April 6–July 1, 2012
This spring, the Museum's ongoing series devoted to contemporary art, Currents, features multi-media artist and current Freund Fellow Chelsea Knight, who investigates various concepts of labor, class, and gender through installation, video, and photography. In this exhibition, Knight creates the semblance of a construction site, a reference to the Museum itself as a place of physical labor with the ongoing expansion project. Knight's photographs of the East Building site will be presented alongside Frame (2012), a video featuring actual construction workers reciting feminist writings and poetry about desire, language, and labor.
Concurrently screening in the New Media Series gallery will be Knight's The End of All Resistance (2010), in which the artist transfers US Army interrogation techniques to a domestic setting. Knight examines the crucial role language plays in everyday life—how it shapes human relationships and affects our understanding, as well as misunderstanding, of others. Most significantly, Knight interrogates language itself, revealing its performative nature and role in the construction of power.
Curated by Tricia Y. Paik, assistant curator of modern and contemporary art, Currents 106: Chelsea Knight will be on view in Galleries 338 and 301 from April 6 through July 1, 2012. This presentation is supported by the Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Endowment Fund.
Generous support for Currents 106: Chelsea Knight is provided by the Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Endowment Fund, established to support the exhibition and acquisition of contemporary art at the Saint Louis Art Museum and the teaching principles of contemporary art at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.
Concurrently screening in the New Media Series gallery will be Knight's The End of All Resistance (2010), in which the artist transfers US Army interrogation techniques to a domestic setting. Knight examines the crucial role language plays in everyday life—how it shapes human relationships and affects our understanding, as well as misunderstanding, of others. Most significantly, Knight interrogates language itself, revealing its performative nature and role in the construction of power.
Curated by Tricia Y. Paik, assistant curator of modern and contemporary art, Currents 106: Chelsea Knight will be on view in Galleries 338 and 301 from April 6 through July 1, 2012. This presentation is supported by the Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Endowment Fund.
Generous support for Currents 106: Chelsea Knight is provided by the Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Endowment Fund, established to support the exhibition and acquisition of contemporary art at the Saint Louis Art Museum and the teaching principles of contemporary art at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.
Artist's Talk
Wednesday, April 4, 6:30 pmFree; Steinberg Hall at Washington University in St. Louis
Join us on the evening of April 4 to meet Chelsea Knight and learn about her art and working processes. Knight will present and discuss her recent work, including the Museum exhibition, and delve into its conceptual underpinnings and her major influences. An open reception will be held before the presentation, at 5:30 pm at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.
To learn more, visit the Sam Fox School Events Calendar.
This event takes place at off-site. For directions and parking information, please visit www.wustl.edu/community/visitors/maps.
Gallery Talk
Thursday, May 10, 11:00 amFriday, May 18, 6:00 pm
Free; meet in Sculpture Hall
Hear from Tricia Y. Paik, assistant curator of modern and contemporary art and curator of Currents 106, who will share details about and discuss the process and objectives of Chelsea Knight's installation. In an intimate setting, chat with an expert about themes of Knight's recent work and its current social relevance.
To join either gallery talk, meet at the Sculpture Hall Information Center. Space is limited; please arrive early.
The Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellowship was established to support the exhibition and acquisition of contemporary art at the Saint Louis Art Museum and the teaching principles of contemporary art in the Sam Fox School of Visual Arts and Design at Washington University in St. Louis. Open to an emerging or mid-career artist selected from an international applicant pool, this yearly fellowship provides the opportunity to teach in a university setting and to present a solo exhibition in the Museum's prestigious Currents series.
This teaching fellowship, a unique collaboration between two St. Louis institutions, was inaugurated by the Freund family in 1996. Each Fellow makes two visits to St. Louis during an academic year—one month each semester—working primarily with graduate art students and teaching a seminar one evening per week. In addition to the exhibition at the Museum, the Fellow delivers a public lecture at the University or Museum.
This teaching fellowship, a unique collaboration between two St. Louis institutions, was inaugurated by the Freund family in 1996. Each Fellow makes two visits to St. Louis during an academic year—one month each semester—working primarily with graduate art students and teaching a seminar one evening per week. In addition to the exhibition at the Museum, the Fellow delivers a public lecture at the University or Museum.
