For immediate release
UNBUNDLING THE HOUSING CRISIS investigations • interpolations • interventions • instigations
What
This thematic exhibition brings together artists, architects, designers, scientists, and writers in response to the housing foreclosure crisis and its effects on communities and families. Curated by architect Jay H. Isenberg, AIA and artist Lynda Monick-Isenberg.
When
Thursday, July 30 – Saturday, September 5, 2009 Gallery hours: Thursday – Saturday, 12:00 – 6:00 pm and by appointment Free and open to the public.
Opening Reception
Saturday, August 1, 2009 from 6:00 – 9:00 pm Free and open to the public.
Where
Form + Content Gallery Whitney Square Building 210 North 2nd Street, Suite 104 Minneapolis, MN 55401
Info
Gallery: 612/436-1151 or Howard Oransky 651/592-1841
http://www.formandcontent.org
formandcontent@gmail.com
Description
Implosion of the residential mortgage industry transformed traditional neighborhood fabrics and exurban development tracts into landscapes of home foreclosures. This affected all social and economic strata to a critical point of near institutional financial collapse. In response, exhibition curators Jay Isenberg and Lynda Monick-Isenberg invited creative teams to “unbundle” the housing crisis from the usual interpretations, analytic methodologies and solutions typically presented by institutional orthodoxy. This exhibition offers new ways of thinking about systemic problems, just as their 2007 exhibition Dialogue on the Wall did about the separation wall between Israel/Palestine.
The exhibition curators invited cross-disciplinary creative teams to engage in acts of civic engagement by addressing without prescription the de-stabilizing conditions brought out by the housing foreclosure crisis and its effects on communities and families. Vacant properties, displacement of children and families, borders and cultural identity issues, green space and amenity deprivation, resource, education and job challenges, commercial disinvestment and environmental degradation are all issues underpinning this social crisis. The curators invited the teams to reflect, reclaim, redo, rebuild, reveal, revise, revolt, report, and respond.
The exhibition promotes voices and ideas from directions and sources generally not found at the institutional policy making table. The gallery provides a forum for displaying the result of unorthodox collaborations with work that ranges from the practical to the poetic, from the focused to the visionary. Unbundling the Housing Crisis includes drawings, illustrations, models, visual and conceptual art, constructions, manifestos and installations.
Exhibition Projects
The exhibition consists of 8 thematic projects, listed here is summary form with project team members. Detailed project abstracts may be obtained by contacting the gallery at formandcontent@gmail.com.
Project #1 Money on the Block
Mapping neighborhood financial flows in the Hawthorne area of Minneapolis
Gabriel Cheifetz, filmmaker Aleksandra Stancevic, graphic designer
Project #2 Excerpts from a Field Guide
Plants, animals, and geology of a foreclosed property in Minneapolis
Adam Regn Arvidson, ASLA, landscape architect Doug Mensing, restoration ecologist Bruce Wilson, botanical and wildlife illustrator
Project #3 Full House
2D and 3D constructions that narrate a story based on housing “values”
Ralph Nelson, architect, Don Vu and Frederico Garcia Lammers, designers Jeanine Kindlien, and Chris Pennington, artists Julia Klatt Singer, writer
Project #4 Home Less Home
Design for a temporary housing enclosure that can be used anywhere
Wynne Yelland, Paul Neseth, Randy Walker, architects Paul Guthrie, lighting and video designer Wing Young Huie and Robert Meier, photographers Kevin Nelson, tent/fabric designer
Project #5 Green Transformer Zones
5 Great Ideas & 5 Great Challenges the World Needs to Address™ Jerry Allan, architect and educator Georgiana Allan, designer Joel Barker, futurist, author and lecturer Michael Martin, President of Music Matter and environmental advocate Forrest Russell, landscape architect and property development manager Beth Russell, educator and consultant Austen Cargill, Ph.D., scientist Red Seive, retired creative director General Mills Peter Vujovich, President, Vujovich Design Build & Designer of the Idea Lance Holthusen, former Director, Minnesota Science Museum Kevin Bryne, MCAD professor and community sustainability expert
Project #6 gen(h)ome
From a pool of slime to a McMansion in only 3,700,000,000 years!
John Dwyer, architect, Kurt Gough, Jackie Millea, designers Court Loeffler, Colin Oglesbay, designers Mark Borrello Ph.D and Assistant Professor, History of Science
Project #7 Eutectic autarkies and urbano-tectonic transformations of the derivative(s) landscape
Causes, results, impacts, systems -how do we avoid the hole again?
Antonio Rosell, urban planner and civil engineer Isaac Bros, urban designer, visual artist Bill Lindeke, philosopher, geographer Matthew Lang, videographer Natalie Collins, MPH, policy maker, public health practitioner
Project #8 Ghosts and Shadows
Tracing the ghosts of destroyed homes and neighborhoods, the shadows of families, and the courage of hope
Jay H Isenberg, architect, co-curator Lynda Monick-Isenberg, artist, professor, co-curator Robert Feyereisen and Susi Strothman, designer/owners, Feyereisen Studios Leslie Frost, Executive Director, Families Moving Forward
Press Image Credit
Press image photo credit: Wing Young Huie (image is on the enclosed CD)
Sponsorship
This Exhibition is partially funded by Twin Cities Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and the Family Housing Fund.
Mission Statement
Form + Content Gallery will nurture diverse artistic practice and thoughtful dialogue. We value art as a catalyst for critical thinking. We value integrity and the artistic process. We aspire to link personal expression to broader social contexts. Form + Content Gallery is dedicated to moving the definitions and practice of culture forward in new and lively ways. Suggestions and ideas for cultural partnerships and programs are welcome.