In Search of "Beautiful"

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Reviews of Visible Unseen

I was happy to receive positive reviews of my recent solo exhibition, "Visible Unseen."

Exploring What is Visible but Unseen to Regina Agu on The Great God Pan is Dead
A review of “Visible Unseen” on Glasstire

Visible Unseen (solo exhibition Sept/Oct 2012 at Fresh Arts, Houston) - Artist Statement

“Visible Unseen”

Regina Agu

Artist Statement

“And memory, then, is history's mistress. That is, memory does not stand outside or apart from the becoming and undoing that is history. If we can accept that history and memory are lovers, then we can understand the desire for the bodylife to extend its grasp beyond mediated temporality.”

- poet Akilah Oliver, from her essay “the visible unseen”

My work explores hidden and forgotten histories. I delve into shared memories and explore our collective experiences. I excavate ideas and rituals that we inherit from family, from our cultural and social backgrounds, and from our most basic instincts. I view my physical body as a reservoir of shared experiences and myths.

I was born into a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural family, with roots in Nigeria and Louisiana, and I was raised across several continents. I've always wrestled with having to navigate multiple identities, and with not having a sense of “home” or belonging. I explore the intersections between persistent myths and everyday mundane social interactions, between the politicized “other” body and my temporal body as I travel through life, embracing or rejecting labels, either self-imposed or enforced by the larger collective.

My new work in “Visible Unseen” includes drawings and collages that incorporate a range of materials and references such as found and original photography, illustrated material from vintage biology and anatomy texts, and mythology passed down to me from family in Texas, Louisiana and Nigeria. I transform these artifacts into meditations on the body, collective memory, and layers of overlooked or silenced histories.

I test the lenses of mythology, (afro)futurism, science-fiction, and scientific frameworks. My process is that of a researcher, discovering and documenting layers of memories, much like the way we examine the rings of a cut tree or dig into layers of earth to reveal the realities of the past.

Working artist statement 2012 - brief

My work explores hidden and forgotten histories. Through drawing, collage, installation, photography, and performance, I use my work to delve into bodies of shared memory and explore our collective experiences. I excavate ideas and rituals that we inherit from family, from our backgrounds, and from our most basic instincts. I view my physical body as a reservoir of shared experiences and myths.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Houston Arts Alliance 2012 Grantee

I've been awared a 2012 Individual Artist Grant (Emerging Artist) from the Houston Arts Alliance. New works created will be exhibited during the coming year.
Twenty-two Houston artists recently received individual artist grants from the Houston Arts Alliance: Regina Agu; Kristine Mills Borisewitz; Teresa Chapman; Jade Cooper; Rebecca French; Ashley Horn; Charlotte Kennedy; Alex Luster; Ayanna Jolivet McCloud; Jerry D. Ochoa; John Pluecker; Britt Ragsdale; Robin Reagler; Erin Reck; Andre Sam-Sin; Carrie Schneider; Soody Sharifi; Emily Sloan; Kelly Switzer; Patrick Turk; Michelle Yom and Gwendolyn Zepeda.

More on the 2012 grants here:
http://glasstire.com/2012/05/12/haa-individual-artist-grants-spread-185000-among-22-houston-artists/

Damp Earth - live performace for Low Lives 4

Regina Agu
Damp Earth
Live performance piece broadcast on ustream as part of Low Lives 4 on April 28. 2012

Watch on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/reginaaguart

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Low Lives 4 - artists announced

For more info, please visit Low Lives

Now entering its fourth year, Low Lives is an international festival of live performance-based works transmitted via the internet and projected in real time at multiple venues throughout the U.S. and around the world. Low Lives examines works that critically investigate, challenge, and extend the potential of performance practice presented live through online broadcasting networks. These networks provide a new alternative and efficient medium for presenting, viewing, and archiving performances. Artists working in any media are invited to submit proposals for live performance-based works.

LOW LIVES 4
NETWORKED PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL
APRIL 27th-28th 2012:
Participating Artists
Austin Adkins | Regina Agu | Lindsey Allgood + Amy Luznicky | Emma Alonze | Mauricio Ancalmo | Angela Bartram + Mary O’Neill | Mariane Bourcheix-Laporte | Ruth Vigueras Bravo | Caryana Castillo | Khalil Charif | Matthew Thomas Cianfrani | Gina Cuntstruct | Elwin Cotman | Dance Troupe Practice + Luciana D’Anunciação | Ian Deleon + Kara Stokowski | Stephanie Diamond | Bados Earthling + The Wild Audio Society | Michelle Ellsworth | Ursula Endlicher | Tim Eriksen | Francesca Fini | Les Filles Föllen | Marcel William Foster + Dunstan Matungwa | Future Death Toll | Lawrence Graham-Brown | Alejandro Guzmán | Matt Hawthorn | Joseph Herring | Kanene Holder | James Holland + Alycia Bright Holland | Linda Hutchins | Rima Najdi | Samantha Jones | Igor Josifov | Nathaniel Katz + Valentina Curandi | Elizabeth Leister | Jonathan Lemieux | Gideonsson/Londré | Jonatan Lopez | Tina Mariane Krogh Madsen | Soukei Matsuo | MoTA – Museum of Transitory Art | Nataliya Petkova | Blatta Orientalis | Alexandre Pombo-Mendes | prOphecy sun | Stefan Riebel | Tara Raye Russo | Nuria Guiu Sagarra | Maximiliano Siñani | Jonathan Sutton | Étienne Tremblay-Tardif | Elinor Thompson | Robert Tyree + Andra Rotaru | Marcus Vinícius | A.G. Viva | Alyssa Taylor Wendt | Amelia Winger-Bearskin | Martin Zet |

