Happenings

Artist Lecture at the AGSL

2009-01-05T20:07:00.007-06:00

I will be giving a short lecture on my piece, Daily Navigation, at the American Geographical Society Library on January 28th, at 4pm. The AGSL is located on the 3rd floor of the Golda Meir Library on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. To find out more about the work, click the Artist-In-Residence page of this site.

MA Thesis Exhibition Scheduled

2009-01-05T19:59:00.002-06:00

The date for my MA Thesis Exhibition has been set. It will be at the INOVA Gallery on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on March 6th from 5-7pm. Please come and see what I have been working toward for the past year-and-a half.

Exhibition at The Intercontinental Hotel

2008-11-27T21:23:00.007-06:00

On Wednesday, December 3, 2008 a new exhibition will open at The Intercontinental Hotel in Milwaukee, WI (139 EAST KILBOURN AVE.). This exhibition will feature my most recent work, as well as the work of a small group of my fellow graduate students at The Peck School of Visual Art. This exhibition will be the first of a series of shows featuring the artwork and curation of local emerging artists at the Intercontinental Hotel, Milwaukee. There will be a closing reception at the hotel on January 16, 2009.

Proposal Accepted!

2008-11-06T15:35:00.003-06:00

I recently submitted a proposal to the American Geographical Society Library regarding my interest in doing an artwork in the site. Last week, the proposal was accepted and I am now in the data collection phase of the project. Below is the letter submitted that introduces the project. I am hoping to have the work completed by mid December. Following the completion of the installation, I will hold a public artist's talk at the library discussing the research and artwork produced during the residency period.

My graduate research is invested in finding relationships between the human body, cartographic processes, and our understanding of internal/external space. This semester, as the Artist-In-Residence at the American Geographical Society Library, I have been researching its vast resources on cartographic record and process.
The AGSL collection provides a special visual experience, and can be considered in many capacities-- formally, conceptually, and logically. After spending much of the semester thus far doing research, I have become interested in expressing some of my discoveries through a temporary art installation inside the AGS Library.
My concept is to use a process of behavioral mapping in conjunction with more formal cartographic graphic systems. Specifically, patterns of contours created by recording the movement of AGSL librarians will be temporarily incorporated into the library floor.
First, I will observe the walking and library use patterns of the librarians over a given time period. Next, using a needle and thread, I will create a map of these movements onto the library carpeting, creating a visual record that activates the neutral space; both aesthetisizing the space and providing library users with an added element of conceptual cartographic exhibition.
Due to the nature of the AGSL “level-loop” carpet, I should be able to create temporary lines on the floor by using a needle to draw the thread through the carpet loops at a rate of approximately every 2 inches. This will allow a visible, yet delicate line to be added to the floor with a very simple removal process that would not disrupt the integrity of the carpet.
Attached, I have included some research material that may give a better understanding of my resource and process ideas. If you have any questions, or would like to see a test done in the space, do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you for your consideration,
Leah Schreiber
Artist-In-Residence
American Geographical Society Library

New Personal Arts Site on the Web

2008-11-06T15:28:00.002-06:00

In addition to www.leahschreiber.com, I have also posted images of my work on a web gallery site called MyArtsSpace.com. Search my name on the site to find images of my work, including very recent images of my studio documentation.

Interactive Data Collection Project

2008-10-21T22:00:00.003-05:00

Okay, so maybe "interactive" conjures up the wrong image, but it describes the way I am approaching the idea. The work I am currently developing is concerned with the relationship between mapping the body interior and the exterior environment. In order to better understand the collective understanding of our bodies' interior, I am creating a series of data collection pieces that survey the knowledge and understanding of the viewer, and then create an opportunity for those viewers to actively dialogue through their answers. So come out to my upcoming survey event at the Parts and Labor Collective show on Saturday Oct 25 to participate.

Chicago Collective Group Opening This Weekend!!!

2008-10-18T15:41:00.003-05:00

My collective, Parts and Labor, is hosting an opening this Saturday night, Oct 25th at our exhibition space in Humbolt Park, along with 2 other Chicago collectives, Deadline Projects and the Infidel Group. I will be showing two of my own works along side works of many other emerging Chicago artists. This will be an event not to be missed. Hope to see you there.

3144 W. Carroll
3rd Floor
7-midnight

773-407-7279

Open Studio, Oct 18

2008-10-12T23:05:00.003-05:00

I will be participating in an Open Studio event this Saturday, Oct 18 from 10am to 4pm. This is an opportunity to see the entire building, including the studios of all visual art graduate students and faculty at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee.

