VIEW: Exhibition Catalog Design: Sonia Yoon Essays by Steven L. Bridges and Sameena Mulla Release Date: August 17, 2018 This catalog was published on the occasion of the exhibition Kirsten Leenaars: (Re)Housing the American Dream, commissioned by the Haggerty Museum of Art (Milwaukee, WI). Read more on the exhibition and museum. Link to project website: https://rehousingtheamericandream.wordpress.com
(Re)Housing the American Dream at York College Galleries, York (PA), September 6 –October 12, 2018. The exhibition shows the collection of drawings, video and text work that make up (Re)Housing the American Dream; a cumulative documentary project (2015-ongoing) that explores the role of film as political action. This experimental multi-year documentary project follows a group of American and refugee youths in Milwaukee, growing up in the time of Trump. Through the collective making of video and text based work the construct of the American Dream is explored. The production period is structured as an annual summer camp in which the works are developed through collaborative processes with the participants. The produced work reflects on current socio-political issues, their lived experiences, individual perspectives and their collective imagination. The annual works cumulatively inform each other and tell the story of a resilient, diverse, opinioned group of youngsters living in divisive times. Project website: https://rehousingtheamericandream.wordpress.com/ Artist Lecture: Wednesday October 10, 5:30 pm Demeester Recital Hall, 441 Country Club Rd, York College York, Pennsylvania Exhibition: Kirsten Leenaars: (Re)Housing the American Dream September 6 – October 12, 2018, York College Galleries Wolf Hall, …
Invitation opening reception (Re)Housing the American Dream: Freedom Principles at the Haggerty Museum of Art in Milwaukee. This exhibition is an overview of all the work produced during this 3-year performative documentary project, including the new 3 channel video installation, produced this summer. Opening Reception (Re)Housing the American Dream: Freedom Principles Thursday Sept 20th from 5 – 8 pm. Gallery Talk 6 pm: Artist Kirsten Leenaars in conversation with filmmaker Jesse McLean. Haggerty Museum of Art, at Marquette University 530 N 13th St, Milwaukee Exhibition Rehousing the American Dream: Freedom Principles runs: August 17, 2018 – January 17, 2019 at the Haggerty Museum of Art Link to show: http://www.marquette.edu/haggerty/kirsten-leenaars3.php Project website: https://rehousingtheamericandream.wordpress.com/ (Re)Housing the American Dream is a cumulative performative documentary project (2015-ongoing) that explores the role of film as political action. This experimental multi-year documentary project follows a group of American and refugee youths, growing up in the time of Trump, through the collective making of performative video and text based work exploring the construct of the American Dream. The production period is structured as an annual summer camp in which the works are developed through collaborative processes with the …
Monday, September 3 // 3-7 PM at 6018 North Kenmore Avenue Living Architecture is a large-scale, multidisciplinary exhibition focusing on the influence and impact of immigrant artists in Chicago. The exhibition responds to the current political climate to highlight how Chicago was built with immigrant labor, particularly in the arts, and is continuously shaped today by exemplary immigrant artists. Join us on Labor Day for the opening date of the exhibition at 6018North, with works on view by Alberto Aguilar, Kioto Aoki, Amanda Assaley and Qais Assali, Axis Lab, Tizziana Baldenebro, Gregory Bae, Yesenia Bello, Irina Botea, Yvette Brackman, Tom Burtonwood and Maryam Taghavi, Verónica Casado Hernández, Derek Chan, Chapuisat Brothers, Eugenia Cheng, Julietta Cheung, Alex Chitty, William Estrada, Silvia Gonzalez with Joseph Josue Mora and Patricia Nguyen, Óscar I González Díaz, Daniel Haddad, Irena Haiduk, Lise Haller Baggesen, Aram Han Sifuentes, Soohyun Kim, Rodrigo Lara Zendejas, Benjamin Larose, Kirsten Leenaars, Frances Lightbound, Wen Liu, Ivan LOZANO, Junxi Lu, Luftwerk, Sheika Lugtu, Carlos Matallana, Esperanza Mayobre, Yvette Mayorga, Jesus Mejia + Ruth, Harold Mendez, Frédéric Moffet, Julie Oh, Claes Oldenburg, Sherwin Ovid, Roni Packer, …
This series of 12 drawings was developed for the multi-disciplinary project (Re)Housing the American Dream – an ongoing community based, performative documentary project which started in 2015. This Milwaukee based project provides a collective forum for refugee and American born children to engage critically with their intersecting issues of immigration, segregation, housing, and happiness. In the early 20th century, Milwaukee became known for its “sewer socialism”: a pragmatic approach to reform based in cleaning up neighborhoods and factories with new sanitation systems, installing municipally owned water and power systems, improving education systems, and building public housing and community parks. In 1921, Milwaukee’s ‘Garden Homes’ became the first municipally built public housing project in the United States, reflecting these ideals. Looking into this socialist history of Milwaukee, and the city’s current housing issues, I looked at the different architecture models that were developed to house the working class people in Milwaukee in the 20th century and reimagined what these architectural structures might look like. Thru the Roof is a visual meditation on exit strategies: leaving, staying, and the …
