THE MAP AND THE TERRITORY

An exhibition by Sara Morawetz

February 14 – March 23

 

Artist talk and reception: Weds 22 March, 6pm

 

The map, Alfred Korzybski tells us, is not the same thing as the territory that it represents. Drawing its title from this adage, this exhibition comprises maps of both the sea and the night sky––a collection of blank maps of the English Channel, and an archive of constellations that the International Astronomical Association excised in the creation of its official star chart the in the 1920s. Considered together, these objects raise questions about the systems by which we measure and represent space.

We tend to think of maps as objective documents, but they are historically contingent and culturally specific. In order to render a terrain visually intelligible and navigable, cartography radically simplifies and codifies space; a map is an abstraction that erases as much as it represents. What is gained and lost in these erasures? What terrains, lifeways and knowledge-systems disappear in these expedient consolidations? Both the erasure of constellations and the coordinates of these empty oceanic maps arise from European systems of organizing space and the visual field––systems that are entangled with Europe’s colonial expansion and now form the basis of internationally agreed-upon standards.

Sara Morawetz’s practice explores the processes that underpin scientific action. She is interested in how concepts of the ‘Scientific Method’ (namely observation, experimentation and standardization) have come to operate as both scientific and cultural apparatus that shape the way we see the world around us. Her work explores the exhaustive, the obsessive, the poetic and the absurd inherent within scientific activity. Her  recent projects have involved collaborations with scientists from a range of scientific institutions including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (USA).

Her work has been exhibited internationally, including exhibitions at the Museé des Arts et Métiers (France), Australian Consulate-General New York, RAPID PULSE International Performing Arts Festival (Chicago, USA), Open Source Gallery (NYC, USA) and Dominik Mersch Gallery (NSW, Australia), and was recently included in recent survey publication by Phaidon Press entitled Prime: Arts Next Generation that catalogues “100 of the most innovative and interesting contemporary artist…as chosen by the future leaders of the art world.”

Curated by Macushla Robinson, Director of the Contemporary Art Galleries.

 

UConn Contemporary Art Galleries Presents:

Rafael Concepcion

Where do I know you from?

2/7/2022 – 3/11/2022

Artist Talk 2/23/2022 @ 6pm EST

Contemporary Art Galleries is pleased to present a photographic exhibition by Puerto Rican photographer Rafael Concepcion. The title of the exhibition, Where do I know you from?, references Concepcion’s relationship to Puerto Rico as a site of familiar origin first experienced through photographs and objects. Concepcion’s photographs position the camera as an archaeological tool for building connections through the documentation of material culture. Concepcion illustrates his relationship through portraits, landscapes and found still life scenes culminating in a rich archive of multicultural identity. Concepcion states, ” These pictures were made across multiple trips to Puerto Rico since that first endeavor, and through the implementation of visual motifs regarding wonderment, isolation, and personal history, they are an interpretation of my experience as a half Puerto Rican person, attempting to ground myself in a foreign place of familial and emotional significance.”

Rafael Concepcion (born in Danbury, Connecticut, 1993) is an artist whose work primarily deals with intersections between personal history and human behavior. His interest in photography as a primary medium stems from his curiosity with the concepts of chance and impulse. Stepping outside of the more didactic characteristics of photography, he uses his camera to delve into an emotional space that allows him the opportunity to thoroughly review facets of his day-to-day life that he might not have taken into account without a photograph. The same way a writer uses their diary, he uses photography as a means of recalling events, and using its transformative abilities to shape the way he remembers those instances in the images.

*We are currently operating by appointment only, to book your visit please email Director Luke Seward at luke.seward@uconn.edu

 

 

 

 

<   Join us for a public artist talk on 10/28/2021 @ 6pm via Zoom   >

 

 

UConn Contemporary Art Galleries Presents:

Eden Dodd

Death Throes

10/14/2021 – 12/5/2021

Artist Talk: 10/28/2021 @ 6pm EST via Zoom

Contemporary Art Galleries is pleased to host a solo exhibition by UK based artist Eden Dodd titled Death Throes. Dodd’s mirrored glass works are soldered together using traditional stained-glass techniques. This process played an important role in the illustration of religious storytelling during the Middle Ages and continues to do so in contemporary places of worship. Dodd is interested in “mythologizing personal narratives, as a method of inviting others to empathize and understand another’s circumstance.”  Weaponry, knight’s armor, and maces are the vessels that carry Dodd’s messages as they ask us to look at fractured reflections of ourselves within medieval symbology. 

As a non-binary person, Eden Dodd (b.1994) has found a connection with fractured states within their artwork; the space between planes of existence, of dichotomies and of the physical and ethereal states. Dualities, reflections and doubles are integral to the language of their practice – the other always exists within the self. Through the lens of queerness; they can exist in both this side of the mirror and the other, simultaneously. Eden has a First-Class BA (Hons) Fine art from Cardiff Metropolitan University, and a MLitt (Distinction) in Fine Art Practice from Glasgow School of Art. Their work has been exhibited solo and within group shows both nationally and internationally in Japan, Ukraine, Vienna, America. Their work is held in private collections across the world.

 

@edengrantdodd

www.ethan-dodd.com

 

Open by appointment only, email luke.seward@uconn.edu to schedule a visit

UConn Contemporary Art Galleries

830 Bolton Road, Storrs, CT 06269

*Masks Required

 

 

 

 

: )          Join us Friday 6/25/2021 from 5-7pm          : )

 

 

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UConn Contemporary Art Galleries

Alejandro De La Guerra

La Máquina Herida (The Machine Hurt)

6/25/2021 – 7/21/2021

 

Contemporary Art Galleries is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Nicaraguan artist and current visiting fellow in residence at the UConn School of Fine Arts, Alejandro De La Guerra. Collectively, De La Guerra’s practice focuses on the aesthetics and historical memories of political power. This exhibition features new works composed of 3D printed parts, jewelry beads, chains, acrylic paint, and spray foam all anchored to traditional canvas. Fundamental to these assemblages is a process of layering as De La Guerra collides a multiplicity of historic political iconography and current political fashion sense.  

 

These abstractions are a departure from De La Guerra’s distinctive performance and sculptural work, marking an important moment in the artist’s visual language. The surfaces of De La Guerra’s new works are alive with optical attraction – mimicking candy and dessert. He has described these works as a “failed revolutionary aesthetic,” one assembled from the “failure” of 3D printing machines and unwieldy foam material. De la Guerra’s ability to redefine symbols of power comes to the fore in “Celda;” as a grid of blue lines representing prison bars becomes soft and malleable. We see a similar message in “Lava y Nieve (promesas políticas)” in which De La Guerra presents strips of snow on shelving housed within a mound of molten lava, all nestled under a single palm tree protruding from the top edge of the canvas.    

 

This exhibition is made possible with generous support from the Artist Protection Fund (APF), UConn Human Rights Institute and UConn El Instituto.

 

Opening Reception:

6/25/2021  

5pm – 7pm

 

Open by appointment only, email luke.seward@uconn.edu to schedule a visit

 

UConn Contemporary Art Galleries

830 Bolton Road, Storrs, CT 06269

 

*Masks Required