Rhizome Commission: Lee Walton

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Since 2001 Rhizome has, as a major part of its programming, awarded commissions for the creation of internet-based artworks. The 2008 commissions were recently announced and the North Carolina-based artist Lee Walton was one of the deserving recipients. Walton's work humorously reframes day-to-day, somewhat banal activities as pieces of conceptual and performance art, often necessitating the participation of unwitting collaborators. In 2005 at Art in General, as part of his Experiential Project, he reversed the viewer's gaze back out to the street to decipher who was and who wasn't a part of his public 'happening,' and in my favorite of Walton's works, The Competitionist, the artist competes with innocent joggers on an outdoor track, culminating in a dramatic photo finish. This conveyance of the simple act as performance, as well as his athletic focus on endurance and duration, allude to 1960s and 70s precedents without being at all derivative. For his upcoming Rhizome commission, 'Remote Instructions,' Walton will solicit participation via the web 'and orchestrate a series of video performances that will take place in real cities, neighborhoods, villages, and towns around the world,' indicating that these participants will be fully aware of their performative potential.