Special screening and catalog presentation of (Re)Housing the American Dream: A Message from the Future on Saturday March 3rd. The catalog is designed by Sonia Yoon and includes an essay by Steven Bridges, assistant curator at Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University. At 3 pm there will a Q&A with the young participants discussing the project and their experiences being part of it and developing the work together. For more on the project: https://rehousingtheamericandream.wordpress.com/ Screening and catalog presentation: (Re)Housing the American Dream: A Message from the Future. Saturday, March 32 – 5 pm, 3 pm: Q&A. Mobile Design Box, 753 N. 27th Street, Milwaukee
(Re)Housing the American Dream: A Message from the Future Three-channel video, 2017 Duration 13:42 min How to imagine a future America when you are thirteen in what feels like a rather uncertain time? How are our desires and fears marked by the reality of today? How to give shape to these future imaginations through performative actions? Referencing Lygia Pape’s performance ‘Divisor’ and Simone Forti’s ‘Huddle’ the students create a sensorial cartography of the future, of the individual and the collective. They wrote a manifesto, embody the future creative work force, planted flags devised from silver emergency blankets in the neighborhood, took over the streets moving as one collective body and created a large-scale ‘monument of the future’ in public space in response to the Charlotteville protests. Collectively they imagined how we could move forward as a nation comprised of a multitude of histories and identities, like the group itself. Director / Editor: Kirsten Leenaars Assistant Director: Zachary Hutchinson Camera: Ellie Hall and Paul deuth Sound: Brent Walquist Composer: Paul Deuth Performers: Alanis Aranda-Salgado, Iman …
The Shape of Things (Come Tomorrow) Video, 2017 Duration 15:58 min Video interviews, part of (Re)Housing the American Dream:A Message from the Future The participants talk about their future selves, a future America and the future of the world – while reflecting back on our times today. What does it mean to be a human being? What does it mean to be of my culture? What does it mean to live in the place I do? What does it mean to have a voice? What does it mean to be an American? Director: Kirsten Leenaars Camera: Paul Deuth Sound: Brent Walquist Editing: Ellie Hall
Typographies of Hope (April 7, 2017, NY Times), 2017 Saturday May 13, 6 PM – 9 PM Triumph, 2055 W Cermak Rd, Chicago, IL 60608 https://www.facebook.com/events/427346977630466/?active_tab=about The Dangerous Professors, a curatorial project exhibiting over one hundred and fifty artists–educators, acts as a counter-action to the pervasive rightwing impulse whose spirit jeopardizes civil, artistic and academic freedom by calling out, shaming, and harming those it opposes. The exhibition responds by first inviting artists who define themselves as educators to participate, the result of which creates a list of art-educators that can be deemed, in the current political climate, as dangerous. Second, the exhibition portrays the spectrum of art done by the presumably “dangerous” educators, and has the potential to become “dangerous art.” Third, the exhibition will provide a publication that voices the individual concerns of the artists-educators participating in the show. The text will structure a platform for public dialogue that furthers the development of strategies toward radical education. Public event for the release of The Dangerous Professors Publication: Thursday, May 25, 6pm to 10pm Curator: …
how are you feeling America, 2017 Friday May 12, 6 PM – 9 PM Public Access, 3306 W. North Ave, Chicago, IL 60647 Exhibition continues until June 10th, 2017. Gallery open hours on Saturdays from 12-6pm. https://www.publicaccess.biz/standards-variance/ Standards Variance is a group show of speculative proposals around what is possible for urban space (empty lots, abandoned buildings, storefronts, green-space, etc.) in Chicago. Julia Arredondo, Stella Brown, William Camargo & Yvette Mayorga, Monica Chadha & Carlo Parente, Raul De Lara, Angela Davis Fegan, Alejandro Jimenez Flores, Alfredo Garcia, Danny Giles & Sharmyn Cruz Rivera, Jaclyn Jacunski, Leo Kaplan, Morten Kvamme, Kirsten Leenaars, Ruslana Lichtzier, Fran Lightbound, Kelly Lloyd, Lora Lode, John Lusis, Jesse Malmed, Nicole Marroquin, Victoria Martinez, Gabriel Montero, Nuria Montiel, Josh Rios, Bailey Romaine, Luis Rodriguez Rosario, Edra Soto, Third Object (Ann Meisinger, Raven Falquez Munsell, Gan Uyeda), Selina Trepp, Rafael E. Vera, Lisa Vinebaum, Aaron Walker, and Latham Zearfoss. Organized by Brandon Alvendia and Greg Ruffing.
