Dallas Biennial : DB12

DALLASBIENNIAL.ORG ANNOUNCES DB12: DALLAS BIENNIAL 2012
April 13, 2012 – April 13, 2014

Over 20 Artists From Ten Countries to Present Works Online and in Dallas

Dallas, Texas (March 16, 2012) — The Dallas Biennial's inaugural event, DB12, will address the phenomenon of the biennial. Primarily web-based, positioned on multiple web sites and within Dallas, its first online phase, Volume 1, will take place April 13 - June 8, 2012 and remain open-ended, spanning over two years.

This year The Dallas Biennial will act both as an exhibition in traditional "Biennale/Documenta/Manifesta" terms, while parlaying the format to its fullest extent. Video, text, web, sound, and image-based works will be included, as will essays and an archive of work from seminal artists in representative fields.

The curators state, "DB12 is an uncommon mix of authorship and format. Curated by artists, it is unrestricted by typical bureaucratic parameters and as the exhibition's nexus is virtual, it is unconstrained by location and time. We appropriate the title “Biennial” as a tool, allowing us to highlight artists from an artist's perspective without the agendas, limitations, and biases of an institution.”

The main presentation will be available online beginning April 13th with successive volumes launched over the next two years. A physical component will be on view in Dallas from April 13 - May 5, 2012. The curators state, 'We will install our gallery, Dick Higgins, in the office of the Oliver Francis Gallery, which has been lent to us by the owner. Though our international audience will be able to view the entire exhibition via the Internet, we want Dallas to have an opportunity to see select works firsthand.”

The Dallas-based installation features work from both U.S. and international artists, including a sound piece by French artist Guillaume Leblon entitled "4pm, Frévent,” which will provide the backdrop for the diverse group. Every hour of the day for the entire exhibition, a recording of four church gongs from a village in Northern France will play, marking every hour as though it were 4pm. Leblon elaborates: “This is an in-between hour, a suspended time. As the sound is heard throughout the space, one will become aware of time as a hyper-conscious passing.”

Another work by Sharon Ya’ari from Israel, “Frame Loops,” presents time as a compilation of moments. Made from a group of video images captured as stills, it tells a “tiny story of a moment of observing and listening to a private negligible activity.” In addition the exhibition will include an installation by Dallas' own Stephen Lapthisophon called "Offal" a work about states of interiority and subjectivity.

Other artists on view in Dallas include Artur Barrio (the Brazilian representative for the 2011 Venice Biennale), George Horner (of Tony Shafrazi Gallery), The Estate of Robert Smithson, and Michael Vorfeld (featured in Documenta 8, with the artist group 'Heinrich Mucken’).

Artists in the Internet-based exhibition include: Artur Barrio (Brazil), Asger Carlsen (Denmark), Petra Cortright (USA), Ted Davis (USA), Jeff Gibbons (USA), Matthew Girson (USA), Matt Hanner (USA), Mishka Henner (United Kingdom), George Horner (USA), Devin King (USA), Irena Knezevic (Serbia), Stephen Lapthisophon (USA), Guillaume Leblon (France), Lou Mallozzi (USA), Gustavo Matamoros (USA), Antonio Ottomanelli (Italy), The Estate of Nam June Paik (Korea), Bjorn Ross (Denmark), Amber Hawk Swanson (USA), Brad Tucker (USA), Michael Vorfeld (Germany), Sharon Ya'ari (Israel), Jeff Zilm (USA), and others.

About the curators:
Michael Mazurek, Jesse Morgan Barnett, and C.J. Davis are Dallas based artists.

Dates for THE DALLAS BIENNIAL
DB12 Web Exhibition (April 13, 2012 - April 13, 2014)
DB12: Volume 1. Web Exhibition (April 13 - June 8, 2012)
DB12: Volume 1. At Dick Higgins Gallery (located inside Oliver Francis Gallery) (April 13 - May 5, 2012)


Media Contact:
Diane McGurren
(214) 302-7085
[email protected]