? Art and Extreme Environments” (September  9th – October 11th 2009, http://www.art-outsiders.com).

Robin Lasser

Robin Lasser is a Professor of Art at San Jose State University. Lasser produces photographs, video, site-specific installations and public art working with socially and culturally significant imagery and themes. Her most extensive project, Eating Disorders in a Disordered Culture, has been published in numerous books, catalogs, newspapers and journals and has been funded by dozens of public organizations in communities across the United States and abroad. Lasser often works in a collaborative mode with other artists, writers, students, public agencies, community organizations, and international coalitions (such as her work in Egypt as a Fulbright Scholar) to produce art and promote public dialogue.

She has exhibited nationally and internationally at museums such as: The Fine Arts Museum in Neuquen, Argentina, Parsons School of Design in New York City, LA County Museum of Art, Triton Museum in Santa Clara, the De Young Museum in San Francisco, the Osaka World Trade Center Museum in Japan, Horace Gallery in Cairo, Egypt, and the Academy of Film in Prague, Czech Republic. Her work has been published in numerous periodicals including: The New York Times, Time Out New York, Los Angeles Times, Afterimage, Artpapers and Artweek. Her work can be viewed at www.robinlasser.com

Hasan Elahi

Hasan Elahi is an interdisciplinary artist whose work examines issues of surveillance, simulated time, transport systems, borders and frontiers. His work has been presented in numerous exhibitions at venues such as the Centre Georges Pompidou, Sundance Film Festival, Kassel Kulturbahnhof, The Hermitage, and at the Venice Biennale. Elahi recently was invited to speak about his work at the Tate Modern, Einstein Forum, and at the American Association of Artificial Intelligence. His awards include grants from the Creative Capital Foundation, a Ford Foundation/Phillip Morris National Fellowship, and an artist grant from the Asociacion Artetik Berrikuntzara in Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain. His work is frequently in the media and has been covered by The New York Times, Forbes, Wired, CNN, ABC, CBS, NPR, Al Jazeera, and has appeared on The Colbert Report. He is an assistant professor at San Jose State University. He is also 2009 Resident Faculty and Nancy G. MacGrath Endowed Chair at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

http://elahi.sjsu.edu/

Bio

Catherine Rannou is a video artist and an architect, she teaches at the “l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Bretagne” (ENSAB) (Higher National School of Architecture of Britany) in France. She is conducting a research in collaboration with the French Polar Institute (IPEV), a glaciology scientific laboratory (LGGE), the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) and a technical research office (T.E.S.S) in the Antarctic continent, that she started in 2006, during her artistic residency « art at the poles », at the French Polar Base Dumont d’Urville.

32K

During her “Summer Campaign”, thanks to a grant from Cultures France Villa Médicis hors les murs, on the French base of Dumont d’Urville (DDU) and the franco-italian bases of Prud’homme and Concordia during the austral Summer 2008/2009 (October 2008 – February 2009), Catherine Rannou proposes to five persons, close to her working field, to be associated to her research through a communication protocol and exchanges about the research conducted in situ and during her travel.

Antarctica scientific bases, if they are first and foremost working places, are also, du to their isolation and the forced confinement, living and intimate spaces.
Data communication, constrained by the extreme isolation of the Antarctic continent from the rest of the world, is difficult and not in real time and exchanges through the usual means of dialogue (telephone, mail, email) is restricted to the utilitarian necessities, mostly technical.
This specific difficulty for dialogue from the Antarctic continent with the rest of the world, which favors mediated exchanges of digital datas against the expression of the body (voice, gestures, …) is taken into account in the protocol that has been defined.

«Digital samples » are simultaneously sent by Catherine Rannou to the five chosen addressees during her whole journey: from her departure from Paris to her arrival at the Franco-Italian base of Concordia, to her return from Concordia to Paris.
Those « digital samples», no matter their content (digitalized drawings, digital photographs, videos, texts, ….) are restricted to the authorized maximum size for emails from Antarctica, that is 32Ko.

Those exchanges are like beacons or signals which, in return can be interpretated, annotated, expanded and thrown back by the addressees to the sender as well as to the other addressees participating in the project. The distance, growing with the journey, disconnections and other transmission difficulties are distording the exchange.
A parallel space should appear, as an inprint, like a radar that registers the echo of the waves that are bouncing on obstacles.

32K PROJECT

BIO

Bachelor of Science (Sociology) Nanterre University.
Boulle School (Paris) Graduate
Versailles School of Architecture Graduate
Since 2003 – Lecturer at the National School of Architecture in Brittany [ENSAB]
PhD Paris VIII

Architecture Practice
Since March 2007, independent practising architect currently working on an Urban Planning Project along the Bedjaia Algerian Coast and on the renovation of a Shopping Centre in Montreuil, France.
Architect – co-founder of 3+1 Architects Partnership, working on Council Housing projects for the Town Hall of Paris.
Co- founder of Design Company Gueno&Gueno – Design and Set design

Research and Publications

Typological Study for commercial retailing zone in Paris.
PRODUCTION: C.D.E.I.D.F.  2008

“MELNIKOV, MCKAY, KOOLHAAS, the Ramp and the Slide”.
Article commissioned by AM Chatelet, Historian, Professor & Researcher at Versailles School of Architecture for EAV magazine. Versailles School of Architecture Publication.

