Opening @ Okay Mountain

Ballads For Approaching Vultures

May 1 - May 29, 2010

Opening Reception: Saturday, May 1, 7-10pm

Okay Mountain presents, "Ballads For Approaching Vultures", a two person show featuring the work of Scott Eastwood and Skinner. Each artist draws on popular and underground culture, at times employing the aesthetic language of genre horror and fantasy, with emphasis on exploring the exchange of effluence these references have with music. Skinner currently lives and works in Sacramento, California and Eastwood is based in Austin where he is currently enrolled in the MFA Painting program at the University of Texas.

Gallery Hours: Wednesday 7-9pm and Saturday 12-5pm
Location: 1312 E Cesar Chavez St. Ste B Austin, Texas 78702 [Google Map]

This Friday and Saturday @ Women and Their Work

Cloud Eye Control - Under Polaris

April 29, April 30 and May 1 - performances at 7pm



"Fusing palpably transcendent video art with live performances of jaw-dropping complexity, multimedia collective Cloud Eye Control's seductive productions are a feast for the senses and a bold step forward in the possibilities of cinema." -by Graham on Spike Jonze's Blog "we love you so."



Cloud Eye Control is a Los Angeles-based multi-disciplinary performance collective. Integrating animation, experimental theatre, pop music, and puppetry, their work fuses screen and stage to create inventive hybrids of animation and performance. Under Polaris tells the story of an epic journey into an Arctic wonderland. A woman embarks upon an incredible mission to preserve the finer elements of humanity in Arctic ice. Along the way, she disguises herself as animals to help her survive the elements-and in the process, learns about the delicate interdependence between humans and nature.



This Thursday night, the performances begin at 7pm, for three nights in a row. These performances are in conjunction with thehttp://fuseboxfestival.com . Please note this event takes place at Salvage Vanguard Theater, 2803 Manor Road, not at the gallery. Tickets are $20 and available at the door and here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/106469

Low Lives 2, April 30th

APRIL 30

Low Lives 2

International Networked Performance: Friday, April 30, 7-10PM

In partnership with the 2010 FUSEBOX FESTIVAL and New York City based artist/curator Jorge Rojas Co-Lab presents Low Lives 2featuring:

A 2010 Streaming Class Portrait

Since 1999 Michael Smith has been taking his students to the Sears Portrait Studio to sit for a group class portrait, a picture that later may become their only memento and reminder of a semester spent together with Professor Smith. For Smith, it is not only a reminder of time spent with his class it is also and a not so subtle reminder of years passing. When looking over a group of the Sears Class Portraits it's apparent that the project is a chronicle of aging, the students stay the same age as Smith gets older.
For Low Lives 2, Smith and his performance art students will animate the Sears Sessions and sit together for a live tableau vivant portrait for online viewers. Quiet and still, the sitters will attempt to hold their poses and freeze a moment in time.

About Low Lives:

Now in its second year, Low Lives is a one-night exhibition of live performance-based works transmitted via the internet and projected in real time at numerous venues throughout the U.S. Low Lives examines works that explore the potential of performance practice presented live through online broadcasting networks. These networks, though seldom utilized for performance art, provide a new alternative and efficient medium for presenting and viewing performances.

Organized and curated by Brooklyn-based artist and curator, Jorge Rojas, Low Lives embraces works with a lo-fi aesthetic such as low pixel image and sound quality, contributing to a raw, DIY and sometimes voyeuristic quality in the transmission and reception of the work. The international artists and artist collectives participating in this exhibition will transmit their performances from countries including Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Singapore Trinidad & Tobago and from the following cities in the United States: Austin, TX; Houston, TX; Nashville, TN; NYC, NY; Miami, FL; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Minneapolis, MN; Las Vegas, NV; Gunnison, CO; San Francisco, CA; Chicago, IL and Los Angeles, CA.

“Low Lives is about not simply the presentation of performative gestures at a particular place and time but also about the transmission of these moments and what gets lost, conveyed, blurred, and reconfigured when utilizing this medium,” states Curator Jorge Rojas. Rojas, whose artwork has increasingly involved performative elements and live video streaming networks, proposed this exhibition to each of the presenting partners because of their commitment to experimental art, performance art, new media and framing local and international art-making.