Upcoming Exhibition Includes My Recent Work

2008-09-28T19:51:00.004-05:00

Opening, Friday, October 17
5-8pm

Crossing Over 2008

An invitational exhibition highlighting undergraduate and graduate students receiving awards of achievement from the Peck School of the Arts in the 2008 academic year. The show runs from 10/17/2008 - 11/7/2008.

Location
UWM Union Art Gallery
2200 E. Kenwood Blvd.
(414) 229-6310
Sponsored by
Peck School of the Arts

Gallery Hours:
Monday - Wednesday,
Friday and Saturday 12-5
Thursday 12-7
Sunday CLOSED

Artist-In-Residence

2008-09-16T16:44:00.002-05:00

For the next few months, I will be working as the Artist-In-Residence at the American Geographical Society Library. This is an exciting position as I get to study the largest collection of maps and geographical records in the country. A gift from the City of New York, the library is having its 30th anniversary at the Golda Meir Library on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus this year.

As the Artist-In-Residence, I will be working closely with the Head Curator and AGS librarians as I study the tactics used my map and chart makers in order to visually express their concepts. To learn more about the AGS, go to http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/AGSL

View my work in downtown Milwaukee

2008-06-18T14:08:00.002-05:00

I currently have works for sale at the Mona V Yoga Studio located in the Milwaukee Athletic Club at 758 N. Broadway. Mona V is on the 8th floor of this beautiful building. This very special studio holds rotating exhibitions of local artists so please stop by and support local small business owners as well as local artists!

Saturday June 14, Exhibition in Chicago

2008-06-11T12:12:00.003-05:00

The Parts and Labor Collective is hosting its second annual summer show, Summer Meat II: Bodywork. The show will include a number of Chicago based artists and members of the Parts and Labor Collective. This group of talented artists have been showing together for almost 2 years, exhibiting a fresh, DIY approach to art exhibition and promotion.

I will be exhibiting Intervening Distances, as well as a number of my very recent lithographs, all of which can be viewed by clicking the Paintings link on this homepage.

Summer Meat II: Bodywork will be held at 3144 W. Carroll, Humboldt Park, Chicago. The space is on the 3rd Floor, and in case the outer door is locked, call 773-407-7279 for entry.

Grills will fire at 7pm, but the show will be open until 12am. This is an event not to be missed.

Website Updates

2008-05-21T16:20:00.002-05:00

If you have not looked around the site lately, there are new statements and images to be found. Some areas are still under construction, but please take a look at the new work.
Thanks.
Leah

Open Exhibition in Milwaukee

2008-05-02T13:21:00.002-05:00

Upcoming Exhibition

2008-04-18T11:32:00.002-05:00

Please check out www.makeyourownhistory.com to find out about my upcoming group exhibition in Milwaukee, WI. The show will be open from May 2-May 17, so if you are in the Milwaukee area, be sure to come by for this event!

Parts and Labor Collective- Update

2008-01-28T10:19:00.001-06:00

As one of the founding members of Parts and Labor, an art collective out of Humbolt Park in Chicago, I just wanted to remind anyone interested to go to our new website: www.partsandlaborcollective.com

There you can find our members work and links, as well as the calandar of Parts and Labor Collective exhibitions and events.

We have a show coming up in March, so take a look!