“Contracts for Urban Project Management”
Under the direction of J.M. Galibourg Initial text by 3+1 Architects for a brochure targeted at builders and constructors working in the public domain. MICQ editions
Governmental guidelines for the quality of public construction in France.

Participation in the television programme ‘Precarious Intellectuals’ by Laurent Preyale.
Produced by France 3 CA – Televised France 2007

Work by Guéno&Guéno Design and Set Design. Design Practice founded by Jerome Guéneau and Xavier Guéneau. Published by Intramuros Magazine, by ArchitetureCrée and by the Japanese magazine AXIS.

Works by 3+1 Architects, (created by Jérôme Guéneau in association with Valerie Flicoteaux) published in the catalogues; ‘Des architectures vives’, Published by Archibooks and ‘Petites machines a habiter’, Published by CAUE Sarthe Region, France

Works by Jérôme Guéneau published by Le Moniteur des Travaux Publics et de la Construction

BIO

Xavier Cortada has created art installations at the North Pole (as a NYFA sponsored artist, 2008) and South Pole (through the National Science Foundation, 2007) to help address environmental issues at every point in between. In 2006, Cortada developed the Reclamation Project to engage South Florida residents in the reforestation of local areas. In 2009, he is participating in environmental art residencies in The Netherlands and Quebec, see: http://www.xaviercortada.com/events/event_list.asp.

The Miami artist has been commissioned to create art for the White House, the Florida Supreme Court, Miami City Hall, Miami-Dade County Hall, the Museum of Florida History, the Miami Art Museum, and the Frost Art Museum. Cortada’s work is also in the permanent collection of The World Bank. Cortada is also known for his international collaborative public art projects. These include International AIDS Conference murals in Switzerland and South Africa, peace murals in Northern Ireland and Cyprus, and child welfare murals in Bolivia and Panama.

Cortada, who was born in Albany, New York and grew up in Miami, holds degrees from the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences, Graduate School of Business and School of Law. For more information visit www.cortada.com or see attached bio and resume.

The Markers

Cortada planted 51different colored flags on the moving ice sheet that covers the South Pole, each 10 meters apart and marking where the South Pole stood during each of the past 50 years (when humans first inhabited the South Pole). Each flag also displayed the coordinates of the location on the world above where an important event that took place during that year. Please click on image to read the list of historic events that have moved the world forward during the past five decades.

The 150,000-year Journey

Cortada planted an ice replica of a mangrove seedling on the moving ice sheet that blankets the South Pole. Embedded in the ice, the seedling will move 10 meters a year in the direction of the Weddell Sea, 1400 km away. In 150,000 years, the seedling will arrive at the coastline and theoretically set its roots.

PORTFOLIO

BIO

Works and lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Juan works with photography, video and installations. She received the Guggenheim Fellowship,
Canadian Research Grant and UNESCO Awards among others.
Her latest solo exhibition were at Chelsea Art Museum, New York; Candiani Center, Venice, Italy;
Greenburger Collection, New York; Tigre Art Museum, Buenos Aires; RAM Foundation, Rotterdam,
Holland ; Museum of Latin American Art, Buenos Aires; University of West of England, Bristol, UK;
Vauxhall Centre, London; U.K.; Juttner Gallery, Vienna, Austria and Presse Papier Centre, Quebec,
Canada.
Publications: 2008: Polar South; 2006: Antarctica Project and 2004: Getting Over
Since 1990 she has exhibited extensively worldwide at Ear to the Earth Festival, New York; 2nd
Moscow Biennale; London Royal Academy, UK.; National Art Gallery of Seoul; International Biennial
Rotterdam etc.

Methane

The project I conducted in Antarctica with video installations, photos, and performances in the course of four expeditions ponders on the effects of climate change on the Antarctic Peninsula and is based upon the research of scientists from the Dirección Nacional del Antártico regarding the presence of methane gas and the disappearance of ice shelves. The idea was to take art to Antarctica and develop short-lived sites-specifics as a praise of sorts, displaying a peaceful presence. And once the exhibition came to an end, the biosphere was to be left just as it had been found. The only trace/work that has remained is a series of video and photographic records plus the recollections of the inhabitants.

The project reflects the apparition of methane gas particles on the surface, and the
disintegration of the Larsen Ice Shelf.

PORTFOLIO

Honorable Mention

BIO

Erika Blumenfeld is an internationally exhibiting artist and Guggenheim Fellow with a BFA from Parsons School of Design. Awards include the Creative Capital Foundation and Polaroid. Artist residencies include ITASC in Antarctica (2009), and Ballroom in Marfa, TX (2004). Exhibition venues include Albright-Knox Art Gallery; Willem de Kooning Academie; CCA Santa Fe; CCNOA; DiverseWorks; Färgfabriken Norr; Galerie der Stadt Mainz; Hertfordshire University; Kunstnernes Hus; MFA Santa Fe; OCA Sao Paulo; PICA; Santa Fe Art Institute. Publications include Art In America, ARTnews, and The Polaroid Book. Permanent collections include Albright-Knox Art Gallery; MFA Houston; MFA Santa Fe; Polaroid; and UT, Austin.

