DIMENSIONS VARIABLE; SITE FIXED

What: Dimensions Variable; Site Fixed (art exhibition)
Where: CAC Gallery, Cambridge Arts Council, 334 Broadway, Cambridge, MA
When: November 3 – December 29, 2005, opening November 3, 5:30 – 7:30
Who: 19 local and international artists, including the legendary artist collective Ant Farm’s historical National Sofa Project, Caroline Anderson (US) + Chingiz Babaev (Azerbaijan), Ralph Brancaccio (France), Mary Elizabeth van der Cross (US), Chu Teh-I (Taiwan), Margaret Cogswell (US), Dorothea Fleiss (Romania/Germany), Jin Soo Kim (South Korea/US), Peter Lindenmuth (US), Jannis Markopoulos (Germany), Pan Ping-Yu (Taiwan), Rudi Punzo (Italy), Urban Ramstedt (Sweden), Carlos Rodal (Mexico), Mary Sherman (US, curator), TEVAUHA (Germany), Filippos Tsitsopoulous (Spain), Ean White (US) and by special arrangement Ant Farm.
How: By any means imaginable.
Why: Because Dreaming is a terrible thing to waste.

OK. OK. Money is always a problem. . . Technology is never quite up to snuff; but what about dreaming something up anyway?

What about dreaming up a new artwork for Cambridge? An artwork for which money is no object. . .and technical problems are a thing of the past?

What would you propose to create then? That was the question put to 19 local and international artists.
The dimensions for their proposed creation could be variable, ranging from inches to meters from two to four dimensions; but the site was fixed – Cambridge, home of the Cambridge Arts Council, known for its commissions of public work. The exception was the late Doug Michels’ videos, from the artists collective Ant Farm. Michels’ pieces are included both for their timeliness and as homage to a group of visionaries who made dreaming a focus of their life’s work.

The resulting ‘dream’ works range from a tree that alters your sense of space (TEVAUHA), a sidewalk that opens up to a bandstand for street musicians (Peter Lindenmuth), a gold lame sweater that conceals Harvard University’s Science Center (Mary Elizabeth van der Cross), an operatic display of fireworks for the Charles River (Ean White), robotic insects for musical sculptures (Rudi Punzo), to a re-arrangement of the stars above MIT’s Chapel (Mary Sherman).

In some cases, the artists tackle the timely topics of politics and greed (Ralph Brancaccio, Caroline Anderson and Chingiz Babaev); in others, they propose more aesthetic responses to the cityscape (Urban Ramstedt, Pan Ping-Yu, Jin Soo Kim and Carlos Rodal); while in still others, they reconsider the nature and materials of their Cambridge locale (Dorothea Fleiss, Chu Teh-I, Margaret Cogswell, Jannis Markouplous and Filippos Tsitsopoulous).

Special Acknowledgements: Through the generosity of Ant Farm’s Chip Lord and Media Burn Independent Video Archive, Dimensions Variable; Site Fixed is pleased to exhibit Doug Michels’ visionary work The National Sofa Project Press Conference (filmed by Eddie Becker) and Money Man Monument.