The Soap Factory Presents: superusted, the 4th Midwest Biennial exhibition, curated by Cheryl Wilgren Clyne. This exhibition presents the work of seventeen artists, from five states across the Midwest, selected from a series of some 120 studio visits. Participating MFA Mentor and Artist: Alexa Horochowski and Mandy Martinson.
Current MFA photographer, Mandy Martinson, was selected to be a part of the show. She is inspired by her father’s work as a criminal investigator, using photography, video, and installation to create her own personal investigations exploring the functions of evidence and complexities of human nature.
Digital culture’s troubled relationship to what is conveniently dubbed “nature” and this relegated to an elusive elsewhere comes into sharp focus in Martinson’s installation. Inspired by the words of a fourth-grader -“I like to play indoors ’cause that’s where all the electrical outlets that embodies the peculiar violence of technology. This violence “resides in the way it cuts the link between the person and sensory interaction with the world. It is … ‘a form of repression that denies our own sensitivity.’ Tenderness and compassion are not allowed. Nature … is treated ‘in an instrumental way’ and this does ‘violence’ to ‘Nature and to our own and other people’s bodies.’ … This is obvious, of course, when we think of drone strikes and gas chambers. But … this also deeply penetrates to the very core of daily life by way of the instruments we daily use to live that life.” Martinson transforms ordinary objects into sinister little manifestations of what passes as normal, not violent, in this time and place.
The Soap Factory’s biennial is purposely set outside of the usual biennial survey, and is deliberately presented as the selection and choice of one or of a small group of curators. For 2015, superusted has been brought together by St. Paul curator Cheryl Wilgren Clyne, presenting artists within the context of what she sees as important for contemporary art in the Midwest.
EXHIBITION RUNS: SEP 12 – NOV 8, 2015
Visit Mandy’s website
Star Tribune article about the show
