58 events are taking place this weekend! For complete details on venues and programs, visit http://access.art21.org/find-an-event-near-you/.

Friday, October 9
9:00am Winder Barrow Brad Akins YMCA (Fantasy)
12:00pm Austin Museum of Art (Transformation)
2:00pm Beaumont Metropolitan YMCA (Compassion)
2:00pm Delaware Family Branch YMCA (Systems)
2:00pm Santa Anita Family YMCA (Transformation)
2:00pm YMCA of Berwyn-Cicero (Compassion)
2:00pm YMCA of Rapid City (Systems)
3:00pm Children’s Advocacy YMCA Family Center (Systems)
3:00pm Greater Syracuse YMCA (Systems)
3:00pm Hazelwood Outreach Branch YMCA (Fantasy)
3:00pm Lansdowne YMCA (Systems)
3:00pm YMCA of Greater Saint Paul (Systems)
4:00pm Amy H. Carberry Gallery-Springfield Technical Community College (Compassion)
4:00pm Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (Transformation)
4:00pm YMCA of Greater New Orleans (Compassion)
4:00pm YMCA of the Fox Cities Inc (Systems)
5:00pm Mid-Williamette Family YMCA (Fantasy)
5:00pm Texas Tech University’s School of Art (Compassion)
6:00pm Family YMCA of Baker County (Compassion)
6:00pm Kalamazoo County Family YMCA (Systems)
6:00pm Lawrence Branch YMCA (Systems)
6:00pm Springfield Family YMCA-G. Pearson Ward Branch (Compassion)
6:00pm Yolo County YMCA (Fantasy)
6:30pm Amon Carter Jr. Downtown YMCA (Systems)
6:30pm Florida State University, School of Art and Design and Art History dept (Compassion)
6:30pm Louisiana State University at Alexandria (Compassion)
7:00pm Artists of Yardley (Systems)
7:00pm High School of Commerce (Compassion)
7:00pm The Philip Hone Gallery (Fantasy)

Saturday, October 10
9:00am North Pinellas Fanily Branch YMCA (Fantasy)
12:00pm Lyndsay McCandless Contemporary (Fantasy)
1:00pm Houston PBS (Systems)
1:30pm Boca Raton Museum of Art (Fantasy)
2:00pm Ada Community Library (Fantasy)
2:00pm artSPACE durban (Compassion)
2:00pm Asheville Art Museum (Compassion)
2:00pm Beacon Community Center (Fantasy)
2:00pm The Saginaw Art Museum (Fantasy)
2:00pm Upper Main Line Branch YMCA (Transformation)
3:00pm Ohio State University Urban Arts Space (Transformation)
3:00pm Buchanan District Branch YMCA (Fantasy)
3:00pm YMCA of Greater Omaha (Fantasy)
3:00pm YMCA of Philadelphia and Vicinity (Fantasy)
4:30pm Texas Tech University School of Art (Compassion)
5:00pm Lee County YMCA (Compassion)
6:00pm Studio 180 Dance (Fantasy)
8:00pm Appendix Project Space (Transformation)
9:00pm Appendix Project Space (Fantasy)

Sunday, October 11
12:00pm Contemporary Art Center of Virginia (Compassion)
1:00pm Missoula Art Museum (Fantasy)
1:00pm Rochester Contemporary Art Center (Fantasy)
2:00pm Asheville Art Museum (Systems)
3:00pm Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art (Transformation)
3:00pm Neenah-Menasha YMCA Community Center (Systems)
4:00pm Zoma Contemporary Art Center (Systems)
6:00pm YMCA of Lafayette Indiana (Compassion)
7:30pm Redux Contemporary Art Center (Compassion)
7:30pm Redux Contemporary Art Center (Fantasy)

Meet the Artist: Florian Maier-Aichen

Friday, October 9, 7:00 p.m.
Apple Store, SoHo
103 Prince Street
FREE

As part of Art21′s Access 09 initiative celebrating Art:21—Art in the Twenty-First Century Season 5, featured artist Florian Maier-Aichen will share how he uses the computer to manipulate his photography to create stunning digitally abstracted images. The event will feature an advanced screening of Maier-Aichen’s segment from the Art:21 episode Fantasy, along with a moderated discussion and Q & A with Maier-Aichen and Art21 Associate Curator, Wesley Miller. The event is free and open to the public. Seating is provided on a first come, first serve basis.

Florian Maier-Aichen is featured in the Season 5 (2009) episode Fantasy, premiering Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 10:00 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings).