Presenting Partners
Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art (Newark, New Jersey); Center for Performance Research (CPR) (Brooklyn, New York); Chez Bushwick (Brooklyn, New York); Co-Lab (Austin, Texas); Diaspora Vibe Gallery (Miami, Florida); Fusebox Festival (Austin, Texas); Grace Exhibition Space (Brooklyn, New York); Legion Arts (Cedar Rapids, Iowa); Little Berlin (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania); Living Arts (Tulsa, Oklahoma); Mascher Space Co-op (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania); Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) (Portland, Oregon); Real Art Ways (Harford, Connecticut); SOMArts (San Francisco, California); Space One Eleven (Birmingham, Alabama): Spread Art (Brooklyn, New York); Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) (Salt Lake City, Utah); Alice Yard (Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago); the temporary space (USA/Japan); Yamaguchi Institute of Contemporary Arts (YICA) (Yamaguchi, Japan); Dimanche Rouge (Paris, France); La Maison des Artistes (Paris, France); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Bogotá (MAC) (Colombia); At The Vanishing Point (Sydney, Australia); Small Projects (Tromsø, Norway); Ateliers ’89, Contemporary Art Institute (Aruba)

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Alpha's Bet is Not Over Yet - New Museum, NYC

I am a contributing artist to Alpha's Bet is Not Over Yet, an exhibition at the New Museum organized by artists Steffani Jemison and Jamal Cyrus, on view October 12 - December 4th 2011.

I contributed a written piece to Book Club Book, based on Fred Moten's "Black Mo'nin'" essay. Book Club Book is published as part of Future Plan and Program, which was launched earlier this year. The reception and launch for Book Club Book is this Thursday, November 17th at 7pm, at New Museum (235 Bowery
New York, NY 10002). Please join me for the public reading and reception.

As part of the exhibition, I have a poster image on display.

“Museum as Hub: Alpha’s Bet Is Not Over Yet” is an exhibition, reading room, and discussion space inspired by the energy and politics of radical, independent Black periodicals published during the first half of the twentieth century. Borne out of “Book Club” (2010), a think tank and reading group organized by artists Steffani Jemison and Jamal Cyrus for Project Row Houses, Houston, “Alpha’s Bet” investigates approaches to language, the written word, self-education, and democratic distributions of knowledge. The project draws upon two hundred years of dialogues that span the spiritual, pedagogic, visionary, and populist. These perspectives are reflected in the exhibition’s title that paraphrases theorist and artist Rammellzee (1960-2010), who argued that language as a social agreement is not a passive vessel or known quantity but rather possesses the potential to reimagine structures of power.
The centerpiece of the project is an interactive newsstand display featuring complete reproductions of more than 500 issues of Black periodicals published between 1902 and 1940, including The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races; The Messenger: World’s Greatest Negro Monthly; Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life; and The Crusader. The installation is designed to encourage browsing of the materials and provides space for both concentrated reading and conversation.
Expanding upon ideas explored in the periodicals on display, Jemison and Cyrus have invited artists to create posters inspired by the American Library Association’s READ campaign. Contributing artists include: Regina Agu, Firelei Báez, Jamal Cyrus, Nathaniel Donnett, Chitra Ganesh, Tia-Simone Gardner, Steffani Jemison, Nikki Pressley, Robert Pruitt and Autumn Knight, Bobby Ray, Martine Syms, and Ginger Brooks Takahashi. These posters are joined by a collection of contemporary chapbooks, zones, and self published volumes, which explore the potential of the publication form today, offering perspectives by: Terry Adkins, Adebukola Bodunrin, Nsenga Knight, David Leggett, Eliza Myrie, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Mitchell Squire, Martine Syms, Greg Tate, and LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs.
As part of the exhibition, Jemison and Cyrus have invited artists and writers to read selections in the gallery on October 20, November 10, November 17, and December 1, during the New Museum’s free Thursday evenings. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to suggest passages from the presented materials for public readings.
The project is accompanied by an illustrated publication that borrows the form of a reader—a compendium of essays, interviews, and selections from the periodicals and posters on display. Edited by Steffani Jemison and designed by Nikki Presley, The Reader includes contributions from Adebukola Bodunrin, Jamal Cyrus, Egie Ighile, Mitchell Jackson, Steffani Jemison, Ryan Inouye, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts/The Freedwoman’s Bureau, Ethan Swan, and Greg Tate.
“Museum as Hub: Steffani Jemison and Jamal Cyrus: Alpha’s Bet Is Not Over Yet!” is co-organized by Ryan Inouye, Curatorial Assistant and Ethan Swan, Education Associate.