LEXINGTON, Ky. — The University of Kentucky Bolivar Art Gallery is presenting two online exhibitions of creative minds from across the nation. “Home As Situation” features the work of over 40 artists examining the concept of home — a place many of us are spending even more time in during a global pandemic. “PROTAGONY: $100 for Truth” is a multimedia project organized by Esther Neff exploring the concept of truth through the lens of 12 artists. Both shows are free to the public on the Bolivar Art Gallery website now through Dec. 4.
“Home As Situation” addresses notions of home in unexpected ways, challenging traditional notions of home and proposing new approaches to understanding its complexity and fluidity. The exhibit contains work that seeks to examine where ideas of home intersect with themes of cultural identities, colonization, access, refuge, politics of space, labor, community infrastructures, and many others.
This exhibition was originally created in 2019, but with the current era of stay-at-home orders, political unrest, and protest against racial injustices, new layers have been added to the artists’ collective experience of home.
“Home As Situation” was curated by Becky Alley, Bolivar Art Gallery director, and Rae Goodwin, professor and director of Foundations in the UK School of Art and Visual Studies.
“PROTAGONY: $100 for Truth” features an assembled body or “jury” of 12 artists: Lorene Bouboushian, IV Castellanos, Christen Clifford, Shawn Escarciga, Ayana Evans, Simone Johnson, Anya Liftig, Iki Nakagawa, Sierra Ortega, Elaine Thap, Bret Schneider, and April Vendetta. In this exhibit, each artist is offered $100 in exchange for a “statement of truth” in the form of a brief text and a three-minute video. Once all videos were received, Esther Neff created interpretations of each artist’s judgments of truth.
Neff, a doctoral candidate at the City University of New York in theatre and performance studies, created this multimedia project by working with a group of artists to interpret different judgments of truth in brief performances resulting in material remains such as sculptural objects and wall works.
In relation to “Home As Situation,” this social performance frames self-jurisdiction and social substantiation as homeboundings or home bases and acts of truth-evaluation as homing devices.
While the Bolivar Art Gallery has temporarily closed its doors to visitors and converted its galleries to classroom space, it remains committed to its mission to engage students and the public in contemporary themes and issues meaningfully impacting artistic and curatorial practices.
The UK School of Art and Visual Studies, part of the College of Fine Arts, offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in the fields of art studio, art history and visual studies, art education, curatorial studies, and digital media design.
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