Preview the Season 5 segment here.

Have a question for Florian Maier-Aichen? Tell us in the comments below for a chance to have it asked at the event. If so, we’ll post his response on this site.

Even more screenings (65 to be exact) are taking place today! For complete details on venues and programs, visit http://access.art21.org/find-an-event-near-you/

Thursday, October 8
11:30am University of Memphis (Fantasy)
12:00pm Austin Museum of Art (Systems)
12:00pm Iowa Wesleyan College (Transformation)
12:30pm Kingston High School Art Department (Compassion)
1:30pm YMCA at Schilling Farms (Transformation)
2:00pm Audubon Branch YMCA (Compassion)
2:00pm Bogalusa YMCA (Compassion)
2:00pm Lebanon Valley Family YMCA (Fantasy)
2:00pm McCormick Tribune YMCA in Logan Square (Systems)
2:00pm Rocky Run YMCA (Transformation)
2:00pm The Center for Arts and Humanities (Systems)
2:00pm Valley-Shore YMCA (Fantasy)
2:00pm YMCA of Central Kentucky (Compassion)
2:00pm YMCA of Fanwood-Scotch Plains (Fantasy)
2:00pm YMCA of Newburgh (Fantasy)
2:00pm YMCA of Superior California (Compassion)
3:00pm Ambler Area Branch YMCA (Fantasy)
3:00pm Fountain Valley YMCA (Compassion)
3:00pm Hanover Area YMCA (Systems)
3:00pm Harrison Family YMCA (Systems)
3:00pm Houston Texans YMCA (Systems)
3:00pm Northwest YMCA Pima County Community Ctr (Fantasy)
3:00pm Quincy YMCA (Systems)
3:00pm RC Durr Family YMCA (Fantasy)
3:00pm South Side YMCA (Compassion)
3:00pm John C. Cudahy YMCA (Fantasy)
3:30pm RIT (Systems)
4:00pm East Orange Branch YMCA (Fantasy)
4:00pm YMCA of Greater Nashua (Systems)
4:30pm The Art Institute of Chicago (Fantasy)
5:00pm SITE Santa Fe (Fantasy & Systems)
5:30pm Salina Art Center / Art Center Cinema (Compassion)
6:00pm Lohse Family Branch YMCA (Compassion)
6:00pm Butler YMCA (Systems)
6:00pm Clear Channel House Family Branch (Fantasy)
6:00pm Cocoa YMCA Family Center at Brevard Community College (Fantasy)
6:00pm Columbus Museum of Art (Compassion)
6:00pm Fort Bend Branch YMCA (Systems)
6:00pm Guiderland YMCA (Systems)
6:00pm Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania (Transformation)
6:00pm M.D. Anderson Branch YMCA (Fantasy)
6:00pm Madison Museum of Fine Art (Fantasy)
6:00pm Morean Arts Center (Transformation)
6:00pm North Valley Family YMCA at Porter Ranch (Compassion)
6:00pm Palmer Museum of Art (Compassion)
6:00pm Stuart C. Gildred (Fantasy)
6:00pm YMCA at White Rock (Compassion)
6:00pm YMCA of Bristol (Compassion)
6:00pm The Peoria Art Guild (Systems)
6:30pm Canyon Ridge High School (Compassion)
6:30pm Cleveland Young Arts Professionals Network (Fantasy)
6:30pm Louisiana State University at Alexandria (Transformation)
6:30pm Lux Art Institute (Fantasy)
6:30pm Wiljax Photographic Design (Transformation)
6:30pm Museum of Art (Transformation)
7:00pm Arcadia University – AAFA – Student Art Organization (Compassion)
7:00pm Cedar Rapids Museum of Art (Fantasy)
7:00pm Dennos Museum Center (Fantasy)
7:00pm K Space Contemporary (Transformation)
7:00pm Memorial Art Gallery (Compassion)
7:00pm Norton Museum of Art (Transformation)
7:30pm Morean Arts Center (Transformation)
8:00pm Texas Tech University’s School of Art (Compassion)
8:00pm Lux Art Institute (Transformation)
8:30pm Montserrat College of Art (Fantasy)

The wait is over–Season 5 of Art:21–Art in the Twenty-First Century is here! The new season begins tonight on PBS at 10:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) with the episode Compassion, featuring William Kentridge, Doris Salcedo, and Carrie Mae Weems.