Recent Writings

2008-01-11T21:38:00.001-06:00

Experiencing Meaning

The present period of art is a period of “anything goes” (Lyotard 76), incorporating various images from the history of culture in order to create new meanings. Due to a lack of pre-determined rules about what makes artwork valid or valuable, artists have a substantial number of techniques at their disposal for the creation of their artwork, whether that be a traditional medium such as painting or sculpture, or one that utilizes developments in technology, such as video or digitally enhanced photography. However, this essay will be concerned with showing that because the postmodern plurality of art presents an opportunity for viewers’ personal associations to create unintended and individual meanings within an artwork, the technique or medium of an artwork becomes secondary to the experience it provides.
In his essay “The Third Meaning,” Roland Barthes is concerned with the essence of meaning in art, and focuses on film stills as an important medium for meaning evaluation. He argues that there is a meaning in art that is beyond the symbolic and our ability to describe, yet according to Barthes, it is something all of us can “read” (Barthes 54, 61). I would argue however, that the reading of these “obtuse” meanings can and will only be understood on an individual level, and therefore the reason it is difficult to articulate the “third meaning” is that it is not universal. Victor Burgin also uses the “filmic” experience as the primary medium for a discussion on personal associations in “The Remembered Film,” using Barthes’ own account of his personal associations to illustrate the “associative chain,” -the way one image reminds us of another and so on (Burgin 60, 62). However this chain depends on the personal experiences of each individual viewer, as different images inevitably bring about different meanings for different people. Liz Kotz, in her essay “Video Projection- The Space between Screens,” supports the use of technological advancements in video and film stills as a medium for expressing meaning: “Equipped with slow scan and single-frame pause video viewing invites us to reread and reconstruct cinema- to break down the filmic flow, bring ephemeral passing frames to our attention, and recompose its pieces into other forms” (Kotz 106). However, she also argues that stills rely heavily on “pictoral and narrative orientation,” utilizing the structure and qualities of a painting or of the choreographed photography of Cindy Sherman (Kotz 105), thusly discounting film as an independent or principal technique for creation or expression of meaning.
In the essay, “Why Are There Many Art’s and Not Just One?” Jean-Luc Nancy investigates the split art from technique within the plurality of postmodernism. In his search for an “essence of art,” somewhere beyond the actual product or technical process of an artwork, Nancy discovers that art has differences within it because we perceive the information that surrounds us in different ways, such as through sensuous verses intelligible experiences (Nancy 3, 28). According to Nancy, art functions as a representation of these individual experiences of existence: “Art isolates or forces there the moment of the world as...exteriority and exposition of a being-in-the-world, exteriority and exposition that are formally grasped, isolated, and presented as such” (Nancy 18). Therefore, whatever the medium, art has the ability to provide an experience that isolates and interprets distinct kinds of experiences, but generally gains it’s value in its contact with the associations and experiences of the individual viewer.

Works Cited

Barthes, Roland. “The Third Meaning.” Image, Music, Text. Trans. Stephen Heath. New York: Hill and Wang, 1970: 44-68.

Burgin, Victor. “The Remembered Film.” The Remembered Film. London: Reaktion Books, 2004: 58-73.

Kotz, Liz. “Video Projection: The Space between Screens.” Theory in Contemporary Art Since 1985. Malden: Blackwell, 2005:101-115.

Lyotard, Jean-Francois. “What is Postmodernism?” The Post-Modern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Trans. Regis
Durand. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Press, 1984: 71-82.

Nancy, Jean-Luc. “Why Are There Several Arts and Not Just One?” The Muses. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1996: 1-39.

Recent Writings

2008-01-09T22:34:00.000-06:00

Historical Relationships of Relational Aesthetics

One of the latest artistic conceptualizations in contemporary art both focuses on, and investigates the possibilities of inter-personal relationships. In Relational Aesthetics, Nicolas Bourriaud presents a set of essays that attempt to define and contextualize this new and popular art form. In these writings, Bourriaud explains that relational art is one that promotes “conviviality” and situations for the development of personal relationships. Additionally, he asserts that relational art is something wholly original, and represents a complete break from the art of the past: “We find ourselves, with relational artists, in the presence of a group of people, who …in no way draw sustenance from any reinterpretation of this or that past aesthetic movement” (Bourriaud 44). However, in contrast with Nicolas Bourriaud’s statement, relational art both references and relies on various movements from art history.
As detailed by Hal Foster, in his essay “This Funeral is for the Wrong Corpse,” it is necessary for relational art to reference art history in order to be understood as an earnest sect of the field: “Shadowing is the primary element that allows any art to be constituted as such, as a discipline that lives on at all” (Foster 134). Furthermore, Foster connects features of relational art to postmodernism and the neo-avante-garde, such as through their interest in “investigatory questions” (Foster 141, 142). Therefore, according to Hal Foster, relational art both references and relies on pre-existing artistic movements.
In addition, Claire Bishop writes about the connection of relational art to movements of the past in her article “Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics.” She argues that the goal of relational art is to create a situation that generates audience participation in order for the work to be activated, which is congruent with the words of Bourriaud (Bishop 61). However, she counter’s Bourriaud’s claim of historical independence by exposing its relation to such movements as Happenings, Fluxus, and Performance art, and she even points to its similarity in reason: “Each [movement] was accompanied by a rhetoric of democracy and emancipation that is very similar to Bourriaud’s defense of relational aesthetics” (Bishop 62). Thus, Bishop too refutes the claim that relational art exists independently from the work of art’s past.
It seems awfully supercilious to claim that an artist or movement is able to produce artwork that exists outside of and autonomous from art history. Given the proper attention, it is not difficult to see the ways each art movement is effected by and reacts to the movements before it. Nicolas Bourriaud claims in his book Relational Aesthetics, that the specific movement that he describes is not reliant on the art of the past: “Relational art is not the revival of any movement… [i]t arises from an observation of the present and from a line of thinking about the fate of artistic activity” (Bourriaud 44). However, is that not what each art movement would claim? It seems likely that Bourriaud’s excitement about this new direction of artwork prevents him from realizing, or possibly admitting, that the work does in fact have a relationship to the history of artistic development, just as each movement before it.

