Wednesday Video Spotlight: Three Oklahoma artists step into “Momentum” Spotlight
Art lovers can get on the move with Oklahoma’s young artistic talent at the 12th annual “Momentum: Art Doesn’t Stand Still,” Friday and Saturday at 50 Penn Place, 1900 Northwest Expressway.
Presented by the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, “Momentum” offers Oklahoma artists ages 30 and younger an opportunity to exhibit their work in a venue created specifically for them. The interactive event presents a diversified look at Oklahoma’s young artistic talent. Each year, hundreds of young artists submit their work to be considered for the exhibition. Guest curators narrow submissions to the best-of-the-best for the two-night event.
Erin Latham of Norman is one of the three 2013 “Momentum” Spotlight artists.
“It’s the only program that we have that is specifically for young artists and that was created out of a need that we saw for young artists to gain some experience showing their work,” speaking to the public about their work, entering and going through the process of a juried exhibition,” OVAC Associate Director Kelsey Karper told me in an interview. “These are all things that artists need to have experience doing in order to move their career forward, so ‘Momentum’ was created to help them kind of get their foot in the door.”The multimedia exhibit launches Friday and Saturday with a two-night celebration at 50 Penn Place. Friday night’s “Momentum: Downtempo” will have a mellower vibe and feature live music from local bands Fifth Fret, Erik the Viking, and R.e.A.L. On Saturday, “Momentum: Full Speed” will offer a louder, faster-paced experience with music from Em and the Mother Superiors, Wurly Birds and Kali Ra.“Momentum” continues with free gallery hours from 5 to 7 p.m. March 5-7.
In addition to the 57 artists selected for the exhibition, three more artists were chosen to receive “Momentum” Spotlight commissions of $2,000 and three months of guidance from the curators. The Spotlight artists – Matthew Kaney of Norman, Erin Latham of Norman, and Zachary Presley of Durant – have created new artwork just for Momentum. Curators PLUG Projects and Taryn Chubb will work with the three Spotlight artists to refine their projects for Momentum. PLUG Projects is a curatorial collaborative made up of five artists from Kansas City, MO. Chubb, selected as Momentum Emerging Curator, is Assistant Professor and Gallery Director in the Art Department at East Central University in Ada.
Latham’s immersive installation will take viewers to a new environment, creating a sea kelp forest from printed and meticulously hand-cut recycled paper. Presley, a Chickasaw artist, is planning a performance that takes on stereotypes associated with Native Americans.
Kaney’s project invites attendees to play arcade-style video games rich in social commentary.
“It can get you playing as this rich person or this drone pilot in a flippant or kind of trivial way. I think it makes you perform this action … because it’s a game and, you know, you gotta get the most points. But then hopefully at some point you’re thinking ‘What is the ethics of what I’m actually performing here?’ That, I think, is how a lot of satire functions,” Kaney told me in a recent interview.
To read more of my “Momentum” preview feature, click here, and in this Wednesday Video Spotlight, Kaney, Latham and Presley talk about their “Momentum” Spotlight projects.
GOING ON
“Momentum: Art Doesn’t Stand Still”
Opening event: 8 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.
Where: Ground floor, 50 Penn Place, 1900 Northwest Expressway.
Tickets: $10 in advance or $15 at the door.
Ticket outlets: Blue 7, Full Circle Bookstore, Guestroom Records (Oklahoma City and Norman), Café Evoke (Edmond) and Sips (Shawnee).
Free gallery hours: 5 to 7 p.m. March 5-7.
Information: 879-2400 or www.momentumoklahoma.org.
-BAM
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