Might a work of art move us to temper our more destructive impulses? In what ways do artists’ feelings of empathy contribute to works that tackle problematic subjects and address the human condition? Compassion explores these questions in the work of the three featured artists.

Be sure to tune in to PBS every Wednesday at 10:00 p.m. throughout October (check local listings) for more brand new episodes: Fantasy, featuring Cao Fei, Mary Heilmann, Jeff Koons, and Florian Maier-Aichen; Transformation, featuring Paul McCarthy, Cindy Sherman, and Yinka Shonibare MBE; and Systems, featuring John Baldessari, Kimsooja, Allan McCollum, and Julie Mehretu.

Read more about Season 5 at PBS, and visit ArtBabble for previews of all Season 5 episodes and artist segments.

A record 58 screenings are taking place today! For complete details on venues and programs, visit http://access.art21.org/find-an-event-near-you/

Wednesday, October 7

11:00am Department of Art & Art History (Fantasy)
12:00pm Austin Museum of Art (Fantasy)
12:00pm Knoxville Museum of Art (Compassion<)
12:00pm Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Inst. (Fantasy)
12:00pm Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Systems)
12:00pm Visual Arts Dept. Emory University (Fantasy)
12:30pm University of Oklahoma School of Art & Art History (Fantasy)
2:00pm Baytown Branch YMCA (Systems)
2:00pm Cross Island YMCA (Fantasy)
2:00pm East Valley Branch YMCA (Systems)
2:00pm Harbordale YMCA (Compassion)
2:00pm Lee County YMCA (Systems)
2:00pm Navarre Branch YMCA (Fantasy)
2:00pm Thomas Davis Family Branch YMCA (Compassion)
2:00pm Tri-Lakes Family YMCA (Fantasy)
2:30pm Michigan Art Education Association (Fantasy)
3:00pm Hollidaysburg Area YMCA (Systems)
3:00pm Chain of Lakes YMCA (Systems)
3:00pm Edwin W. Brown Branch (Compassion)
3:00pm North Mobile Branch YMCA (Fantasy)
3:00pm Northeast Family YMCA (Fantasy)
3:00pm Northwest Family Branch YMCA (Systems)
3:00pm Ott Branch YMCA (Fantasy)
3:00pm Putnam County Family YMCA (Fantasy)
3:00pm Ridley Area Branch YMCA (Fantasy)
3:00pm South Shore Mill Pond Branch YMCA (Compassion)
3:00pm Tri-Valley Branch YMCA (Systems)
3:00pm Valdosta-Lowndes County YMCA (Systems)
4:00pm Alpha Community Services YMCA (Systems)
4:00pm Ottawa Carleton District School Board, Adult High School (Transformation)
4:00pm San Gabriel Valley YMCA (Systems)
4:00pm Thomson Family YMCA (Systems)
4:00pm University of Texas at Austin (Transformation)
4:00pm Visual Arts Dept. Emory University (Fantasy)
4:00pm Winston Lake Family YMCA (Systems)
5:00pm BFS Department of ART (Transformation)
6:00pm Art Dept. California State University Sacramento (Compassion)
6:00pm Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (Fantasy)
6:00pm Grand Traverse Bay YMCA (Compassion)
6:00pm Mansfield Arts & Education Center (Systems)
6:00pm Ramay JHS – Fayetteville Public Schools (Fantasy)
6:00pm Westside Fmily WMCA (Systems)
6:30pm Colby College Museum of Art (Compassion)
7:00pm Dalhouse Art Gallery (Compassion)
7:00pm Dalhousie Art Gallery (Compassion)
7:00pm Kresge Art Museum (Systems)
7:00pm Longwood University (Compassion)
7:00pm LynnArts, Inc. (Fantasy)
7:00pm Millersville University: South Central Partners (Systems)
7:00pm Portland Community College, Sylvania Campus (Compassion)
7:00pm Radford University (Transformation)
7:00pm St. Mary’s School (Fantasy)
7:00pm YMCA of Barium Springs (Compassion)
7:15pm Mills College (Transformation)
7:30pm Colby College Museum of Art (Fantasy)
8:00pm Appendix Project Space (Compassion)
9:00pm Appendix Project Space (Systems)
9:00pm Northern Illinois University, School of Art (Compassion)

Outside the Department of Safety, 2005. Courtesy the Department of Safety.

The Department of Safety is an artist run center in Anacortes, Washington, a small town on an island midway between Seattle and Vancouver. Housed in the town’s former police and fire station, DoS maintains a music venue, art gallery, recording studio, and residency program. I corresponded with Azure Akamay who, with Laura Wing and Matthew Spencer, answered my questions about life at the DoS.

