New Talks Explore Blockchain, Protecting Art From Mega Fires, and Public Art
(Seattle, WA — July 24, 2019) — The Seattle Art Fair, presented by AIG, is pleased to announce that an additional project, Infinite Color & Sound, featuring Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready and New York and Seattle-based artist Kate Neckel and four additional talks have been added to the fair’s on-site programming. Red Hot Chili Peppers’s guitarist Josh Klinghoffer will join McCready and Neckel for their performance at the Seattle Art Fair. The project will be on view at the fifth edition of the Seattle Art Fair, this August 1-4, 2019.
The project joins the diverse program of daily talks, special projects, and performances curated by the Seattle Art Fair’s Artistic Director, Nato Thompson. Read Thompson’s full curatorial statement here.
Join an expert panel of professionals as they discuss what collectors should consider throughout the process of acquiring, possessing and change of ownership. Panelists will include Marc Porter, Chairman, Christie’s Americas; Lynne E. Graybeal, Partner, Perkins Coie LLP; Ron Fiamma, Global Head of Private Collections, AIG Private Client Group; Anthony McCormick, Counsel, Perkins Coie LLP.
In an exchange moderated by Shamim M. Momin (Senior Curator, Henry Art Gallery), the artists will discuss their experiences of working site-specifically for Desert X, among other projects, as it pertains to their very different practices, the presence of the body and physical experience across both analog and digital realms, and the politics of audience engagement.
The recent emergence of mega fires has ravaged the globe, causing record breaking-destruction and loss of life. Explore the intersection of art and crisis during this discussion between artist Jeff Frost – whose compelling oeuvre “California on Fire” is the result of years of intrepid work behind the fire lines – and catastrophe specialist Stephen Poux, Head of Risk Management and Loss Prevention at AIG Private Client Group.
New art market platforms relying on block chain technology have been touted as the answer to democratizing the art world, but are they? Without the participation of artists and a meaningful role for collectors, most online platforms are simply a digital version of those systems already available in the analog world. Join us for a conversation exploring radical ideas in fractional ownership of art and a true paradigm shift in how artists and collectors can collaborate to create market disruption and dynamic innovations.
Mike McCready & Kate Neckel Infinite Color and Sound Friday, August 2 at 5:00 pm
The visual art and music duo first met at the 2018 Seattle Art Fair, where McCready and his wife became intrigued with Neckel’s work, commissioning her to paint an abstract family portrait for their home. At the 2019 Seattle Art Fair, the duo will present their collaboration, Infinite Color and Sound, which includes collage, sculpture, painting, drawing, music and performance. Their performances are loosely choreographed environments where art and music are performed and created by both artists. Red Hot Chili Peppers’s guitarist Josh Klinghoffer will join the duo for their performance. Following the performance will be a Q&A with the artists. Their first performance occurred at Winston Wächter Gallery in March of 2019.
For updated dates and times, visit seattleartfair.com.
Presented with Greg Kucera Gallery
Gregory Blackstock is a self-taught autistic artist who made his living washing dishes at Seattle’s Washington Athletic Club for decades. Now at 72, he has become an international figure in art, known for his time-consuming drawings ranging from canines to planes to historic homes. The four banners that will be displayed at Seattle Art Fair demonstrate Blackstock’s ongoing interest in the categorization and depiction of a range of folkloric, vernacular, and natural history subjects.
In 2008 artist Richard Pell opened the Center for PostNatural History (CPNH) an alternative museum located in Pittsburgh. The museum’s focus is to:
For the presentation at the fair, the CPNH presents a series of stereoscopic anaglyph photographs of specimens from their collection. These creatures are a collection of specimens whose genetic material have been altered by humans. Three-dimensional glasses will be available for you to view the works.
Stephanie Dinkins is a transmedia artist who creates platforms for dialogue about artificial intelligence (AI) as it intersects race, gender, aging, and our future histories. She is particularly driven to work with communities of color to co-create more inclusive, fair and ethical artificial intelligent ecosystems.
For the Seattle Art Fair, Dinkins will present Not The Only One (N’TOO), a multigenerational memoir of one black American family told from the “mind” of an artificial intelligence with evolving intellect. It is a voice-interactive AI designed, trained, and aligned with the needs and ideals of black and brown people who are drastically underrepresented in the tech sector. The AI storyteller is trained on data supplied by three generations of women from one family, but the story is told from the first person perspective of the AI. Fair visitors are invited to talk to the sculpture and participate in its evolving knowledge.
Bread Face is the international social media sensation known for smashing her face in bread. Performance art for the social media age, her sensuous bizarre actions have become a touchstone for a fast growing culture genre on the internet known as Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR). Her interactive installation, Self Facing, will feature baked goods created for the Seattle Art Fair. The public will be encouraged to play with the bread in whatever tactile way they feel compelled. The altered baked good will then be on display. This installation touches on themes ongoing in the evolving oeuvre of the ASMR internet sensation including somatic materials, domesticity and of course, voyeurism.
Performance Times: Thursday, August 1 at 7:30 pm; Friday-Sunday, August 2-4 at 4:30 pm daily.
Bigert & Bergström is an artist duo living and working in Stockholm, Sweden. Through their career, Bigert & Bergström have produced and created art ranging from large-scale installations to public works, sculptures and film projects. Often with a conceptual edge, the core of their work is at the intersection between humanity, nature and technology. Incubator for Earthquakes is a kinetic dinner table sculpture and vibrating motor. From time to time the dinner table is subjected to an earthquake and the china begins to rattle even more vigorously.
