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Fort Worth, Texas, USA
www.subtextprojects.com

Wish you were here
Curated by Alison Hearst and Leslie Murrell
Opening reception: July 02, 2010 / 7-9pm
Exhibition July 03 - August 07, 2010



Marita Fraser
50 works I have never seen
2007
Slide projection
Size variable

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WISH YOU WERE HERE


FORT WORTH—Subtext Projects is proud to present the exhibition Wish You Were Here, which opens July 2, 2010 at the Fort Worth Contemporary Arts Gallery and runs through August 2, 2010. The exhibition features photographs, installations, and sculptural objects that contend with diverse notions of distance— temporal distance and nostalgia, emotional and physical distance, relational distance and long-distance collaboration, for example.

In this digital age, physical distance is no longer the barrier to communication, research, and collaboration that it once was. The rise of new technology has altered the very concept of what it means to be present, bridging physical distance through methods such as e-mail, text messages, and social networking sites. Although certain methods of keeping in touch are much easier, the decline of in-person interactions has important emotional and psychological impacts. Notions of privacy are also changing in response to the ability to stream one’s day-to-day life to any and all who will pay heed, thereby altering the nature of intimacy. As real-life connections continue to taper, artists are increasingly interested in the growing gap between humans and their immediate, everyday surroundings. Distance is becoming, more than ever, a motivator, medium, and subject of artworks.

Wish You Were Here features works by Vanessa Albury, Nina Barnett/Robyn Nesbitt, Gabriel Dawe, Lanie DeLay, Marita Fraser, Tetsuo Kogawa, Kris Pierce, Chris Sauter, Paul Slocum, and Jeremy Wood. While the artworks map out several trajectories related to distance, the term often relates to these artists’ practices, whether it be that the work was created through cross-global collaboration (Barnett/Nesbitt); cross-state online collaboration (Slocum); or with the assistance of GPS devices tracking one’s movements while in-flight (Wood). All of the works have been created in the last five years; Chris Sauter will create a new installation for the exhibition. Tetsuo Kogawa’s piece will be available on our website. (More information on the artists is attached.)

Wish You Were Here is curated by Alison Hearst and Leslie Murrell of Subtext Projects. They are both art historians and writers living in Fort Worth.