Current Exhibition
KEEP
IT SLICK:
Infiltrating
Capitalism with The Yes Men
Curated
by Astria Suparak
Organized
by Feldman Gallery, PNCA +
·
Nov. 14, 5-6pm: How To Be A Yes Man Workshop with
preview film clips, Carnegie Mellon School of Art Lecture Series. In the “Your
Town, Inc.” exhibition at Miller Gallery, 2nd Floor.
· Nov. 14, 6-8pm: Business Casual Reception · Dec. 4, Thurs. 8pm: The Yes Men Movie
|
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| McDonald's McMascots: Rona McRiveter by the Yes Men |
ABOUT
THE EXHIBITION
The Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University and the Feldman Gallery at Pacific Northwest College of Art are proud to present the first major exhibition of renowned artist group the Yes Men. “Keep It Slick: Infiltrating Capitalism with the Yes Men” will run September 4 through October 26, 2008 at the PNCA in Portland and November 14, 2008 through February 15, 2009 at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. Each exhibition features a workshop and lecture by the Yes Men titled “How To Be A Yes Man,” with preview clips of their upcoming feature-length film, to be released next year.
“The Yes Men are among the most visible and effective activist-artists of our time, reaching countless people through websites, newspapers, and television broadcasts,” said Astria Suparak, curator of Keep It Slick. “Over the past decade they have fearlessly taken on the world’s biggest corporations and bureaucracies. Infiltrating the elite realm of the influential and the moneyed, cloaked in the sheerest layer of authority–thrift-store suits, quick-print business cards, forged press releases–these social activators urge us to question where ethics belong in our capitalist-driven society.”
The Yes Men have gained international acclaim and notoriety for exposing dehumanizing business practices and helping to keep critical issues in the international spotlight. They do this through impersonating representatives of powerful corporations and government organizations such as ExxonMobil, McDonald’s, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Yes Men’s famed hoaxes include a phony George W. Bush website celebrating the unsavory details of the then-Presidential candidate, and the false announcement of the World Trade Organization’s dissolution in order to shift focus to helping the poor.
Co-organized by the Feldman Gallery at Pacific Northwest College of Art and the Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon University, “Keep It Slick” exhibits the Yes Men’s practice with elaborate costumes, slapstick videos, outrageous posters, and selections from their personal collection. Though their sociopolitical pranks have been widely publicized, they have never been presented on such a large scale.
“This survey represents the first-ever solo exhibition of the Yes Men. Here you can walk into a re-creation of their past exploits in the Conference area, witness a comically apocalyptic future, and pay your respects to a janitor who generously donated his body to satisfy our insatiable energy needs. In the Executive Board Room, you may browse through the Yes Men’s personal office items and orate along to their absurd PowerPoint presentations,” Suparak said.
ABOUT THE YES MEN
The Yes Men have
gained international notoriety for impersonating World Trade Organization
spokesmen on international TV and at business conferences around the world.
They describe what they do as Identity
Correction. Unlike Identity Theft, which criminals practice with dishonest
intent, Identity Correction is the
art of impersonating a powerful criminal to publicly humiliate them for
conspiring against the public good. Their targets have included big bad
bureaucracies like the World Trade Organization, nasty world leaders such as
George Bush, ugly right-wing think tanks like The Heritage Foundation, and
heartless corporations such as Dow Chemical. www.theyesmen.org
ABOUT THE FELDMAN GALLERY AT PNCA
Dedicated to bringing
national and international contemporary artists to Portland, the Feldman Gallery
at Pacific Northwest College of Art showcases stellar artists who fully
participate in a collaborative creative dialogue that includes studio visits,
gallery talks and culminates in a public First Thursday opening. The Feldman
Gallery is enriched through the College's partnerships with leading artistic
and educational institutions
including an on-going collaboration between the College and PICA’s TBA
Festival, which in 2008 brings to
the Gallery the culture-jamming activists The Yes Men. www.pnca.edu/exposure/feldman/
ABOUT
THE MILLER GALLERY AT CARNEGIE MELLON
The Miller Gallery at Carnegie Mellon has
supported the creation, understanding, and growth of contemporary art through
exhibitions, projects, events, and publications since January 2000. The 9,000
square foot space functions as a showcase for experimentation, examination,
discovery, and discussion. The gallery aspires to engage diverse audiences, to
create and strengthen communities through art, and to stimulate, provoke, and
encourage contemplation of the visual arts of our times. The Miller Gallery is a non-collecting
facility located in the Purnell Center for the Arts, on Carnegie Mellon’s
campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is a unit of the College of Fine Arts
and named for Regina Gouger Miller, avid art collector, alumna of the School of
Art, and principal donor. www.cmu.edu/millergallery
ABOUT THE TIME BASED ART FESTIVAL
The Time-Based Art Festival is a contemporary art festival of regional, national, and international artists presenting theatre, dance, music, film, visual exhibition and installation. PICA presents moments of movement and imagery under bridges, over rivers, on stages and throughout the city—all in Portland, Oregon USA. The TBA Festival examines and celebrates every form of contemporary art and is the only festival of its kind in North America. www.pica.org/tba
PORTLAND, OR
Sept.
4–Oct. 26, 2008
@ Feldman Gallery, Pacific Northwest College of the Arts.
In connection with Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s Time Based Arts
Festival 2008
·
Sept. 4, 5-8pm: Business Casual Reception
· Sept. 6, 3-4pm: How To Be A Yes Man Workshop with preview clips from their new film. In PNCA room 204.
ABOUT THE MILLER GALLERY AT CARNEGIE MELLON
The Regina Gouger Miller Gallery at
Carnegie Mellon University has supported the creation, understanding, and
growth of contemporary art through exhibitions, projects, events, and
publications since January 2000.
The 9,000 square foot space functions
as a showcase for experimentation, examination, discovery, and discussion. The
gallery aspires to engage diverse audiences, to create and strengthen
communities through art, and to stimulate, provoke, and encourage contemplation
of the visual arts of our times. Over the last eight years, the Miller Gallery
has exhibited work by Laylah Ali, Janine Antoni, The Art Guys, Michael
Bevilacqua, Enrique Chagoya, Catherine Chalmers, Michael Ray Charles, Minerva
Cuevas, Nicole Eisenman, Inka Essenhigh, Neil Farber, Karen Finley, Rachel
Harrison, Arturo Herrera, Tran T. Kim-Trang, Glenn Ligon, Kerry James Marshall,
Larry Miller, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Shirin Neshat, Christy Rupp, Al
Souza, Sarah Sze, TermiteTV, Kara Walker, Olav Westphalen, Gail Wight, and Sue
Williams, among others. Notable Carnegie Mellon School of Art alumni including
Mel Bochner, Jacob Ciocci (Paper Rad), John Currin, Cassandra C. Jones, and
Shana Moulton have also exhibited here.
PRESS
Nov 17 POP CITY MEDIA: Yes They Can: Miller Gallery keeps it real with provocative new exhibitions and programs >>>
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Gallery Hours: Tue.–Sun. 11:30 am–5 pm; Closed Monday