Works Cited

Bishop, Claire. “Antagonism and Relational Aesthetics.” October 110 (2004): 51-79.
Bourriaud, Nicolas. Relational Aesthetics. Trans. Simon Pleasance and Fronza Woods.
Les presses du reel, 2002.
Foster, Hal. “This Funeral is for the Wrong Corpse.” Design and Crime and Other
Diatribes. New York: Verso, 2002: 123-143.

Recent Writing

2007-10-21T20:01:00.000-05:00

Oct 14, 2007
The Incessant Assaulter
This is the Age of Consumerism, where mass media’s fast moving images determine and dominate daily experiences. Through such outlets as television, magazines and billboards, mass media not only informs individuals of their position in society, it creates a collective awareness of societal structures by instilling cultural ideology. While the media creates a certain understanding of society, it distracts individuals from considering the history of its ideologies. This essay will prove that societal structures preserve and perpetuate their own ideologies by managing and subjugating the critical perspective of those in that society. This concept has been considered in the recent past by important critical authors, and their writings support this argument.
Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle discusses the perpetuating nature of societal structures in three ways. First, Debord argues that if one tries to analyze the structure of their society, they will be using the categories devised by that society, and therefore will be using its structure in the critique: “When analyzing the spectacle, one speaks, to some extent the language of the spectacular itself in the sense that one moves through the methodological terrain of the very society which expresses itself in the spectacle” (Debord 11). This inability to escape the methodology of that which one wishes to analyze is problematic for the critical voice. Debord makes a second argument for this problem in his example of union workers, who in their attempt to revolt against the hardships of the proletariat, became participants in the abuse of the proletariat: “The revolutionary ideology was to be shattered by the very success of those who held it. …Even those who had been recruited from the struggles of industrial workers and who were themselves workers, were transformed by the union bureaucracy into brokers of labor power who sold labor as a commodity”(Debord 96). Third, Debord states that when someone critiques the unpleasant results of the system, they are not being critical of the system itself, and therefore are missing the point (Debord 197). Linda Nochlin’s article, “Why Have There Been No Great Woman Artists?” addresses this issue directly, reminding the reader that the problem is not that women are incapable of making great art (as a result of the system), but that the pervasive societal structure discriminates against women and therefore denies them the access necessary to be acknowledged as great artists (Nochlin 152). In these examples, Debord pointedly argues that the structure of society makes it difficult to critique society, however, Debord and Nochlin are not the only authors who have acknowledged the issue of the pervasive societal structure.
“The Photographs are Us: Regarding the Torture of Others,” an article by Susan Sontag, also makes the argument that societal structures are self-preserving. First, in her discussion of the torture at Abu Ghraib, Sontag points out that torture is a product of entire society’s hierarchal structure, not the product of an individual: “it is not about those that perform these acts, but the “nature” of the system and “hierarchies deployed to carry them out that makes such acts likely” (Sontag 26). Second, she reminds us that societal hierarchies of power encourage groups to practice such violence against others whom they consider lesser, reinforcing the idea of their superiority and preserving the hierarchy: “They [torture] them when they are told or made to feel, that those over whom they have absolute power deserve to be humiliated, tormented. They [torture] when they are led to believe that the people they are torturing belong to an inferior race or religion” (Sontag 28). Third, Sontag reminds us of the intended circulation of the photographs from Abu Ghraib, creating the distribution of a message enforcing the soldiers’ authority (Sontag 27). One artist that creates a critique of the distribution of authoritative messages is Jenny Holzer. In her series “Truisms”, Holzer uses mass media outlets like electronic signs and billboards to present phrases that are familiar, and because of their tone are easily accepted as true. In this work, she is mimicking the voice of our mass media culture, questioning our easy acceptance of authoritative cultural ideology. These are all examples of the ability of society to reinforce its own structures and hierarchies. It is important to note however, that reinforcing messages of the legitimacy of societal structures and ideology are everywhere.
Angela Carter discusses the use of pornography to reinforce ideology of social hierarchy in her book, The Sadeian Woman. First, in this book Carter is concerned with pornography’s over-generalized and context-free presentation. This pared down version of sexual relationships removes our ability to critique the reality of the structure of the male/female sexual dynamic: “[Pornography’s] elementary metaphysic gets in the way of real life and prevents us from seeing real life” (Carter 17). Second, she informs us that the structure of the male/female sexual relationship is a good indicator of that society’s social structure, so if pornography was to include the details and context, it would create a critique of society: “Sexual relations between men and women always render explicit the nature of social relations in the society in which they take place and, if described explicitly, will form a critique of those relations, even if that is not and never has been the intention of the pornographer” (Carter 20). Therefore, because it does not include context, pornography reinforces social hierarchies, and if by some chance it does question the ideology of a society, “it is banned” (Carter 18). Two examples of artists who created pornographic work that challenged socially accepted notions are Lynda Benglis and Cosey Fanni Tutti. Each of these women created works that used pornographic images to critique sexual norms, and each of them had their work censored from their own exhibition. Pornography might serve to preserve societal structures and sexual hierarchies, but these structures are deeply rooted and have been in existence throughout modern history.
In “Love and Sex in Plato’s Epistemology,” a chapter in Reflections on Gender and Science, Evelyn Fox-Keller reminds us how long these social structures have been in place and how deep they run. First, she argues, even Plato in the search for enlightenment through equals, could not see through the ideologies and social hierarchies imposed on his culture. His concept of “kindred essences” together obtaining true knowledge through the denial of the physical, and therefore denial of dominance and aggression, required a more equal exchange of feeling and desire than any example of relationships conceivable in that culture: “Plato’s definition of a new form of pederastic love remain constrained by the cultural models available to him and the restrictions these imposed on acceptable forms of desire in men” (Fox-Keller 32). He could not conceive of a man being equal with a woman in his society. Second, with Plato’s acceptance of these restrictions, those that look to him for knowledge follow suite, and those whom study Plato, too accept these ideologies. However, in the case of natural science, the physical is undeniable, thusly the association of women as being lesser and therefore deserving of aggression continues: “Modern science can thus be said to be following Plato’s script…In this script, it appears inevitable that intercourse with physical nature evokes the domination and aggression appropriate to women and slaves” (Fox-Keller 31). Thirdly, the intensity of the association of submission with loss of integrity and deserving of aggression in Plato’s culture is apparent in this reading (Fox-Keller 26), as well as in the work of Marina Abramovic. In her performance piece “Rhythm O,” Abramovic presented herself to the viewers, informing them they could do whatever they wanted to her with the 72 objects on the table next to her. The participants cut her, wrote on her, tore off her clothes, crowned her with thorns, and held a loaded gun to her head (Phelan 100). She placed herself in the submissive role, and was treated as though she deserved aggression, reminding us how the societal structures that constrained Plato are still prevalent today.
In conclusion, societal structures preserve and perpetuate their own ideologies by managing and subjugating the critical perspective of those in that society. Through reiteration of dominant/submissive roles, socially constructed hierarchies are maintained and strengthened. As the authors and artists mentioned have shown, it is possible to express the effect of society’s structure. Moreover, through exposure to more questioning and critical ideas, awareness of the self-perpetuation of these structures may help to break the cycle; we only need to maintain our own critical voice in the face of an incessant assaulter.

