Jamie Berlant

Current Exhibition:

2010-05-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

Toddler Restraint Mittens of the Rest Easy Device Line
Stainless Steel, Walnut, Leather, 2010
Two pieces 4 1/2" h x 11" w x 6" d each

Politics of Fear at Gallery Project

Gallery Project presents Politics of Fear, a multimedia exhibit in which 35 local, regional and national artists attempt to visualize sources and expressions of fear in American society today. The exhibit opens on Wednesday, September 8 and runs through Sunday, October 17. The opening reception is Friday, September 10 from 6-9. Politicization of fear is a familiar historical means to power and control, achieved through the threat of danger and the promise of protection. These tactics, used by ideologues, politicians and corporate interests, are spread and inflamed via the ubiquitous voice of mass and social media. Threats are misrepresented, and required responses are distorted. Covert agendas are achieved and secret interests are fulfilled.

The politicization of fear for power, control and profit, is enforced from within by an individual’s sense of vulnerability. It is enforced externally by a sense of constant surveillance, the “faceless gaze”. A relevant metaphor is Michael Foucault’s Panopticism from “Discipline and Punish, the birth of the Prison.” The Panoptic, a circular transparent ‘inspection-house’ or prison-in-the-round, is characterized by continuous surveillance of a vigilant unseeable supervisor whose presence the celled can only sense. “The Panoptic arrangement is a seeing machine in which the exercise of power may be supervised by society as a whole. It programs the basic functioning of a society penetrated with disciplinary mechanisms.” (Michael Foucault)

This exhibit invites artists to voice their sense of current and historic politicization of fear and the mechanisms that drive and control it.

Contributors to the exhibit include Heather Accurso, Curtis Bartone, Jamie Berlant, Jackie Brown, Peter Bugg, Fred Burkhart, Carla Butwin, Nick Caramagno, Rocco DePietro, Rose DeSloover, Lynn Galbreath, Leon Golub, Richard Haley, Ed Janzen, Chido Johnson, Osman Kahn, Merrill Kazanjian, Margarete Koenen, Vijay Kumar, Christopher Lee, Melissa McGurgan, Tom McMillen-Oakley, Bert Menco, Eric Mesko, Mario Moore, Tim Péwé, Gloria Pritschet, Mark Reamy, Clare Rosean, Eric Ryser, Eric Smith, Diane Thodos, Vito Jesus Valdez, Peter Williams, and Marilyn Zimmerman. The exhibit is curated by Lynn Galbreath and Heather Accurso.

215 South 4th Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Spring/Summer gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday, noon-9p; Sunday, noon-4p. The gallery is closed on Mondays.

Manufactured Control Devices

2008-09-19T11:01:00.000-07:00

These works are prototypes of potentially manufactured devices to facilitate control. They are made out of surgical stainless steel and some wood. They help the user control the subject to better help them, and to show them their love, but asserting control over behavior. However, as in most relationships, with family, pets, and friends, we end up being the subject and the user at the same time.

Cat Restraint/Human Pleasure Device: Surgical Stainless Steel, 2008 ©

Cat Restraint/Human Pleasure Device: Surgical Stainless Steel, 2008 ©

Toddler Control/ Rest Easy Device: Stainless Steel, Carved Cedar Wood, Brass 2008 ©

Toddler Control/ Rest Easy Device: Stainless Steel, Carved Cedar Wood, Buckle 2008 ©

Toddler Control/ Rest Easy Device: Stainless Steel, Carved Cedar Wood, Brass 2008 ©

Toddler Control/ Rest Easy Device: Stainless Steel, Carved Cedar Wood, Buckle 2008 ©

Remnants

2008-09-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

These pieces are carved from cedar beams from a house that was torn down. They are realistic in size, and they are mounted on metal mounts. They sit on a museum-style pedestal that is a footprint of the size of the creature that would have been standing on it if it were still here.

Felis Domesticus Skull: Carved Cedar, Brass Mount, Pedestal, 2007 ©

Homo Sapien Clavicles: Carved Cedar, Steel and Brass Mount, Pedestal, 2007 ©

Equis Olecranon: Carved Cedar, Steel Mount, Pedestal, 2007 ©

Canine Legs: Carved Cedar, Pedestal, 2007 ©

Chairs

2008-09-18T11:06:00.000-07:00

These were old chairs that had been discarded. I disassembled them and transformed them to have human characteristics, particularly those that illustrate ailments or disabilities. I am focusing on functional chairs, with arms, seats, backs and legs, and reforming them into non-functional art.

Osteoporosis Chair: Bent Red Oak, Area Rug, 2008 ©

Osteoporosis Chair: Bent Red Oak, Area Rug, 2008 ©

Conjoined Chairs: Painted Pine Chairs, Blanket, 2008 ©

Conjoined Chairs: Painted Pine Chairs, Blanket, 2008 ©

(Birds Eye View)
Conjoined Chairs: Painted Pine Chairs, Blanket, 2008 ©

Poliomyelitis Chair: Oak, Carved Cedar, Leather, Linoleum, 2008 ©

Poliomyelitis Chair: Oak, Carved Cedar, Leather, Linoleum, 2008 ©

Past Exhibitions

2008-09-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

"Animal Farm at Gallery Project"
Group show

Gallery Project
215 South 4th Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
June 16- July 25 2010

_________

"Semblance of Control"
solo show

The Do Right Hall
108 West Dallas
Marfa, TX
October 10- November 1, 2008