Looped: Enduring
Durational performances by Jamie McMurry and Nikolaj Larsen
Part of the Art Center’s on-going series of contemporary video art
opening this evening, 5-8 PM with Final Light: V. Douglas Snow in Retrospect and the launch of Locals Only Gallery with Jared Clark
For Immediate Release: August 11, 2011
Contact: Emily Brunt | emilyb@slartcenter.org | 801.328.4201 x 115
www.slartcenter.org
20 S West Temple, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Tue-Thu & Fri 11 AM – 6 PM, Fri 11 AM – 9 PM
SALT LAKE CITY, UT – Salt Lake Art Center announces Looped: Enduring, durational performances by Jamie McMurry and Nikolaj Larsen, opening August 31 and exhibiting through November 3, 2011. Looped is an ongoing series of contemporary video art works in the foyer gallery.
In Nikolaj Larsen’s video My Cat and I the artist holds a cat in his arms for several minutes as he attempts the impossible task of creating a motionless portrait. The cat’s increasing agitation, juxtaposed with Larsen’s deadpan expression makes for an amusing contrast. Larsen’s video examines the constructs of video and photographic portraiture, using the presence of an uncooperative animal to illuminate the artifice of human social constructs.
The first of Jamie McMurry’s videos, 365 Performances, documents the artist as he enacts one performance art piece per day for an entire year. Engaged in the history of happenings and the treatment of life as art and art as life, McMurry’s performances shift the focus on the everyday, turning the world around him into the artist’s studio. While some performances appear happenstance and random, others contribute to a sequence of messages over time which reward the patient viewer. In McMurry’s second video, In the County Fair Series, McMurry obsessively engages in earnest and laborious repetitions of the traditional and leisurely acts of competition that one encounters at carnivals or county fairs, turning "fun" into a dogged pursuit of rewards.
"Jamie Mcmurry and Nicolaj Larsen bring humor and contemplation to the ways that feats of endurance affect our perceptions of the human body." says Micol Hebron, Chief Curator, Salt Lake Art Center.
Looped is Salt Lake Art Center’s ongoing series of contemporary video art exhibiting in the foyer gallery. Recent notable works include Turner Prize winner Mark Wallinger’s The Magic Of Things, in which he stitches together scenes of telekinesis from the popular 70s television series Bewitched, Shawna Moulton’s exploration of pseudo-magic and the self-help industry, Emilie Halpern’s whimsical visual puns, and Robert Fontenot’s bread dough sculpture explorations of the great state of Utah.
Salt Lake Art Center is Utah’s premiere venue for contemporary art, and was recognized as Best Museum in the State of Utah for 2011. Founded in 1931 and now located in the heart of Salt Lake City, the Art Center exhibits groundbreaking work by leading local and international artists. Notable past exhibitions include Robert Fontenot’s The Place This Is, a conceptual exploration of the stories and histories of Utah and America through materials commonly associated with the domestic realm; Contemporary Masters: Artist-Designed Miniature Golf and Lawn Gnomes Eat Your Hearts Out, a community public sculpture initiative designed to move the very best in contemporary art outside the four walls of the gallery and into places where people work, live, and play. Currently on view: Fallen Fruit of Utah, a state-wide collaboration with museums and individuals about the role of fruit in Utah’s history, led by artist collective Fallen Fruit. Upcoming exhibitions include Doublespeak, an exhibition of contemporary women artists working in code; Kim Schoenstadt, winner of the 2011 Catherine Doctorow Prize for Contemporary Painting, the annual installment of Sundance Film Festival New Frontier, and also Play Me I’m Yours, inviting the people of Salt Lake to show off their piano skills on street corners all over Salt Lake. The Art Center rounds out its offerings with a lively mix of award-winning educational programs, film screenings, panel discussions, and events celebrating Salt Lake’s vibrant local art scene. Salt Lake Art Center is located at 20 S. West Temple, just off the intersection with South Temple. Admission is free year-round. Business hours are Tuesday-Thursday: 11 am-6 pm; Friday: 11 am-9 pm; Saturday: 11 am-6 pm; closed Sunday and Monday. For more information call (801) 328-4201 or visit www.slartcenter.org.
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Emily Brunt
Director of Communications, Salt Lake Art Center
801.328.4201 x115 m: 801.232.7362 | emilyb@slartcenter.org | www.slartcenter.org
20 South West Temple | Salt Lake City, UT 84101
facebook.com/saltlakeartcenter | @slartcenter | Tue-Thu & Sat 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Fri 11 AM to 9 PM
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