Works Cited
Carter, Angela. The Sadeian Woman. New York: Pantheon, 1979.
Debord, Guy. Society of The Spectacle. Kalamazoo: Black and Red, 1977.
Fox-Keller, Evelyn. Reflections on Gender and Science. Binghamton: Yale U.P. 1985.
Nochlin, Linda. “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” Women, Art, and Power. New York: Harper and Row, 1988.
Phelan, Peggy. Art and Feminism. New York: Phaidon, 2001.
Sontag, Susan. “The Photographs Are Us: Regarding the Torture of Others.” New York Times Magazine. 23 May 2004: 24-29,42.

Change of Scenery

2007-08-09T18:19:00.001-05:00

I wanted to let everyone know that I am now a Milwaukee artist. I am attending The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for the next couple of years in order to get my Master of Fine Art in Painting. If you are in town, feel free to contact me for a studio visit. I have a great space on the East Side. Thanks for everyone who have been coming to my shows! The last one was great fun. Hope to hear from you soon.

2007-05-17T19:41:00.000-05:00

Make sure to stop by April 7s Custom Framing on Chicago Ave to see some of my work.

Also there is a great Parts and Labor Collective show coming up June 16 called Summer Meat. Check out this flyer.

It will be my last exhibition as a Chicagoan, so come by and have some snacks and check out some new work by a bunch of great Chicago artists.

Parts and Labor

2007-05-02T14:46:00.000-05:00

Leah is a member of The Parts and Labor Collective, Chicago, IL. For more information on Parts and Labor, go to: www.myspace.com/partsandlaborcollective

Spring Meat, the new Parts and Labor Exhibition, will be opening on June 16th, 2007 at The Loft (NE corner of Carroll and Kedzie in Humbolt Park).