Albuquerque Museum. - Experimental Geography

Published to accompany the traveling exhibition Experimental Geography , organized and circulated by iCI (Independent Curators International), New York

Exhibition curated by Nato Thompson

EXHIBITION FUNDERS
The exhibition, tour, and catalogue are made possible, in part, by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the iCI Advocates, the iCI Partners, Gerrit L. and Sydie Lansing, and Barbara and John Robinson.

EXHIBITION ITINERARY
Richard E. Peeler Art Center
DePauw University
Greencastle, Indiana
September 19December 12, 2008

Rochester Art Center
Rochester, Minnesota
February 7April 18, 2009

The Albuquerque Museum
Albuquerque, New Mexico
June 28September 20, 2009

Colby College Museum of Art
Waterville, Maine
February 21May 30, 2010

2008 iCI (Independent Curators International), New York. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or otherwise transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

In Two Directions: Geography as Art, Art as Geography Nato Thompson, 2008
Experimental Geography: From Cultural Production to the Production of Space
Trevor Paglen, 2008
Rich in Reference: Thoughts on Land Arts Infrastructural Legacy Jeffrey Kastner, 2008
Notes on Pedagogy and Aesthetic Form Damon Rich, 2008
Artist statement by Francis Als is excerpted from and Francis Als and Cuauhtmoc Medina, When Faith Moves Mountains , Madrid: Turner, 2005.

iCI (Independent Curators International)
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Melville House Publishing
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Library of Congress Control
Number: 2008932805

eBook ISBN: 978-1-61219-399-1

Trade Paperback Designer: Kelly Blair
Copy Editor: Stuart Calderwood

v3.1

at time of publication

AREA Chicago

Bellwether Gallery, New York

Bose Pacia Gallery, New York

The Center for Land Use Interpretation

The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP)

Chambers Fine Arts, New York

doggerfisher, Edinburgh

e-Xplo

Ilana Halperin

kanarinka (Catherine DIgnazio)

Julia Meltzer and David Thorne

Lize Mogel

Multiplicity

Trevor Paglen

Raqs Media Collective

Ellen Rothenberg

Spurse

Deborah Stratman

Daniel Tucker

Alex Villar

David Zwirner Gallery, New York

Since its founding more than thirty years ago, iCI has been dedicated to giving museum audiences across the country and abroad the opportunity to see and experience significant recent developments in contemporary art internationally through its traveling exhibitions and publications. We are now proud to present Experimental Geography , which brings together works in a range of mediums created since 2000 by nineteen artists or artist collaboratives from across the United States, as well as from Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

The territory that these artists are investigating was first defined as experimental geography by geographer and artist Trevor Paglen in 2002. A blend of art and geography, the area is characterized primarily by its interdisciplinary nature, an openness to exploration by artists who reference multiple physical and conceptual sources, from the fields, for example, of science, history, economics, politics, culture, and even art, in thinking about the human use of land. These investigations take the form of maps and charts, both actual and virtual; bus tours; and physical intervention in the urban landscape or in nature. As the curator has described, the works range across a grid with one axis the poetic to the didactic, and the other the natural or geologic to the constructed. Taken together, they comprise a complex and thought-provoking experience, and they provide multiple routes for interacting with and expanding awareness of the changing geography in which we live.

This traveling exhibition and catalogue have been made possible through the encouragement, dedication, and generosity of many people. First and foremost, on behalf of iCIs Board of Trustees and staff, I extend warmest thanks to the exhibitions curator, Nato Thompson, who has contributed his breadth of knowledge, critical and curatorial skills, and energy to this project. Natos essay here offers insights into the artists and works included in the project, developed through his extensive involvement with interdisciplinary artistic practice and his deep understanding of this expanding field. We are honored to include essays by Trevor Paglen and the distinguished art critic Jeffrey Kastner. The knowledge and insights they share provide valuable perspectives from which to approach the works in this exhibition. We are also grateful for the vital texts discussing key aspects of experimental geography by artist Matthew Coolidge, founder and director of the Center for Land Use Interpretation; Iain Kerr, Spurse member and Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studio and Theory, Maine College of Art; artist Lize Mogel; and artist Damon Rich of the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP). Statements written by the artists in the exhibition also enrich this publication, and I am most grateful for those invaluable contributions.

iCI owes a debt of gratitude to all of the artists and collaborators in the exhibition, to the lenders who generously allowed their works to travel throughout the two-year tour.

All of us at iCI convey our appreciation to the supporters of this exhibition, tour, and catalogue, including the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the iCI Advocates, the iCI Partners, Gerrit and Sydie Lansing, and Barbara and John Robinson. Their generous contributions helped to make this project a reality.