Contemporary Flânerie: Reconfiguring Cities

In Modernity, the Flâneur, while strolling around his streets, participated in the depiction of the changing city, playing a simultaneously active and detached role. The Flaneur and his city maintained a symbiotic relationship, where one helped (re) define the other. In view of current trends in globalization, immigration and technology (i.e., Web 2.0), one’s positioning to one location is more fluid than ever before. With such mobility, one must experience any given place as both a tourist and potential resident. With all this in mind, what role do the contemporary Flâneur and Flâneuse play? How do they reconfigure/reinscribe their urban experiences? How does flânerie in art relate to GPS systems, virtual reality, surveillance, mapping, MMPORGs, and social networking? This exhibition seeks works in all media (traditional and new), with special focus on video and computer-based art.

Contemporary Flânerie: Reconfiguring Cities will take place from March 07 to April 12, 2009. A full color catalogue and website, featuring all participating artists, will accompany this event. Pending funding, artists’ presentations will be schedule during the run of this exhibition. The Oakland University Art Gallery will insure all works exhibited and pay for return shipping (we are in the process of procuring funds for having all shipping costs covered by the gallery). Please visit http://www.oakland.edu/org/tergloba/ to see previous project by the curator.

Deadline: March 31, 2008 (postmarked)

Please send:

  • Current resume
  • Artist statement/project description (two pages maximum)*
  • CD/DVD with work samples (previous and/or proposed for show)*
  • Work sample description list (title, dimensions, media, year, equipment provided/needed for pieces to be shown)
  • Estimate of shipping costs
  • SASE if you wish to have your materials returned

*preference will be given to works already completed, or close to completion. Proposed projects must be finished by September 2008.

Mail above items to:

Oakland University
Department of Art and Art History
Att: Vagner M. Whitehead (Flânerie exhibition)
307 Wilson Hall
Rochester, MI 48309-4401

About the curator:

Brazilian artist, educator and curator Vagner Mendonça Whitehead works with time-based media. His work employs original and researched texts that reframe trans-cultural experiences and their connections to mass media and communications technology. Vagner has exhibited his work throughout the United States, abroad and online, in solo and group exhibitions and in video and film festivals. In addition to teaching and exhibiting his work, Vagner is also a contributor for the Barcelona-based magazine Art Signal. For more, please visit http://www.vagnerwhitehead.com