Apparent Horizons

In January 2009, Erika Blumenfeld traveled to Eastern Antarctica as the artist-in-residence of ITASC (Interpolar Transnational Art Science Constellation) and SANAP (South African National Antarctic Program). Living on the ice fields for four weeks, Blumenfeld initiated her ambitious environment-focused series, The Polar Project. Focusing on the distinct and sublime phenomena of light, sky, and sound in Antarctica and the Arctic, The Polar Project will present a visceral experience of the Poles.

Antarctica and the Arctic are crucial to humanity’s future and Earth’s stability. Glacial melting will affect vast numbers of people worldwide bringing unprecedented challenges to all of humanity. Yet, the remoteness of the Poles means that few humans have access to them, and therefore most of Earth’s population has never experienced their remarkable nature. An experience of the Poles would result in a sense of connection with, and greater understanding of, their fragile ecosystems and vulnerability to climate change. Blumenfeld’s mission is to capture the natural environment of this majestic land and preserve its image and voice for future generations.

For Polar Identity, Blumenfeld is proposing the first video installation in The Polar Project’s series, titled Apparent Horizons: Antarctica (a vision in four parts). The installation is comprised of four videos depicting the astounding natural phenomena that occur on the Ice Continent everyday. Blumenfeld observed that the icy landscape and atmosphere act like enormous prisms, which refract and reflect light creating a world of wondrous colors. The piece gives the viewer a serene glimpse into Antarctica’s luminous expanse.

PORTOFLIO

BIO

Philippe Boissonnet was born in France in 1957. He is currently a full-time professor in Arts at the UQTR University (Canada). He has been recipient in 1998 of the Shearwater Foundation for the Holographic Arts Prize (New York) and the Recommandation Prize of the ARTEC Biennal (Nagoya) in 1997. Combining the tools and dynamics of technological arts with a long-standing tradition of artists who have chosen to work with light, Boissonnet adopts a two-pronged approach : reprentation and interaction.Since 1983 he has been involved in a number of group and individual exhibitions, both on the national and international level (Europe, USA, Canada, Brasil, Australia, Japan). In 2007, he has been invited by the Argentine Ministry of Culture for participating to an «artist residency» in Antarctica within a group of Earth Sciences Research
Program which was related to the arising global warming issues. New works from the photo/video/holographic series related to Antarctica issues has been exhibited in Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, Mexico and Quebec (Montreal, Trois-Rivieres).

ABOUT «CP/TOMS TOTAL OZONE»

Philippe Boissonnet became aware at Ushuaia (2007) of an urgency to put the world as it should be, starting with the South, as did Nicolas Uriburu, to rid himself of a bias he inevitably carries with him ; that of a Northern view. Many of his holographic globes puts the Southern Hemisphere into relief.  In addition to this particular phenomenon of perception, which is at the heart of his artistic expression, this act has proven to be of some political value. He works, as always, on the margin, and the discontinuities between the various forms of artistic expression ; drawing, photography, sculpture, holography, digital imagery. And he floods the imagination with metaphors. Thus, he sees the Earth as a living organism, and acts by merging its image with bodies, tattooed skins for instance, and by identifying it through myths : Gaïa or Atlas, even Galileo. Humans have always been a measure of everything, according to greek proverbs. Today, once again, within the art of Philippe Boissonnet : the North is in the South. Through the way we look at it and the tools we use for it. That’s what emerged from his large scale photographic mural inspired by its journey to Anyarctica (2007), «CP/TOMS, Total Ozone» (a work produced in 2006 with the complicity of the argentine arrtist Andrea Juan).

Philippe Boissonnet and Hervé Fischer, (august 8th, 2009)

PORTFOLIO

BIO

Andrea Polli www.andreapolli.com is a digital media artist, Associate Professor in Fine Arts and Engineering and Director of the Interdisciplinary Film and Digital Media Program at The University of New Mexico. Polli’s work with science, technology and media has been presented widely in venues including the Whitney Museum of American Art Artport and The Field Museum of Natural History. Her work has been reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, Art in America, Art News, NY Arts and others. In 2007/2008, she spent seven weeks in Antarctica on a National Science Foundation funded residency.

SONIC ANTARCTICA

The Antarctic is undergoing rapid change. The Sonic Antarctica project is a radio broadcast, live performance and sound and visual installation featuring natural and industrial field recordings, geosonifications and audifications, interviews with Antarctic weather and climate scientists and soundscape compositions.

The areas recorded include: The Dry Valleys (77°30’S 163°00’E) the driest and largest relatively ice-free area on the continent completely devoid of terrestrial vegetation; and the geographic South Pole (90°00’S), the center of a featureless flat white expanse, on top of ice nearly nine miles thick.

Sonic Antarctica has been produced as a full-length audio CD on the Grunrecorder label.
This proposal is for a 3-channel video installation with stereo sound featuring video from a wireless weather balloon at the South Pole.

PORTFOLIO