Details wall drawing (20x12ft) “I’ve Got The Best Words”, 2016. Evanston Art Center, 1717 Central Street, Evanston Based on linguistic research and google searches around the language and words used by both candidates in the upcoming elections this work addresses the notion of language as something elusive, fleeting, troubled, tainted and at times powerful, ultimately questioning word’s power to align themselves with authenticity and meaning. And when are words ever “just a few words”? “Words matter when you run for president,” as Hillary Clinton reminded her opponent during the first presidential debate. Clinton was clearly admonishing Donald Trump for a season of off-the-cuff remarks and tweets which have been routinely misleading, false, hateful, derogatory, inflammatory, juvenile, and—most recently—“lewd.” Trump’s counter, at once boastful and inscrutable, is that he has “the best words.” For example Trump used most first person singular pronouns (I, me, my) while Clinton was more likely to use first person plural pronouns (we, us). Trump used twice as many empty words (e.g. anybody, everybody, nothing, thing) as Clinton. “I’ve Got the Best …
(Re)housing the American Dream, 2016 13:24 min During a 13-day video shoot personal histories and experiences from the participating middle school students served as metaphors to explore the real and imagined reality of the American Dream. The video raises questions about the notions of home, belonging and happiness in context of the American Dream. Delving into the complex notions of place, person, community, family, country, origin, land, or a moment of time as a site of identification, with being a person. The video ponders the enduring question of what it means to be human and how this has become inextricably from the question who we are to each other? How is the American Dream both an individual and collective dream? These young residents of Milwaukee imagined and (re)envisioned the American Dream and what is most required to allow this dream unfold. Director: Kirsten Leenaars Assistant Director: Lindsey Barlag Thornton Camera: Ellie Hall and Nick Drew Sound: Mathew Jinks and Paul Deuth Composer: Paul Deuth Editor: Kirsten Leenaars Participants: Alanis Aranda-Salgado, Iman Fatmi, Hannah Plevin, Grace …
We The People, 2016 16:59 min Part of the (Re)Housing the American Dream project. Interviews with all the participating middle school students about home, belonging, segregation, the American Dream, Donald Trump and immigration. Camera: Nick Drew Editor: Ellie Hall Images of the installation and show (Re)Housing the American Dream at the Haggerty Museum of Art: https://rehousingtheamericandream.wordpress.com/images-show-rehousing-the-american-dream-at-the-haggerty-museum-of-art/ Exhibition info: http://www.marquette.edu/haggerty/exhibit_2016_08_Leenaars.shtml
(Re)Housing the American Dream was exhibited Fall 2016 as a three-channel video installation at the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University, Milwaukee from August 18 – December 23, 2016. The exhibition installation included multiple video works derived from the project, and documentation from Kirsten Leenaars’ collaborative process. http://www.marquette.edu/haggerty/exhibit_2016_08_Leenaars.shtml Overview of the exhibition (Re)Housing the American Dream, curated by Emilia Layden. Photo credit: Clare Britt