Bryce Dwyer: Can you describe the relationship between residents and administrators at the Department of Safety?

Department of Safety: The Department of Safety is run by the volunteer resident workers who live in the building. At any time, there are between 4 and 8 workers administering the programming and generally taking care of business. The DoS was founded as an artist-run organization in 2002 and continues to operate in this way. There is no paid staff. The workers subsidize the Artist in Residence (AIR) program with their own rent and volunteer efforts. The selected resident artist lives and works alongside the other people who live and run the DoS. Some residents have chosen to become very involved in other aspects of DoS. Some have been more focused only on their specific creative project. Participation in the community is inevitable and delightful, especially since Anacortes is a small town and there aren’t many people in town who are interested in weird and contemporary creative projects. The artists-in-residence definitely become integrated into the overall project that is the Department of Safety and some artists, after their residencies, have continued to be involved in the DoS (though, this is not an all an expectation).

BD: What is the physical facility like?

DoS: The Department of Safety is housed in Anacortes’ old police and fire station. It is a big concrete building that was built in 1952 and the architecture is very much of that era. The plumbing is temperamental. The venue is cold in the winter. The building is powerful in both magical and harsh, always. We are always fixing it. There are mysterious artifacts left over from the years when it was inhabited by police officers and firefighters. We love the building. The hallway’s acoustics are incredible and some important albums have been recorded in them.

The downstairs of the building is where most of the public activities take place—it includes an all-ages music venue, an art gallery, a recording studio, a zine and small press library, screen printing facilities, a media screening room, and personal studio spaces. The upstairs is the more domestic/private part of the building—it includes the bedrooms of the resident-workers who run the DoS, a living room and dining area, as well as a shared kitchen and bathroom facilities. Artists-in-residence are provided a furnished bedroom as well as a private studio space.

The building is located on the only main intersection of downtown Anacortes and is in walking distance to basically the entire town, including grocery stores, hardware stores, thrift stores, restaurants, and the Pacific Ocean.

BD: In general, what kinds of work do residents make?

DoS: Emerging artists practicing in all media are encouraged to apply. We are interested in installation and performance and tangible art objects and documentation and ideas. Artists who are chosen as residents at the Department of Safety, at the end of their 3-month residency will exhibit their work in some way. AIRs are encouraged to create work within the confines of the gallery in a site-specific installation and/or work in the adjacent spaces. Any thoughtful use of space will be considered and it is important for applicants to understand the context for which they are creating. This is not to discourage traditional art practitioners from applying, but we want individuals to think about context.

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Janine Antoni, "Conduit" (detail), 2009. Courtesy Luhring Augustine Gallery.

To say it was a pleasure to be given the opportunity to interview Janine Antoni for this column is a gross understatement. In 2003, Janine Antoni‘s Season 2 segment was my first introduction to Art21. It’s no surprise that I’ve been hooked since. As an art educator who, at that time was quite frustrated with the lack of quality programming related to visual artists working today, this series seemed a little too good to be true. Fifteen minute segments in hour-long episodes? Educators’ Guides? Someone who answers the phone when I call? It was absolutely bizarre. Fast-forward six years and here we are, talking about a wonderful conversation for a column called Teaching with Contemporary Art.

Janine Antoni’s work, although it’s featured in the episode titled Loss and Desire, is also related to many of our new Season 5 themes. Specifically we discussed the themes of Systems, Transformation and Fantasy as they relate to her work. We also discussed her work as a teacher, her experience as a young artist, her new show at Luhring Augustine, and possibilities moving forward.

The following conversation took place this past September 16th. Part Two will be featured in next week’s column.

Joe Fusaro: I was wondering about your own art education growing up. What was it like for you to study art as a teenager and then go to both Sarah Lawrence College and the Rhode Island School of Design?

Janine Antoni: I grew up in the Bahamas, so I didn’t grow up going to galleries or museums. I basically came to art through craft. I was always making things, with stuff I found on the beach or in the woods. As a family we used to make things together, from Christmas decorations to objects to sell at the church fair. In high school, I made stage sets for theater productions. I am sure this experience has played into my interest in installation. College was my first introduction to contemporary art and I remember being really challenged… and disturbed. It turns out that the art that bothered me the most at that time was made by some of my favorite artists now. This fact has changed my perspective about my judgment. Now when I see something I really don’t like, I take note because it might be triggering something that is worth paying attention to.

