The MAC is pleased to announce its inaugural exhibition, Working Groups by Carolyn Sortor and Michael A. Morris, in the organization’s newly renovated exhibition space at 1503 S Ervay St in the Cedars neighborhood. Working Groups runs January 12 through February 23, 2019. An opening reception will be held Saturday, January 12 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. This exhibition in The MAC’s north gallery coincides with the exhibition, Independence, in the south gallery.
Working Groups celebrates The MAC’s permanent installation of books and other materials assembled as part of the OccuLibrary project. The new exhibition contextualizes these materials and reviews some of the accomplishments of the Occupy movement and its offshoots, seeking “empowering info” and inspiration for next steps in both art and “reality.”
The OccuLibrary project was initiated in 2011 following the eviction of Occupy camps across the U.S. and the destruction of the libraries that had spontaneously sprung up within them (more than 3,000 books were lost in New York City alone). The project was conceived as a rolling collaboration in which various artists were invited to create reincarnations of the destroyed libraries, “using aesthetically-informed strategies to lure awareness toward empowering info.”
Reincarnations of the OccuLibrary have taken the forms of, among other things, mobile and “secret” libraries, an exhibition of works by internationally-known artists, a reading group that met for two years, and a series of children’s programs. Collaborating artists have included Karen Weiner, Lizzy Wetzel, Greg Metz, Danette Dufilho, Anne Lawrence, Regina Yunker Rudnicki, Oil and Cotton, Frank & Celia Eberle, Sally Glass, Cassandra Emswiler Burd, Andrea Tosten, Michael A. Morris, Carolyn Sortor, and more.
Various Occupy “working groups” and others including Akshat Tewary have contributed to the new exhibition, which will include a display highlighting changes made to strengthen bank regulations under Dodd-Frank in accordance with a 325-page comment letter sent by the “Occupy the SEC” group.
The physical library assembled through donations by the artists and many others for use in various OccuLibrary reincarnations comprises books on art, politics, economics, philosophy and other subjects as well as fiction, zines, drawings, and other materials. These now find their permanent home at the MAC and will be available for use by the public.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Carolyn Sortor explores dimensionality, systems, and socio-political relations using video, relational strategies, and other media. Her work has been shown in New York, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, Albuquerque, and elsewhere at venues including the Dallas Museum of Art, the Nasher Sculpture Center, and the Contemporary Art Museum of Houston. Her videos have won juror and audience awards, most recently including first prize at the Aurora Picture Show Extremely Shorts Festival, and in 2013 she received a Dallas Observer Mastermind award.
Michael A. Morris is an artist and educator based in Dallas, Texas. His work responds to the rapid changes in how moving images are created and experienced in the 21st century, affirming the traditional space of experiencing cinema while also exploring the implications of new media. He has performed and screened his films and videos at museums, galleries, microcinemas, and film festivals internationally, including events at Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, The International Symposium of Electronic Art in Vancouver, Oak Cliff Film Festival, Chicago Underground Film Festival, San Francisco Cinematheque, and the Texas Biennial.