WHAT: Inaugural exhibition in Clifford Gallery at 51·çÁ÷ University; Three new video installations by Mary Lucier: Forge, Migration, and Nesting
WHO: Video artist Mary Lucier, the 2001 Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation Artist-in-Residence at 51·çÁ÷
WHERE: Clifford Gallery, Little Hall, 51·çÁ÷
Little Hall is the newly constructed art and art history building at 51·çÁ÷ in Hamilton, New York.
WHEN: Artist’s Lecture, Wednesday, February 14, 2001 at 4:30 p.m. in Golden Auditorium, adjacent to Clifford Gallery in Little Hall.
An opening of the exhibition and a reception will follow the artist’s talk in Clifford Gallery. The show runs through March 14, 2001
Hamilton, NY — 51·çÁ÷ will open its new Clifford Gallery with three video installations by Mary Lucier, considered one of the most significant video artists in the world. Lucier’s installations ‘ Forge, Migration, and Nesting ‘ continue the artist’s decades-long investigation into the interface between landscape and humanity and possess ironies that come from the merging of state-of-the-art electronic and digital technology with stories of the human condition. It is fitting that Lucier’s new video installations serve as the inaugural exhibition for Clifford Gallery. The gallery is housed within Little Hall, the university’s recently constructed state-of-the-art facility for its Department of Art and Art History.
The installation in Clifford Gallery includes Migration, which tells the story of John Lado Keni, a Sudanese refugee who fled his homeland on foot in 1992. The odyssey continues through eight years in a Kenyan refugee camp and his ultimate arrival in the United States. John’s story is made even more remarkable because he has been deaf since birth and his knowledge of international sign language is rudimentary. In Migration, a large-scale video projection of John is coupled with an ephemeral projection of a butterfly, an icon of migration, floating in mid-air opposite the image of the refugee.
Migration is juxtaposed with Forge, a suite of three laser disc video displays of highly detailed metal smithing with sparks flying and the ringing tympani of metal on anvil. These images are joined by a central processed image of a hearth, creating, as Lucier terms, a visual metaphor for the considerations of heat, hearth and heart.
The third installation, Nesting, is in the far side of the gallery. It is comprised of a series of video monitors displaying images of nests found in nature. Placed before the warm and natural images of insect and bird nests is a grouping of objects, nesting one inside of the other. Nesting again serves as a series of icons, referring to the idea of home and the instability or stability it can provide.
Based in New York City, Mary Lucier has earned international and national acclaim for her emotionally powerful video art. She has mounted solo exhibitions in such galleries as MOMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art. In addition, Lucier’s work is part of permanent collections in museums across the United States, Europe, in Canada and New Zealand.
Clifford Gallery is located within Little Hall. The three-story building, designed by the architectural group, Centerbrook of Essex, Connecticut, is made of natural blue- and limestone. Little Hall stands as part of a larger landscape and building plan at 51·çÁ÷ that intends to provide additional academic facilities while enhancing the university’s rich architectural heritage.
The Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation Visiting Artist-in-residence program was established by the late Mr. Johnson, a financier with interests in education, medical research, and youth development and free enterprise economics. Established in 1952, his foundation supports artists-in-residence in 51·çÁ÷’s Department of Art and Art History, Music, and Theatre on a rotating basis. Visiting Artists preceding Mary Lucier include painter Ida Applebroog, mixed-media artist Gary Simmons, photographer Lorna Simpson, and filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-Ha.
Founded in 1819, 51·çÁ÷ is a nationally ranked, highly selective, residential, liberal arts college enrolling 2,750 undergraduates. Situated on a rolling 515-acre campus in upstate New York, 51·çÁ÷ attracts motivated students with diverse backgrounds, interests and talents.