JF: Is there a particular work or artist that you initially didn’t like and now love for some reason?

JA: Richard Long comes to mind. I used to think that art had to be beautiful in a traditional way. I remember thinking, “this guy picks up a rock, walks with it for two miles, sets it down in a gallery, and that’s an art work?” It seemed strange to me, but now I can relate it to a way of extending the tradition of the figure in the landscape and our relationship to space. I compare his approach to the brutality of certain earthworks and it seems like such a gentle intercession into the landscape. It is a poetic and truly beautiful gesture.

JF: What was RISD like?

JA: Can I step back and talk about Sarah Lawrence College first?

JF: Sure.

JA: At Sarah Lawrence College, I had a very classical training. I painted the still life and sculpted the figure. At RISD, I discovered conceptual art. It was like changing religions! I realized I could allow my ideas to dictate what I wanted to make and not be bound by predetermined forms or materials. I take on a variety of media and ways of speaking, but it’s really the same ideas that haunt me. I studied with Mira Schorr, who introduced me to Hannah Wilke, Ana Mendieta, and Carolee Schneeman, artists that weren’t canonized at that time by the culture or art history. I was also working with Thomas Lawson, who taught me about Sherrie Levine, Cindy Sherman, and Barbara Kruger. Looking back, I realize that when I started my career, I was picking up on a thread that was left open in work from the 1970s. I was instantly attracted to the visceral language of the 1970s, but was able to look at it through the lens of feminist ideas from the 1980s. So I wound up locating myself between those two sources.

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John Baldessari, ”How We Do Art Now”, 1973. Courtesy of Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA, and Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), NY.

• Vital Signals: Japanese and American Video Art from the 1960s and 70s is a three-part screening program at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Presented in collaboration with Electronic Arts Intermix, the series focuses on artists experimenting with video in both the United States and Japan. On October 20, early videos by Art21 artists William Wegman (Season 1), and John Baldessari (Season 5), will be screened along with works by Joan Jonas, Mako Idemitsu, Norio Imai, and Hakudo Kobayashi.

• On October 8, Tim Gunn of Project Runway (a former student of Anne Truitt) will moderate a panel discussion at the Hirshhorn Museum in conjunction with the exhibition Anne Truitt: Perception and Reflection. Season 2 artist Martin Puryear, filmmaker Jem Cohen, and photographer John Gossage will also be on hand to discuss Truitt’s installations. The event begins at 7 p.m.

• Thurston Moore of the band Sonic Youth is launching Ecstatic Peace Library (EPL), a boutique publisher of art books. A catalog listing the publisher’s first releases was available at the New York Art Book Fair this past weekend. If you missed the event, the information will be available on the EPL website beginning January 1. Moore plans to release books in tandem with recordings from artist-authors, including Raymond Pettibon (Season 2). Read more on the LA Times blog.

• A New Literary History of America, an anthology edited by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors, comprises 219 essays that, together, give a picture of U.S. history and culture. The book begins in the year 1507 (when “America” appeared on a map), and concludes with Obama’s election last year. This final entry features a six-page illustration by Kara Walker (Season 2).

• Wind Shadow, a new piece from Taiwanese choreographer Lin Hwai-Min and the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, is at the Barbican Theatre through October 10. Lin has collaborated with Season 3 artist Cai Guo-Qiang on the set, which the Barbican describes as “projections of Cai’s gunpowder drawings that merge into silhouettes and form a moving art installation within which the dancers engage.” See a clip of the performance here.

• On Thursday, November 19, 2009, Season 2 artist Kiki Smith will be honored by the Brooklyn Museum at their seventh annual Women in the Arts luncheon. An exhibition of Smith’s work will open in the Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art on February 5, 2010.

A Conversation with Allan McCollum and Josiah McElheny

Season 5 artist Allan McCollum will be speaking with Season 3 artist Josiah McElheny at the New York Public Library tomorrow, following a screening of the artist’s segment from the Systems episode.

Tuesday, October 6, 6:00 p.m
New York Public Library
South Court Auditorium, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street
FREE

Have a question for Allan McCollum? Leave it in the comments section of this post.

The wait is over. Season 5 of Art:21—Art in the Twenty-First Century begins airing this week on PBS. The season kicks off with the episode Compassion, featuring William Kentridge, Doris Salcedo, and Carrie Mae Weems.

Compassion premieres on Wednesday, October 7, 2009, at 10:00 p.m. (ET). (check local listings)

Watch a preview here: