FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 15, 2008
FOR MORE INFORMATION: contact Jade Walker
    Director, Creative Research Laboratory
    email:crlab@uts.cc.utexas.edu
    phone:(512) 322-2099
EXHIBITION DATES: January 24 - February 7, 2009
CLOSING RECEPTION: Saturday, February 7, 6 - 9 pm, featuring a performance by Carlos Rosales-Silva at 7 pm
GALLERY HOURS: 12-5 pm, Tues. - Sat.

For information about the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Texas at Austin,
    contact Carolyn Porter
    email: carolynp@mail.utexas.edu
    phone: (512) 471-3379.

A STRANGE LAND:
An evolving project-based exhibition exploring themes of citizenship, urbanization, landscape, and cultural modification presented in collaboration by the Creative Research Laboratory and the Blanton Museum of Art

January 24 - February 7, 2009

The Creative Research Laboratory presents A STRANGE LAND, featuring work by Beili Liu, Lynn Richardson, Cauleen Smith, Chris Taylor, and Mapping Exchange Austin-Argentina Residency artist, Erica Bohm. The evolving exhibition rotates around the phenomenon of cultural modification to diverse societies and geography with a focus on issues of displacement and the blending of ethos, landscapes, and personal histories in a foreign land.

The exhibition provides a unique opportunity for this diverse group of artists and architects to collaborate and explore his or her visions of cultural crossings and changing landscapes through the creative production of an evolving art and work space.

Beili Liu, current UT Assistant Professor, transforms spaces through the exploration of materials, creating ethereal landscapes that combine her interests in spatial composition and texture with personal history crossing borders from East to West.

UT alumna and Assistant Professor at Keene State University, artist Lynn Richardson investigates the conflict with the industrial and natural environment through minimalist architectural forms, tackling issues such as the effects of corporate intervention on the natural landscape.

Cauleen Smith, Acting Associate Professor at University of California San Diego, works in multimedia, film and photography. Smith presents visual narrations of the urban landscape, exploring themes such as gender, culture, race and identity.

Chris Taylor, Assistant Professor of Architecture and Director of Land Arts of the American West at Texas Tech University, will be creating a large scale drawing utilizing base maps and photographs as a means to unearth connections between the unforeseen future of the spatial geomorphology of the basin of the Great Salt Lake Desert and the socio-political history it contains.

Argentinean artist-in-resident, Erica Bohm, sponsored by the Blanton’s Austin-Argentina Residency program, lives and works in Buenos Aires, Argentina and graduated from the School of Fine Arts Prilidiano Pueyrredon in painting. Working in photography, Bohm investigates the extremes of visual representation, memory and color through manipulation of the photographic process to create supernatural landscapes that challenge notions of visible and invisible realities.

Carlos Rosales-Silva, a student in the Department of Art and Art History and Okay Mountain staff, utilizes performance to investigate cultural boundaries, social constructions and race. He will perform during the closing reception, Saturday, February 7 at 7pm. In addition, UT faculty and visiting artists will participate in a panel discussion on Sunday, February 1 at 2pm. Specific details regarding this event are forthcoming.

The exhibition A Strange Land is organized by the Creative Research Laboratory of the Department of Art and Art History, College of Fine Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. The AA Residency is organized by the Blanton Museum of Art in collaboration with Creative Research Laboratory and Proyecto Nexar Buenos Aires, Argentina as part of Mapping Exchange: Artists' Residencies Programs at the University of Texas. The College of Fine Arts, the Barbara Duncan Centennial Endowed Lectureship and Rodrigo R. Monteiro de Castro provide the funding for these programs.