Andrew Schroeder

Matterhorn/Nowhere

As usual, I am going to ramble along as I work out a few ideas that have been lingering in that cobwebby part of my brain I rarely use. I am referring to the creative/artistic part of me that has been languishing recently as I focus my life on more practical tasks like paying bills, working, and looking like a normal human being.

For the first time in about a year I can honestly say I have a project I am working on. During this summer, I became obsessed with the acquisition of “placeless photographs.” By this I mean photographs of locations that are artificial by construction (such as my collection of Knoll office furniture images from the 1960s) or by incident (such as the 1970s Swedish mountain valley wall mural I purchased at a garage sale).

The latter image and concept has my attention on this very rainy, dismal morning. I would be grateful to be anywhere else right now – even if that meant going to the highly artificial mountain valley in that overly dot-patterned image rolled up in a tube next to my sofa. Despite being highly cliche pieces of kitsch, the paste-up wall mural resonates with personal and cultural history. I remember being in 7th grade, acne-covered, pubescent, and awkward… my only escape during the prison of middle school was memorizing the geographic features on the enormous world map hastily pasted the the classroom walls. On the flip side, my friend Maryann’s grandparents had a forest scene adhered to their dining room walls. I can still remember the contrast of looking out into their bleak, yellow-grass back yard one winter and then being struck by how etherial and strange the half-tone patterned image of idyllic nature on their wall looked.

World Map/Nowhere

Everywhere and Nowhere…

What, really, is the purpose of these images? Are they actually meant to transport us out of our daily environments to someplace better, someplace idealized, someplace unattainable in reality? Or are they merely decoration gone awry? What if the decontextualization of place that is inherent in these types of images is furthered, heightened, and manipulated?

I was walking by the Chambers Hotel a couple of days ago and noticed that the hotel restaurant is now a D’Amico and Sons. This is nothing spectacular in itself, but what is interesting is the way signage has been changed on the building. The previous restaurant was the celebrated/lauded (depending on how you looked at it) Kitchen by Jean-Georges. And the signs for this eatery were dimensional cast metal and attached to the hotel’s chic, Richard Serra, core-ten steel facade. Now, the funny thing is that the facade has changed so dramatically over the course of the last few years that “KITCHEN by JEAN GEORGES” is now etched in the surface of the rusty-colored steel.

In essence, the building is permanently branded with this moniker.

This got me thinking, as always, about all the little ways our lives are being “branded.” The biggest annoyance to date is the branding of the Walker Art Center. (Or, really any cultural institution in the Twin Cities) So, I would like to make a modest project proposal. It goes a bit like this:

In the current climate of corporate sponsorship of the arts, it is impossible to enter a gallery space, museum, or other art institution without being openly reminded of the corporations whose funds have made that particular space possible. Once the realm of private commissions and later the target of public spending through education and social programs, art has now become the a byproduct of corporate culture. It is impossible to be an avid viewer of art and not draw the conclusions that the purchasing of culture by wealthy corporations is in fact changing, editing, sanctioning, and altering our shared culture.

For the project I am proposing, I will strip the Walker of all of the demarcations of corporate sponsorship for the duration of 1 month. During this time, the Best Buy Galleries and Cargill Lounge will be renamed and freed of their associations with corporate ownership of culture. For example, the Cargill Lounge will be renamed Lounge. Imagine meeting at the Walker on Thursday Free Nights… minus the Target corporation.

Art is one facet of culture. Culture is never static. Static entities cannot be tied to the agendas of monolithic corporations.

More Empty Utopian Architecture, Montreal, 2009

To be brutally honest, there hasn’t been much color in my life recently. Visually, my attention has been focused on making black and white images for the past couple of weeks and have just not been “thinking in color”. Philosophically, I find myself being drawn into the idea of “gray” – a middle tone that seems appropriate for a world that is neither black and white, right or wrong… (more…)

I’m taking a note from the EuroNews “No Comment” section and just posting some images today. After a rather confusing weekend, I am back to my daily grind. Here is just a small sampling of images captured this weekend as I wandered around the Mid-West… trying to get to know things a bit better.

A great site that is holding my attention hostage this morning. Check it out for a variety of fresh perspectives on one of the most important issues in the contemporary city. Few sites I have come across investigate what makes public spaces successful, desirable, and heavily used in the same way that Project for Public Spaces does. Joy.

And bit more of failed public space from my own travel experiences.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

All of these images have been posted to my Facebook and Flickr accounts… but I feel it is a suitable day to post them again (with a bit more color correction). Actually, it was on this day that Charles de Gaulle gave his Vive le Québec libre ! (Long live free Quebec!) speech. This speech further encouraged the Québec Sovereignty movement… and I feel that this spirit of idealism is reflected in the spaces of the city fabric. I’ll make some huge generalizations here about Montreal from the tiny amount of research I have done on its attempt to be re-born. The scale and speed that Montreal was reformed in the 60s is truly remarkable… and if you travel to the city, it is apparent in the city’s metro system, public plazas, and (often) graceless modernist boxes. The above images represent a slice of the concept of public space I experienced while traveling. On one hand, the city is haunted by the empty and clunky buildings of the Olympic stadium. On the other hand, revitalized public spaces draw citizens into high-density housing developments. As I’m sitting at my desk, gazing out my window at the empty/lifeless streets of MPLS I wonder… how refreshing could American cities be if there was a concerted effort to make public spaces desirable, usable, and enjoyable?

From Ex - Posed © ASBJØRN HOLLERUD

One of the great things about the post-MFA world is watching how far all of my colleagues have been able to travel in the last year. Printmaker, photographer, and friend David Stordahl has been living and working in Norway since January. Through him I have been introduced to the outstanding work of Asbjørn Hollerud. His portfolio site can be viewed HERE. (more…)

Colleean Mullins 2009

It almost slipped my mind! But in all my thinking of the world of everyday life… I forgot to mention how engaging I find the concept of knowing everyday life only indirectly. What does this mean? Well, if we can never actually experience everyday life as a discrete subject, we can only bear witness to its presence through the objects/forms/interactions that are secreted from it.

Connected with this thought… over at Colleen Mullins’ blog, Elysium, she has written a great post about excavating her family home, making art, and moving through the layers of personal history that become concrete after an everyday life has been lived. The materials she finds are amazing (I’ve seen a few… including some authentic, vintage books on Modernist architecture). Colleen is also examining what constitutes being a “Mid-Career Artist”.

I think just maybe, we are on the same page as artists… going back through the images we have produced in the past, sorting through the layers of history and finding unexpected depth and discovery. But then again… I could just be caffeine hallucinating.

Either way… Definitely check it out!