Against Doom
On view March 18–April 5, 2019
Eli Marsh Gallery • 105 Fayerweather Hall
Opening Lecture & Reception:
Thursday, March 21st, 4:30 p.m.
Pruyne Lecture Hall • 115 Fayerweather
Artist-in-Residence Macon Reed’s solo exhibition, Against Doom, offers a collection of bright, colorful reflections and strategies for resilience and imagination in times of distress. Included in her exhibition at Eli Marsh Gallery in Fayerweather Hall, is an installation entitled A Pressing Conference. A Pressing Conference is an immersive installation and participatory project that subverts the traditional role of the White House press briefing room-allowing the public to speak from the podium with open and free access to the symbols of information dissemination usually controlled by those in power. Based on the White House press briefing room, the installation includes a podium, presidential backdrop, American flag, microphone, chairs, and seating chart including the names of journalists facing persecution past and present. Students and visitors will be encouraged to consider speaking from the podium themselves, sharing their reflections on the current political climate and issues most important to them. All videos and photos taken can be collected and shared under the hashtag #apressingconference, archived along with those from participants around the country.
Additionally, Against Doom includes Reed’s video And All The World Must Suffer A Big Jolt, an intimate video incorporating historical executions of women deemed as witches and/or rebels in 14-17th century Europe into an imaginary conversation with intergalactic ancestral beings. Reed’s hands come in and out of the dioramic space, activating small sculptures. Working from Silvia Federici's text Caliban and The Witch, this video considers notions of power as it relates to intelligence and bodies, fictions and realities, and the perceived threat of both imagination and magic. DIY pop aesthetic mixes with this history of persecution, asking us to connect the dots between historic and contemporary treatments of “other” and things we do not understand.
Artist Bio:
Macon Reed is an artist working in sculpture, installation, video, radio documentary, painting, and participatory projects. Her work has shown at venues including PULSE NYC Special Projects, BRIC Media Arts, ABC No Rio, The Kitchen, Art F City FAGallery, Chicago Cultural Center, Mana Contemporary, Roots & Culture, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, ICA Baltimore, and Athens Museum of Queer Arts in Greece. Reed completed her MFA at the University of Illinois at Chicago as a University Fellow in 2013 and received her BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2007. Additionally she studied Radio Documentary at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies and Physical Theater at the Dah International School in Belgrade. Most recently Reed was an artist in residence at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and a Research Fellow at Eyebeam Center for Art+Technology.
Artist Website
GALLERY HOURS
Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Sunday, 12-4 p.m.
Closed Saturday
Please note: This exhibition will close at noon on Friday, April 5.