Infinite Color and Sound is a collaboration between artist and musician Mike McCready (of Pearl Jam) and New York/Seattle painter Kate Neckel. Infinite Color & Sound is a visual art and music duo, with works ranging from collage, sculpture, painting, drawing, music and performance. Their collaborative performances are loosely choreographed environments where art and music are both performed and created. These collaborative events include music and painting written and produced by both artists. Their first performance occurred at Winston Wächter Gallery in March of 2019. Red Hot Chili Peppers’s guitarist Josh Klinghoffer will join the duo for their performance at the Seattle Art Fair. Performance followed by Q&A on Friday, August 2 at 5:00 pm on the mezzanine level of the fair.
Presented with Hosfelt Gallery
Patricia Piccinini is an Australian artist who works in a variety of media including painting, video, sounds and predominantly sculpture. She is interested in the relationship between the artificial and the natural environment, as well as relationships within families and between strangers. As part of the Seattle Art Fair, Piccinini will be presenting two anthropomorphic sculptures made predominantly of silicone and hair.
Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib employ the tools and conventions of moving-image culture to offer counter-mythical visions of our contemporary world. Hironaka & Suib continue the centuries-old genre of still life painting, vanitas, in their massive video projection Vanitas MMXVlll. Here, common still-life motifs are completely unmoored from their tabletop arrangement. Bruised, molding and half-eaten fruit, broken glass and mirror, wilting flowers and skulls tumble slowly upwards. Vanitas MMXVlll destabilizes the traditional still-life subjects to reflect our current cultural moment, where formerly stable institutions that once embodied shared values are undermined while pride and avarice have been elevated to virtues.
The Seattle Art Fair will present Live Editions, a pop-up printing facility within the fair. Two national artists, Mark Gibson and Molly Crabapple, coupled with local artists Klara Glosova, represented by Linda Hodges Gallery and Anthony White, represented by Greg Kucera Gallery, will have their artwork printed on-site by Pratt Fine Arts Center for a limited edition giveaway available exclusively during Seattle Art Fair.
The Life Cycle of an Art Collection Friday, August 2 at 11:30 am
Join an expert panel of professionals as they discuss what collectors should consider throughout the process of acquiring, possessing and change of ownership. Panelists will include Marc Porter, Chairman, Christie’s Americas; Lynne E. Graybeal, Partner, Perkins Coie LLP; Ron Fiamma, Global Head of Private Collections, AIG Private Client Group; Anthony McCormick, Counsel, Perkins Coie LLP.
Hear from three experts on the field of curating as they discuss models for exhibitions and institutions that they find interesting, and what this means for the future. Larry Ossei-Mensah, senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Paula Marincola, executive director of The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, and Rita Gonzalez, head of contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
In an exchange moderated by Shamim M. Momin (Senior Curator, Henry Art Gallery), the artists will discuss their experiences of working site-specifically for Desert X, among other projects, as it pertains to their very different practices, the presence of the body and physical experience across both analog and digital realms, and the politics of audience engagement.
The recent emergence of mega fires has ravaged the globe, causing record breaking-destruction and loss of life. Explore the intersection of art and crisis during this discussion between artist Jeff Frost – whose
compelling oeuvre “California on Fire” is the result of years of intrepid work behind the fire lines – and catastrophe specialist Stephen Poux, Head of Risk Management and Loss Prevention at AIG Private Client Group.
This talk puts into conversation two artists, Richard Pell and Stephanie Dinkins, whose work questions and interrogates the assumptions of what is natural as well as what the political underpinnings of the technological shifts in shaping what constitutes life. Whether the logic of capitalism or the fault-lines of race, the construction of the natural as well as what constitutes intelligence are foregrounded in an important critique of the technological revolutions occurring daily.
Co-presented by Base and On the Boards
This talk will center around Morgan Thorson’s work Still Life that uses the gallery space as a container for an endurance-based dance work that at times functions like a slow moving still life and at other times resembles an ensemble dance installation. Thorson will be in conversation with On the Boards’ Artistic Director and Curator, Rachel Cook and Base co-founder and Choreographer, Dayna Hanson.
Sunday, August 4 at 1:30 pm
This experimental panel allows the audience to receive a report back from the Seattle Art Fair from the mouths of the next generation of art enthusiasts. Moderated by the Frye Art Museum Director/CEO Joseph Rosa, this panel will feature children ages 9-12 who arrive at the panel equipped with their favorite artworks ready for discussion.
New art market platforms relying on block chain technology have been touted as the answer to democratizing the art world, but are they? Without the participation of artists and a meaningful role for collectors, most online platforms are simply a digital version of those systems already available in the analog world. Join us for a conversation exploring radical ideas in fractional ownership of art and a true paradigm shift in how artists and collectors can collaborate to create market disruption and dynamic innovations.
Collectors Preview
Thursday, August 1, 3:30pm – 6:00pm
Thursday, August 1, 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Friday, August 2, 11:00am – 8:00pm Saturday, August 3, 11:00am – 7:00pm Sunday, August 4, 11:00am – 6:00pm
Performances will take place during the Opening Night Preview and Fair Hours. Talks will take place during Fair Hours within the Christie’s Theater.
The Seattle Art Fair, presented by AIG, is a one-of-a-kind destination for the best in modern and contemporary art and a showcase for the vibrant arts community of the Pacific Northwest. Based in Seattle, a city as renowned for its natural beauty as its cultural landscape, the fair brings together the region’s strong collector base; local, national, and international galleries; area museums and institutions; and an array of innovative public programming. Founded in 2015 by Paul G. Allen, the Seattle Art Fair is produced by Vulcan Arts + Entertainment, and Art Market Productions.
Marcella Zimmermann
Vice President, Cultural Counsel [email protected]
Ali Rigo
Account Executive, Cultural Counsel [email protected]
