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PARSONS PRESENTS CONTROL PRINTCollaboration with Royal College of Art Explores
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| Image from Control | Print by Mark Wilson |
On View at the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
Parsons The New School for Design
66 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street
November 7 —December 14, 2009
Opening Reception: November 6, 7:30-9 p.m.
NEW YORK, September 24, 2009— What is the fate of print in a digital age? Parsons The New School for Design takes on this challenge with Control Print, a collaborative exhibition with the Royal College of Art (RCA), London, which explores the intersection of craft and technology. The exhibition will be on view from November 7 through December 14 at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center. An opening reception will be held on November 6 from 7:30-9 p.m.
Control Print features works by a number of notable international artists and designers who play with the notion of digital technology. In this first American presentation, prominent members of the Parsons community create work in traditional, digital, and mixed media that extend the idea of ink on paper and showcase how machinery and technology can enter the representational process.
“We often think of digital technology as alienating, as removing us from the production process in some way,” said Lucille Tenazas, Henry Wolf Professor of Communication Design at Parsons. “Using the RCA project as a starting point, Parsons is exploring the notion that technology can also be a tool to re-engage, to adjust the tactile tradition of craft for the digital age, which is a particular focus of my work at Parsons.”
Control Print was first conceived by RCA as a research project investigating the possibilities of a customized future for digital art and design, Control Print also features the results of these experiments in a series of limited edition book spreads, large-scale artwork, and digital projections and renderings. “Control Print is an effort to elevate the digital press, and consider its place in the future of the printed page," said Russell Warren-Fisher, co-organizer, designer, and lecturer in Communication Art and Design at RCA. “Partnering with Parsons has allowed us to keep this investigation alive through a reflective, cross-cultural dialogue.”
Among the featured artists are co-organizers Tenazas, Warren-Fisher, and Dan Fern, Head of the School of Communications at the RCA; Parsons-commissioned artists Andrea Dezso; Danny Durtsche, Jesse Hlebo and Arthur Ou; Zachary Lieberman with James Powderly, Evan Roth, Chris Sugrue and Tony Quan (TEMPT); Spylab (Benjamin Bacon, Glendon Jones, Kyle Li, and Sven Travis); and Allan Wexler; and RCA-commissioned artists Chris Bigg of V23; Sara Carneholm and Leah Harrison Bailey; Malcom Clarke, and Mark Wilson. Participating remotely in a performative print piece are Reza Abedini (Iran), Bruno Monguzzi (Italy/Switzerland), Leonardo Sonnoli (Italy), and Catherine Zask (France).
In timing with Control|Print, Parsons will present a series of related programs, including three intensive 24-hour workshops, where the public can view teams of Parsons students and faculty creating work that actively explores the boundaries between traditional and digital technologies. A symposium on November 7 will bring together a number of the participants, as well as leaders from the art world, to discuss the future relationship of art, craft, and technology. Participants include Warren-Fisher and Clarke in conversation with Tenazas; Parsons Assistant Professor Susan Yelavich in conversation with Wexler; Harrison Bailey and Carneholm in conversation with Wilson; and Lieberman in conversation with MoMA curator Paola Antonelli.
“This show is just the beginning of a long-term partnership between two world-class universities to explore urgent issues relating to all aspects of contemporary culture,” said Fern, who also chairs the RCA's International Development Group.
About the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
The Sheila C. Johnson Design Center is an award-winning campus center for Parsons The New School for Design that combines learning and public spaces with exhibition galleries to provide an important new downtown destination for art and design programming. The mission of the center is to generate and active dialogue on the role of innovative art and design in responding to the contemporary world. Its programming encourages an interdisciplinary examination of possibility and process, linking the university to local and global debates. The center is named in honor of its primary benefactor, New School Trustee and Parsons Board Chair Sheila C. Johnson. The design by Lyn Rice Architects is the recipient of numerous awards, including an Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects. For more information, please visit www.newschool.edu/johnsondesigncenter.
About Parsons The New School for Design
Parsons The New School for Design is one of the most prestigious and comprehensive institutions of art and design in the world. Located in New York City, Parsons prepares students to creatively and critically address the complex conditions of contemporary global society. Combining rigorous craft with cutting-edge theory and research methods, Parsons encourages collaborative and individual approaches that cut across a wide array of disciplines. For more information, please visit www.newschool.edu/parsons.
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Upcoming Exhibitions at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
Detour
December 3, 2009-January 10, 2010
Parsons presents Detour, an exhibition documenting notable architectural projects along Norwegian tourist routes that have gained national and international attention. The exhibition, sponsored by the Norwegian Consulate, travels to New York from Oslo, where it was on view in 2006. The exhibition design is marked by a large cylindrical construction that transports the visitor to the Norwegian landscape through use of films and models.
The Storyteller
January 29—April 9. 2010
Parsons presents The Storyteller, an exhibition exploring the documentary capacity of art: its ability to bear witness to events in the world. The exhibition focuses on artists who use the story form in contemporary art as a means of comprehending and conveying political and social events. All of the works in The Storyteller revolve around situations that are either in the process of unfolding or that continue to impact the lives of the artists or protagonists. In each case, however, the events are reimagined through the artist’s personal encounter or the character’s narration.
Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Parsons The New School for Design
General Information:
Location: 66 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street, New York
Gallery hours: Open daily 12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. and late Thursday evenings until 8:00 p.m.; closed all major holidays and holiday eves.
Admission: Free
Info: Please contact 212.229.8919 or visit www.newschool.edu/johnsondesigncenter.
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