Laurel Beckman: One Minute to Heaven

Event Date: 

Friday, June 8, 2012 - 12:00am to Saturday, July 28, 2012 - 12:00am

Event Date Details: 

Opening reception: First Thursday, June 7th, 5-9pm

Laurel Beckman: One Minute to Heaven is presented as part of
ART, DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE MUSEUM @ JANE DEERING GALLERY
128 E. Canon Perdido Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Tuesday-Friday, 11am-5pm

 

For her latest exhibition, multi-media artist Laurel Beckman has created an installation that alludes to transcendent moments both in the everyday and under extraordinary circumstances. A focal point of the exhibition is a suite of seven new video animations by the artist.  Eschewing traditional narrative, each sixty-second vignette takes as its main character an animal or fruit that has been levitated in research labs exploring gravity and resistance. These whimsical characters undergo both comical and harrowing ordeals which point to ideas such as redemption, perfection, and agency.

The animations are offset by writings submitted by invited participants who describe personal, sublime experiences found in public spaces. Gallery visitors are encouraged to include their own writings about such encounters. Digital prints accompany some of the texts, bridging the written experiences with the video creatures.

Beckman is a Professor of Art at UC Santa Barbara.  With video/animation and public-space projects in Pittsburgh, New York, San Francisco, New Orleans and Los Angeles, Beckman's exhibitions include those in Istanbul, Berlin, Belgrade, Austin, TX, San Francisco, Palestine, New York, and Los Angeles. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts.

http://www.laurelbeckman.com/

Writers who participated in the project include: Dee Hibbert-Jones, Robert Dansby, Alex Bogdanov, Pat Gomez, Mary Ann Chafin, Samantha Fretwell, Barry Markowitz, Stephanie Washburn, Annetta Kapon, Katy McCarthy, Christine Lorenz , Erik Sultzer, Susan Lakin, Emily Halbardier, Kim Beck, Kate Sorensen, Terri Zitnick, Tracey Morris