Wherever We Go: Art, Identity, Cultures in Transit - Phase 2 Opening

Wherever We Go: Art, Identity, Cultures in Transit

Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11:00am to 6:00pm—at the Walter and McBean Galleries on the SFAI campus.

Phase 2
Opening reception: Thursday, 19 July 2007
5:30–7:30pm
Exhibition dates: 20 July 2007–15 September 2007

In Wherever We Go: Art, Identity, Cultures in Transit, the concept of identity—like the artists in the exhibition themselves—has taken leave, at least partially, of its origins. For here identity is defined in terms not so much of geographical roots as of cultural experiences and relationships. Informed by subtle reflections on this mutating concept, each of the works in the exhibition is the fruit of a reflection-action that recounts things about the world in which its maker was born, but also about the world in which he or she now lives. Thus, identities are represented and exemplified as no longer fixed once and for all, but as floating free, as resisting the urge to be oversimplified and boxed in. This process also makes a significant impact on the transformation of each locality the migrants travel to and settle in.

An open field for comparisons and a mise-en-scène of crucial contemporary questions, Wherever We Go is curated by Hou Hanru and Gabi Scardi and first premiered in October 2006 at the Spazio Oberdan in Milan. Presented in association with the Province of Milan and the Museo della Fotografia Contemporanea, the exhibition comprises fifty works by twenty-three artists.

The artists for phase one are Adel Abdessemed; Yael Bartana; Banu Cennetoğlu; Latifa Echakhch; Ni Haifeng; Huang Yong-Ping; Mella Jaarsma; Koo Jeong-A; Tsuyoshi Ozawa; Adrian Paci; Shen Yuan; and Nari Ward.

The artists for phase two are Nindityo Adipurnomo; Kristine Alksne; M. T. Alves; Keren Amiran; Carlos Amorales; Maja Bajevič and Danica Dakič; Magali Claude; H. H. Lim; Elena Nemkova; and Pascale Marthine Tayou.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue containing color photographs and biographies of the artists as well as critical essays by Elvan Zabunyan, Gilane Tawadros, Pier Luigi Tazzi, and the two curators.

Support for Wherever We Go has been provided by Paule Anglim and Deitch Projects, New York. SFAI's exhibitions and public programs are supported in part by the Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund.