"By Any Means UnNecessary: First Annual Juried Exhibition"
2004-12-16 until 2005-01-15
Mission 17
San Francisco, CA, USA United States of America

For this year's show, Mission 17 asked artists to consider the following questions: Modern society harnesses human energies ever more exhaustively for instrumental ends. Every impulse, it seems, must be put to use - though the ultimate purpose of all this work too often seems absurd. At the same time, we find ourselves inundated with commodities. Our hyper-productive society relishes in consumption; but this endless orgy too often leaves us altogether unsatisfied. What is and isn't necessary?

The questions continue - What are the politics of work and play? Is free-time good for nothing more than "vacation"? If art is defined by purposelessness, is it merely frivolous? What do we need? Mission 17 has invited artists to submit work that explores the dialectics of necessity. Orienting topics include: a) excess and deprivation, b) irrationality and instrumentalization, d) work and play, e) freedom and determinism, f) discipline and rebellion, g) fetishism, h) consumerism, and i) decadence, among others.

Including works by: Stephen Anderson, Sonya Blesofsky, Nancy Mizuno Elliot, Lorna Finelli, Yael Friedman, Dan Grayber, Hannah Hammond-Hagman, Monica Johnson, David Kasdorf, Ellen Lake, Kristina Noelle Lewis, Julia Petho, Job Piston, Shawn Smith, Jill Sylvia, and Michael Trigilio

Juried by: Clark Buckner, Mayumi Hamanaka, Taro Hattori, Kimberlee Koym, and Jennifer Rosenberg

IMAGE
Nancy Mizuno Elliott
"Midnight Raid"
Mixed Media
17" x 21"

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of California

Other Important Exhibitions in San Francisco