2010 Biennial of the Arts Recap
The city of Denver recently served as host of the 2010 Biennial of the Americas. This unprecedented event brought together creative and influential individuals from the 35 countries that comprise the Western Hemisphere, celebrating their culture, technology, politics and art.
A month-long main stage exhibition at the McNichols Building downtown coincided with several peripheral shows scattered throughout the city. The central themes for these shows focused on sustainability, innovation and artistic thinking.
The Biennial was not only monumental for Denver; it was also significant for several members of the RMCAD community. The main show, titled The Nature of Things, featured 24 internationally acclaimed artists and designers; only seven of whom were American. Four of those Americans were from Colorado, and one was from Denver.
That Denverite was Clark Richert, Head of the RMCAD Painting Department. Clark’s participation featured a projection installation and two paintings – the only paintings included in the entire Biennial.
“My paintings were based on the structure of the quasi-crystal,” Clark said, referring to a newly discovered crystal that is essentially a type of superconductor.
Martha Russo, a Fine Arts faculty member, is part of a large-scale Biennial exhibition at Denver’s Museum of Contemporary Art. The show, titled Energy Effects: Art and Artifacts From the Landscape of Glorious Excess, explores the relationship between energy and aesthetic power. 19 artists contributed to symbolize the energy and excess of creating.
Martha's contribution is a huge installation she calls shibumi, which includes more than 700 hand-built ceramic objects and materials dipped in porcelain slip. With a compelling sense of magnetism and movement, this piece examines the concept of accumulation and “making stuff as a kind of energy.”
“All my work is very energy intensive,” Martha said. “It uses a lot of mass and materials.”
Other RMCAD Instructors involved in the 2010 Biennial were Gary Emrich, Head of Photography + Video Art, and Rebecca Vaughan, Interim Chair of Fine Arts.
Gary was included in an exhibition at Robischon Gallery called Covering Ground, which ran through August 28. His work included a video and three liquid photo emulsions projected on screens; all of which related to the themes of travel, energy and exploration.
In a solo installation running through September 3 at the Emmanual Gallery, Rebecca has transformed the oldest standing church structure in Denver into a Personal Locator Beacon. Using decorative architectural medallions with pink electric wire, crocheted white lace flowers, and the scent of the Golden Chalice Vine plant, she's created an environment where visitors trigger a "wave" of fans and lights, and consequently a wave of neurotransmitters for love and call signals to the outer world.