Process, experimentation, and collaboration are the hallmarks of Lucky Number Seven, SITE Santa Fe’s Seventh International Biennial, opening on Sunday, June 22, 2008. Curated by Lance M. Fung, the exhibition features 25 artists creating 18 site-specific installations, all commissioned by SITE Santa Fe. These artists were nominated by 18 institutions from 16 different countries around the globe. The artists featured in this Biennial are all emerging practitioners, ranging in age from their twenties through their sixties.
The energy and creative activity that has transpired has altered the overall plan for the exhibition. Laura Heon, SITE Phillips Director announced today, “The preparations were so intense and the energy so contagious that we were all inspired to maximize the experience by extending the exhibition through January 4, 2009.”
All of the works for Lucky Number Seven are site-inspired commissions that will not exist as works of art, per se, beyond the exhibition, with the majority of the materials being recycled back into the community. This element emphasizes temporality and process, and provides the artists with the opportunity to push their practices into new directions. The advantage of such a framework is that it allows for experimentation and play, and is not dependent on the forces of the market.
Exhibition designers Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects responded to Fung’s initial idea of physically changing the perspective of the viewer. Williams and Tsien’s monolithic sculpture, or architectural intervention, comprises a series of ramps and mezzanines that intersect SITE’s interior space forming incongruous corridors and gallery spaces with and around which the artists have interacted.
The project is all about collaboration on the local level as well. Fung states, “A crucial aspect of Lucky Number Seven is its engagement with local people, and, we are pleased that a broad range of the city’s cultural institutions will partner with SITE.” In addition to the15 local partnering institutions, Lucky Number Seven has also engaged 33 student interns, and a team of almost 75 local volunteers.
Lucky Number Seven Artists:
SITE Santa Fe Presents Seventh International Biennial
Lucky Number Seven
June 22, 2008 – January 4, 2009
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