May 23rd 2015

unruly attachments: considering failure

@ Above the Picture Framing Shop

2115 W Webster Ave, Chicago

Opening Saturday, May 23rd, from 3PM - 10PM

On view through Saturday, May 23rd

When is something a failure, when is something no longer art, who assigns these labels and who decides what is to be done with these works? Without any interest in providing answers to these questions, and with a reluctance to pronounce final judgments, Potluck Salon invited artists to present their meditations on the experience of failure. The contributions range from works the artists no longer believe in, works that have been rejected by their intended audience, or that are too damaged to fulfill their function, and some that are intended as commentary on the idea of failure itself.

The artists’ attachment to their supposedly failed endeavors is a remarkable, unifying feature of this exhibition. Unable to discard their creations, refusing to accept their given fate within a hierarchy of value, the participants have thus far preserved each of these pieces without any hope for their display. Here, we showcase them to offer a fleeting chance to reflect on art that does not quite fit into a seamless trajectory of progress.

“unruly attachments: considering failure” is a response to “No Longer Art”, currently on view at the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society, comprising artworks removed from circulation owing to accidental damage.

Participants: Boris Ostrerov, Cathy Hsiao, Collabobo (Brian T. Leahy + Jessica Moss), David Hall, Elizabeth Van Loan, Graham Livingston, Hayan Song, Ian Wallach, Jen Page, Jose Luis Benavides, Katie Doyle, Katie Halton, Katie Kirk, Kayla Risko, Keeley Haftner, Kevin Stuart, Nathanael Jones, Ricardo Mauricio Salcedo Martinez, Roxana Josefina Martinez, Saskya Fun Sang, Tanner Bowman, Veronica Sines, Yael Ben Simon, Yvette Mayorga, and an artist we couldn’t track down.

Potluck Salon is a collective engaged with spoken word and live action, interested in revealing aspects of art making that go unnoticed through a year-long reading and project series. The collective comprises Lara Schoorl and Zeenat Nagree, previously working with contemporary art in the Netherlands and India respectively, and currently Master’s candidates in the Art History department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

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