The Great Society

August 2, 2007- September 29, 2007

Thursday, September 27th at 7pm
Lecture with Marisa Olson, Editor and Curator, Rhizome.org

The artists in the exhibition, The Great Society, undertake a fresh investigation of notions of social progress and the American Dream as they survey a landscape of broken promises- a landscape punctuated by social and economic inequality, crime, lack of independent media, and diminishing natural resources.

Curator Daniel Fuller knows that we, as a society, have been here before and aptly references, with the title of this exhibition, the promise and the failures of The Great Society. In the 1960s, President Lyndon B. Johnson and his administration, recognizing the deep inequalities and injustices plaguing the nation, introduced sweeping legislation and wide-ranging reform that addressed issues including poverty, racism, education, environment, the arts, transportation and urban planning.

This exhibition contains three separate investigations: flight, reform, and total disenfranchisement. Discontent with continuous urban decay, David Clayton, Isaac Resnikoff and Amy Yao explore ideas of escapism and dreams of colonization of distant unspoiled lands. Distrust in civic planning has caused 0100101110101101.org, J Shih Chieh Huang, and Joulia Strauss to experiment with new media strategies in an attempt to both challenge and enhance current living conditions. The work of Claire Fontaine and Houng Ngo portrays the absolute loss of hope that resides in broken communities.

The artists in The Great Society explore the use of technology, ingenuity and imagination to offer alternatives to the status quo and challenge long standing catch phrases: freedom, social mobility, progress, prosperity and happiness, capitalism and individualism. The artists in Great Society do not chase unrealistic ideas of utopia, but rather empower themselves through new media resourcefulness, trickery and the often strong belief in the ability of art to offer a true alternative.

Participating artists include: 0100101110101101.org, David Clayton, Claire Fontaine, J Shih Chieh Huang, Huong Ngo, Isaac Resnikoff, Joulia Strauss, Amy Yao.