Real quick - before I get into anything else - have you seen this? It's the slideshow I promised for the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, taken by my esteemed colleague, Kathleen Vanesian, and it is quite stunning...enjoy!
Hey, wanna talk about Iraq?
I know, I know...what a question. I doubt that anyone really wants to talk about such a heavy topic, but I think we can all agree that it's absolutely necessary to seek methods of processing this complicated issue.
One way is to head to ASU Art Museum on April 15th from 12pm-5pm. There, in the parking lot, you will experience "It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq".
Artist Jeremy Deller created a mobile installation in hopes to stimulate dialogue about the war. He is traveling aboard an RV with Nato Thompson, Curator at Creative Time; Esam Pasha, artist and former translator for the Chief Advisor in the British Embassy of Baghdad and for American forces in Iraq; and Jonathan Harvey, a veteran of the Iraq war. This group was selected by Deller from a pool of interested applicants.
The RV is pulling the wreckage of a mangled car, destroyed in a suicide bomb attack in Iraq on March 5, 2007, across the country. The group started in New York and will end up in Los Angeles with more than ten stops along the way. They use this dramatic object as a springboard for conversation and, judging from their road diary, it's conversation that is messy, uninhibited, and swimming in the gray zone of politics and ideology.
I encourage you to poke around on the project's website - there's so much to explore here. And, of course, if you're ready to dig in and deal with what's happening, head to ASU Art Museum on Wednesday.
And, hey...good luck with that.
"It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq" will stop by on Wednesday, April 15th from 12pm-5pm at ASU Art Museum's parking lot, Mill Avenue and 10th St in Tempe. Presented by F.A.R. (Future Arts Research). Visit conversationsaboutiraq.org for more info.
