BYOTV
New American Art Union, Portland, OR, March 19- April 27, 2008
Curated by the Video Gentlemen http://thevideogentlemen.wordpress.com

The first exhibition in NAAU's Couture series opens next week with The Video Gentlemen's BYOTV. The show is in response to the U.S.'s decision to end all analog television broadcasting in February, 2009: "Pre-empting the scheduled program of obsolescence, The Video Gentlemen's BYOTV network launches a six-week season of special reports engaged with this technocultural turn." The signal will be broadcast from NAAU, and visitors are encouraged to "Bring Your Own TV," or borrow one from the gallery, "intercepting transmissions from their immediate airspace."

March 19- April 27th, The Video Gentlemen present BYOTV, offering a six-week season of special reports engaged with the technocultural turnover from analog to digital airwaves. Transmitted from within the New American Art Union, a variety of interdisciplinary artworks, live presentations, and free-form forays within the ether will provide inquisitive constellations around topics including e-waste, surveillance, haunted media and media archeology.

Low-wattage transmissions emanate from an array of re-configured electronic detritus distributed around the gallery. Telecommunications, and the distance implicit in its operation is countered by a physical proximity prescribed by the limited range of the BYOTV transmissions. Visitors are encouraged to “bring their own TV,” or borrow one from the gallery, intercepting transmissions from their immediate airspace.Scrutinizing the premise of obsolescence, BYOTV tunes into an alternative agenda, encouraging new modes of cultural production, collaboration and exchange.

Artists Included in BYOTV: 31 Down, Amy Alexander (Wojciech Kosma, Vincent Rabaud, w/ Nikhil Rasiwasia and Jesse Gilbert), Linda Austin, Craig Baldwin, Bosko Blagojevic, Ryan Dunn, The Dust Dive, Matt Garite, Tony Gault, Cathleen Grado and Alex Chechile, Sarah Margaret Halpern, Ann Hirsch, Bradley Hyppa, Taly and Russ Johnson, Steve and Melissa Kornicki, Tianna Kennedy, Chad Laird, Justin Lincoln, LoVid, Pete McPartlan, Todd Merrell, Jeremy Newman, Nerve Theory (Tom Sherman and Bernhard Loibner), James O’Brien, Ben Owen, Neil Ira Needleman, Julie Orser, Shalo P., Tom Roe, Jennifer Schmidt, Jeffrey Sconce, Deborah Stratman, Ann Steurnagel, Reza Safavi, Eduardo Verderame, Marchi Wierson, Lili White.

Exhibition • March 19 - April 27, 2008
Opening reception • 5-8pm • March 22
New American Art Union • 922 SE Ankeny • 503.231.8294

SISYPHEAN DESIRES, SYSTEMS AND DEVICES
Presented as part of Drain Journal of Contemporary Art and Culture's Issue #07 - DESIRE
Curated by Avantika Bawa http://www.drainmag.com

When Sisyphean systems and devices stretch across geographical, technological, socio-political and fantastical realms they often draw attention to the impossible and unfathomable. Why then draw attention to imperfect utopias, impossible missions and senseless and often self-generating systems?

Artists include: Joelle Dietrick and Owen Mundy, Norene Leddy, Alex Hetherington, Marya Roland, Teresa Brazen, Stephen Slappe, Steve Jarvis, Penny Brice, Jennifer Schmidt, John Herschend, Matthew Gamber, Jonathan Field, Mara Adamitz Scrupe, Craig Drennen, Zev Robinson, James Gladman, Jesika Joy, Melissa Grey, Jenene Nagy and Josh Smith, Jason Rivera, Jason Rivera, Martha Gorzycki, Steve Aishman, Avantika Bawa, Valerie George, Lilly McElroy, Heather Szatmary, Felecia Carlisle, Robert William Linker IV and Kristi Ryba.

Venues: Launch will take place on Nov 4 (7- 10 pm) in the Project room of Saltworks Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia (Show dates Nov 4 - Jan 13, 2007), to be followed by screenings at The Sarai Media lab, New Delhi, India, and the Forum Gallery of Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Selections from this series will also be aired as part of the Indie Showcase, hosted by Cox Communication in Middle Georgia.