Overview

September 28 – December 22, 2013

Curated by Tracy L. Adler, Johnson-Pote Director, Wellin Museum of Art with the Assistance of Eléonore Moncheur de Rieudotte, Collections and Exhibitions Specialist, Wellin Museum of Art

Includes work by Rhona Bitner, Mandy Cano Villalobos, Omer Fast, Joe Fig, Coco Fusco, Pablo Helguera, Hong Seon Jang, Yun-Fei Ji, Nina Katchadourian, Jessica Mein, Almagul Menlibayeva, Deimantas Narkevicius, Saul Robbins, Casey Ruble, Yinka Shonibare, MBE, and Jade Townsend.

Through various media and approaches, the artists in A Sense of Place comment upon the power of place to evoke both shared and personal associations. The selected works by a diverse group of contemporary international artists depict sites both real and imagined to explore how a particular time and place can leave its mark. Presenting worlds in which impressions and memories share equal weight with the physical locations that inspire them, the resulting array of interpretations conjures collective memories, individual experiences, and historical narratives. This exhibition points to broader issues that resonate in today's global and increasingly virtual world. New technologies like Google Earth, social networking sites, and other media platforms have allowed for unprecedented access to communication and information, yet the two-dimensional material they offer cannot match the actual sensory experience of a place or confer any robust understanding of a culture. Although the world may be more connected than ever, personal, cultural, and social experiences remain distinctive and color individual perceptions. The work in A Sense of Place highlights these differences, and the artists included reflect on the distinguishing characteristics that make the places they have lived in, worked in, or passed through unique.