The California Files
Re-Viewing Side Effects of Cultural Memory
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts
San Francisco, CA, USA | April 19 - June 23, 2007
California-based archives and the artistic activities that derive from such cultural storages serve as the starting point for this exhibition organized by Wattis Institute visiting curator Ariane Beyn.
Bringing together artists who utilize archival material in their work or whose documentary practices echo an archival approach, The California Files examines how the use and reuse of documents and artifacts can allow cultural attributions to shift and less obvious aspects of cultural memory to be identified. Also incorporated in the exhibition are selections from a number of self-organized archival initiatives. By assembling a variety of documentation practices and methods, The California Files investigates the idea and reality of California as a place without a fixed identity that is similarly occupied with its own history and reinvention.
Participants: Craig Baldwin, Sandow Birk, Andrea Bowers, Kaucyila Brooke, Center for Land Use Interpretation, Abigail Child, Sunah Choi, Jay Chung & Q Takeki Maeda, Mayme A. Clayton Library & Cultural Center, Harun Farocki, Jill Godmilow, Jack Goldstein, Karl Holmqvist, William E. Jones, Helen Kim, Nina Könnemann, Jesse Lerner, Jenny Perlin, Prelinger Library & Archives, Miljohn Ruperto, Susan Schwartzenberg, Allan Sekula,
Danh Vo, Clemens v. Wedemeyer, and Christine Würmell.
A booklet designed by Karl Holmqvist will accompany The California Files.
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts website >>
