University of Iowa faculty, students, and alumni are presenting “Exuberant Politics,” an international exhibition exploring how today’s artists address social issues. Emphasizing playful, physical, and deeply felt forms of engagement, videos, and computer games to prints, sculptures, and paintings, to music and written works.
The exhibition is on display in two eastern Iowa locations: Legion Arts in Cedar Rapids and the new Public Space One at 120 N. Dubuque St. in Iowa City.
As part of a year-long series exploring artistic activism, these shows feature artwork that challenge the status quo with socially engaged videos, computer games, prints, sculptures, paintings, murals, and stories.
Professor Sarah Kanouse of the School of Art and Art History and her students in a "guerilla curating" class have been involved in designing and installing the exhibition. Curated from an open call that attracted nearly 400 submissions from around the world, the exhibition takes an inclusive and eclectic approach to its subject. Students have curated a program of film and video shorts, helped artists produce their works, and prepared the galleries for installation.
“Working on this project has been an extraordinary opportunity for students to learn practical skills in staging exhibitions and to connect with the rich legacy of socially engaged art and the artist-run spaces that have supported it,” Kanouse says.
Many events and performances will take place outside the galleries throughout March and into April, concluding a performance by visiting artist Deke Weaver at Public Space One on April 8. All events are free and invite viewers to celebrate and engage with the many ways artists explore the driving issues of our times.
For more information and a full schedule of events, visit the project’s website, exuberantpolitics.art.uiowa.edu.
HIGHLIGHTS
Monday and Tuesday, March 24-25
Visiting Artist Laurie Jo Reynolds presents her work
Public lecture, March 24, 7 p.m. Art Building West 116
Screening, March 25, 7 p.m. Public Space One
Saturday and Sunday, March 29-30
“Marvelous Guests,” all day
A performance by Nick Tobier
Various locations around Iowa City
Tuesday, April 8
“Wolf,” 7 p.m.
A performance by Deke Weaver
The exhibition is supported by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Perry A. and Helen Judy Bond Fund for Interdisciplinary Interaction, the Studio for Digital Public Arts and Humanities, the School of Art and Art History, the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, and the Project on the Rhetoric of Inquiry.
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, contact the School of Art and Art History in advance at 319-335-1376.