Artists include: Amelia Winger-Bearskin, Lawrence Graham-Brown, Hector Canonge, Alexis Caputo, Vienne Chan, Osvaldo Cibils, Gabrielle Civil, Marcus Civin, Chris Coy, The Bridge Club, Francesca Fini, Linda Ford, Lynne Heller, Anni Holm, Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa AKA Devil Bunny, Las Hermanas Iglesias, Michelle Isava, Tina La Porta, Elizabeth Leister, Luke Munn, Olek, Wanda Ortiz, Jacklyn Soo, Michael Smith, Sam Trubridge with Rob Appierdo & Stuart Foster, Migdalia Luz Barens-Vera, Marcus Vinicius, Martin Zet, Agni Zotis

As a new addition to this year’s exhibition, presenting partners contributed to the curatorial process and evening’s program by presenting a live performance at their venues. The following artists and venues will present live performances on the night of the event:

Lawrence Graham-Brown- Co-presented by Aljira and El Museo del Barrio

Michael Smith- Co-presented by Co-Lab and Fusebox Festival

Gigi Otalvaro-Hormillosa AKA Devil Bunny- Presented by Galeria de la Raza

Alexis Caputo- Presented by Diaspora Vibe Gallery

Gabrielle Civil- Presented by Obsidian Arts

Marcus Civin- Presented by The Temporary Space 


Low Lives 2 will be presented at the following venues:

El Museo del Barrio: 1230 5th Avenue, NYC - 8:00pm – 11:00pm

Galeria de la Raza: 2857 24th Street, SF - 5:00pm – 8:00pm

Diaspora Vibe Gallery: 3938 North Miami Ave., Miami – 8:00pm – 11:00pm

The Temporary Space: 1320 Nance St., Houston - 7:00pm – 10:00pm

Obsidian Arts: 3501 Chicago Avenue South, Minneapolis - 7:00pm – 10:00pm

Terminal: APSU- Clarksville - 7:00pm – 10:00pm

Co-Lab: 613 Allen St., Austin - 7:00pm – 10:00pm

Studio 304: 304 Boerum St., Brooklyn - 8:00pm – 11:00pm

Live Broadcast: www.ustream.tv/channel/low-lives-2 - 8:00 – 11:00pm (EST)

WALKS

Sodalitas

April 28 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Under the Mopac Expressway on Veteran's Drive

The Walks project is inspired by a dérive or flâneur, both terms loosely refer to a drifting or strolling through an environment to experience the sociological, anthropological, historical and geographical relationships between the individual and their city. The Walks project is at its core an exploration of the city; with a concerted effort to break from routine and experience your environment from a different vantage point and at a slower pace.

Walk #1 – Thursday, April 22nd 10:00 am
The first walk starts at Big Medium, 5305 Bolm Road.

Walk #2 – Wednesday, April 28th 10:00 am
The second walk starts under the Mopac Expressway on Veterans Drive.

Walks exhibition at Big Medium
Opening reception Saturday, May 1st 5:00 – 9:00 pm
This exhibition will display various found objects, paths taken, and other forms of documentation collected by participants from both walks.

SODALITAS (Jana Swec, Joseph Phillips and Shea Little) explores the process of collaboration through a variety of media. Their work deals with issues ranging from their own interpersonal dynamics to globalization and international politics. During Fusebox, SODALITAS will embark on two walks, and they encourage participation from anyone interested in joining them. The group will begin at the same location, but may not necessarily move together, an important aspect of the Walks is for the traveler to take their own path, whether they pursue their own route or walk with others. Each member of the walk is encouraged to document their path with photography, video, audio, mapping and/or collecting objects found along the way. The documentation of these walks will be displayed at the Big Medium gallery.

If you would like to participate in one or both of the walks, please arrive at the proper location at 9:30 am to check in. You should bring any materials or equipment you would like to use to document the walk. Suggested items to bring: sketch pad, camera, video equipment, audio recorder, pencils, pens, zip-lock bags, gloves, snacks, water, and sunscreen. Suggested items to wear: backpack, hat, comfortable walking shoes, and light clothes. For more information visit www.sodalitasart.com

The Walks exhibition, at Big Medium, will also be open on Sunday, May 2nd from 12:00 - 5:00 pm. For more information visit www.bigmedium.org or call 512-385-1670

Big Medium
5305 Bolm Rd #12
Austin TX 78721