Observer Effect

Gallery 400, University of Ilinois, Chicago

curated by Carrie Gundersdorf and Lorelei Stewart


Artists:

Jessica Hyatt, Steffani Jemison, Jochen Lempert, John O'Connor, Steve Roden, and Jorinde Voigt


Across media and approaches, Observer Effect examines how artworks incorporate processes akin to the scientific method to examine and understand specific phenomena that exist in the world. Each artist’s idiosyncratic approach of observing and understanding his/her distinct subject matter reveals the artist’s own subjectivity through this process and discloses how each artist, the observer, is part of what is being observed.

A phenomenon is defined as that which is observable: things, events, or experiences, including that which is observed through technology. Today, in an information age, our conceptions of phenomena are greatly expanded. Beyond the natural world, history, discourse, images, texts, interactions, and so much more become phenomena ripe for examination. Information as objects and landscapes creates new observable experiences and sets of phenomena.


As we encounter these proliferating phenomena and relationships among them, how we understand them becomes ever more important. A step further is the reconsideration of how knowledge is built. The basics of the scientific method—asking a question, conducting background research, offering a hypothesis, testing the hypothesis in an experiment, analyzing the data, and drawing a conclusion—offer a pathway both to understand our changing world and to reflect on the new forms of thought necessitated by it.


Our goal in this exhibition is to reveal how keenly observation and investigation are a part of artistic practice and how in an artistic approach, much of that activity is imbued with the subjective. That subjective element is an effective artistic tool. Observer Effect proposes to reveal just how useful that tool is, and the dynamic relationship between artist, process, and artwork.


Support:

Observer Effect is supported by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; the College of Architecture and the Arts, University of Illinois at Chicago; and a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.


Drawer's Drawing

Julius Caesar and Peregrine Program

curated by Carrie Gundersdorf and Eric Lebofsky


Artists:

Leslie Baum, Avantika Bawa, Elijah Burgher, Lilli Carré, Chris Edwards, Anthony Elms, Richard Rezac, Paul Schuette


We are two friends who have been talking to each other about drawing for a long time. We are both makers and fans. This show is an attempt to explore the perpetual malleability of drawing -- how it does so many things in so many ways, and remains fresh, with a quality of immediacy. We are bringing together a group of artists who use drawing towards distinct ends in order to ask: what sets drawing apart from all other media, even as most of these artists tap into other media with their work?


Drawer's Drawing Zine


-- Carrie Gundersdorf & Eric Lebofsky


Image: Chris Edwards, Sandra Bernhard on Letterman 1983-1991, 2012, various fabrics, gouache, sequins, and assorted beads on cardboard

 

deluxe projects was a project space founded and directed by Carrie Gundersdorf, Danielle Gustafson-Sundell, Adam Scott, and Andrew Moore. 

 

2009 Push Pin Project #3, Instructions for Running a DIY Space

Artists Run Chicago, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL

A poster created for the exhibition, Artists Run Chicago at Hyde Park Art Center

           

2003 Push-pin Project #2, The Message

A poster with artist projects by John Parot, Scott Reeder, Kay Rosen, Michael S. Thomas, and writing by the Biotic Baking Brigade, Andrew Moore and Michael S. Thomas, Adam Scott, and Tim Kerr


2003 Push-pin Project #1, Get Your Culture On

A poster with artist projects by Michael Cline and Melanie Schiff and writing by Ken Fandell, Michelle Grabner, John Ricco, and Aemilia Scott

 

2000 - 2003 Exhibitions at deluxe projects included Nancy Ford, Susan Giles, Michelle Grabner, Cindy Loehr, Riad Miah, Andrew Moore, Milhaus, Curtis Stage, Kristin van Deventer, Carl Warnick, and Lisa Williamson. Shows at deluxe projects were reviewed in Frieze Magazine, Chicago Tribune, Art Papers, Artnet.com, and New Art Examiner.