Refuseniks

A Refusenik is a portable and wearable TAZ (temporary autonomous zone) designed to remove/distance oneself from the (political) situation at hand. They can be displayed as banners or worn by an individual, a couple, or a collective body. Put it on and just say no. The design is inspired by a pantomime horse, part jockey shirt and part horse blanket, as well as heraldic patters from the middle ages and the willfully “unflattering” silhouette of (uncorseted) reform dresses. The first 11 Refuseniks were created during the residency “Body as Site” at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, which coincided with the inauguration of the 45th American presidency, and were developed as a survival blanket strategy for the next four years.

Artist Talk: Mothernism Lise Haller Baggesen in conversation with Julia Hendrickson at The Contemporary Austin (TX)

HATORADE RETROGRADE

HATORADE RETROGRADE debuted at Chicago’s Threewalls/Rational Park in May 2016 and was received with an Art Forum Critics pick by Matt Morris:

http://artforum.com/index.php?pn=picks&id=60198&view=print

It features a selection of sartorial works set against a backdrop of revisionist “lipstick formalist” paintings to present a dystopian vision of the US anno 2033.

In this glimmering post-capitalist burnout we must learn to make-do-and-mend, to repurpose art for art’s sake, and perhaps to forgive –but not forget–certain moments in the past when we were all hitting the Hatorade a little too hard. HATORADE RETROGRADE paints a bleak but hilarious picture of our shared predicament: on the intersectional battlefield we traverse there is no one-size-fits-all body armor, yet we cannot let our guards down post-feminism, until we arrive at post-gynophobia.

Artist Spotlight: Lise Haller Baggesen

Today we share an interview with Lise Haller Baggesen, one of the artists featured in Your body is a battleground, on view at Weinberg/Newton Gallery from April 15 – June 9.

Focusing on the many ways art and artists have moved the pro-choice and feminist movements forward, Your body is a battleground is an exhibition featuring sculpture, photography, painting, drawing, and mixed media works. Exhibition artworks are available for bidding throughout the run of the show via the online auction house Paddle8. A closing reception and live benefit auction event will take place on June 9th. This exhibition and auction support Personal PAC.

The Revolution Will Be Mothernized! Part II (Kinder, Küche, Kirche, Bitte!)

(Pardon me, if I’m sentimental)

The very last time I saw my granny alive, I knew this would be the very last time I would see my granny alive.

My paternal grandmother died one week after her 90^th birthday in August 1998. She was alive for practically all of the 20^th century. She lived to see two world wars, the atom bomb, the moon landing, the cold war, the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall, the Internet.

The Revolution Will Be Mothernized! Part I (3AM Maternal)

 

In the fall of 2014, I curated three exhibitions for Vox Populi’s Fourth Wall screening space, under the title 3am Maternal. The invitation came about after a visit to Vox in the summer of 2014, during which I had a lengthy conversation with Catherine Pancake about maternal passions and desires, followed by a correspondence with Maria Dumlao about the politics and labor of labor and their uneasy position within the current feminist (and art) discourse.

Q+A with Lise Haller Baggesen, Interview by Rebecca Marino for Conflict of Interest (TX)

Danish artist Lise Haller Baggesen has made it her personal mission to “locate the ‘mother-shaped’ hole in contemporary art discourse” and has been touring site specific variations of her exhibition Mothernism since 2013 in an effort to do so. Today, we are lucky enough to have it on view at the Gatehouse Gallery at the Betty and Edward Marcus Sculpture Park at Laguna Gloria. Alongside the exhibition, Baggeson has also written a beautiful Mothernism book, available for purchase at both Contemporary Austin locations.

This interview was conducted in the disco womb room and has been edited for both length and clarity.

The Mothernism Tour Album 2015/2016

In  recent months and weeks Mothernism has been touring some great venues in the United States, including the Elisabeth Foundation in New york (NY), the Elmhurst Art Museum Biennial in Elmhurst (IL) and my first US museum solo at The Contemporary Austin (TX). As the good-enough mother she is, the installation accommodates the different spaces she visits to make it what we need… and this old mama is only getting more photogenic with age. Enjoy!

Pleasure Zone at Théâtre de la Ville

This month I had the great pleasure of participating in Tricia van Eck’s “Pleasure Zone” at Théâtre de la Ville in Paris (F) with my installation “Sound of Silver Talk to Me.” The installation will be up until July 2016.

COMP Interview: Lise Haller Baggesen: Mothernism at the Intersection

Navigating cultural constricts, post-modern philosophy and places as diverse as the sweaty dance halls of northern Europe to intimate moments of  contemplating while writing letters, Lise Haller Baggesen culls an intersection that merges contemporary thought and practice while examining an array of popular and obscure topics (e.g., disco, hedonism, the works of Julia Kristeva, to name a smattering).