For immediate release:

(Urbana, Illinois) Artist Robert Ladislas Derr requests community members' shoes associated with a specific memory in Urbana that he will wear at the exact location of the memory, filming with video, reciting the memory, to capture the essence of place. The shoes may be dropped off at Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center (202 South Broadway #100) from June 6 to July 17, 2011. The shoes can be picked up December 1 to 15, 2011, otherwise, they will be donated.

Derr received an Envision 365 Grant from the City of Urbana, IL to produce this multi-media project titled In My Shoes: Urbana. Continuing his investigation of life and art, In My Shoes: Urbana puts Derr literally at the center of his inquiry.

According to Yi-Fu Tuan, “Modern man is so mobile that he has not the time to establish roots; his experience and appreciation of place is superficial." Revisiting the location of the memory, Derr existentially rekindles the past experience of the other, establishing a sense of place and time.

From the first-generation performances this summer to the second-generation exhibition of videos and photographs at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center and Indi Go Gallery in late 2011, the existential physicality of the everyday space, experiences that occurred in particular locations, become material. The shoe owner's memory, a virtual of the real, provides the blueprint to establishing a picture of place.

With broad participation from the community, In My Shoes: Urbana will capture a glimpse into the essence of Urbana. The city is the stage for this project. Actualizing the old adage, “walk a mile in my shoes,” Derr will metaphorically experience a different perspective, which in turn, meets the second-generation viewers with a locality designed from memory.

Robert Ladislas Derr uses performance, video, photography, and installation as he puts himself literally in the center of a barrage of questions about life and making art. He has exhibited and performed all over North America and Europe, and in South America, in 28 solo exhibitions and over 150 group exhibitions including Playing the City at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, and his work was featured in many publications including Volume 13: Public, ASPECT: The Chronicle of New Media Art, with commentary by Bill Arning, director of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.

Robert Ladislas Derr
Associate Professor of Art
The Ohio State University
614  292  9685
derr.34@osu.edu
http://home1.arts.ohio-state.edu/~derr34/