Art • Curation • Creative Direction
Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars
“A stoic, and somewhat sarcastic, critique of the now existent future.”
— Quiet Lunch
ROLE
Concept, curatorial direction, exhibition design, artwork, graphic identity, copywriting, installation, and event organization.
CONTEXT
Munch Gallery, New York City
December 5–23, 2013
Derrick Cruz • Jeremy Dyer • Luke Kranker
PROJECT OVERVIEW
I conceived and curated Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars as a three-artist exhibition examining how technology, mythology, and systems of persuasion shape individual and collective reality.
Taking its title from a purported 1979 document — that Dyer identified – about social engineering and mass control, the exhibition brought mixed-media sculpture, black-and-white maniphotography, and a 30-minute sound collage into a single psychological environment.
I developed the curatorial framework, assembled the artists and work, wrote the exhibition narrative, designed the graphic identity and installation, and organized the event.
PERSONAL WORK — 192.186.195.115
My sculpture developed from the experience of receiving a life-changing diagnosis facilitated by an MRI. As the scan appeared to redefine me as technological data, I was forced to consider a choice: would I allow myself to be reduced to a binary interpretation, or take control of my own definition?
The work incorporates a playable record of MRI-machine noise lathed onto one of my scans, sealed within 21 layers of acrylic, and presented on a pedestal crafted to ideal Greek proportions.
Together, the forms create two altars: one for projection and one for reflection. They became tools for considering time, change, and the impracticality of idealization.
"Blessed is the Machine" and "Citizens: 192.186.195.115" Derrick Cruz, 2013
Synthetic Paper, Nylon, Perbunan, Thermoplastic, Ceramic Coated Nickel, Thermoformed Polystyrene, Plotted Engraving, Acrylic, Dedicated IP Server, Digital Download
"Citizens: 192.186.195.115" , detail of DigiGrotesk engraving, Derrick Cruz, 2013
“The Sound of Knowing” Derrick Cruz, 2013
MRI film lathed with the sound of a 22 minute brain scan session, acrylic, wood
“The Sound of Knowing” (detail) Derrick Cruz, 2013
MRI film lathed with the sound of a 22 minute brain scan session, acrylic, wood
Press Release
New York, NY — Munch Gallery is pleased to present Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars, a group exhibition featuring new works by Derrick Cruz, Jeremy Dyer, and Luke Kranker.
Taking its title from the 1979 manifesto calling for the control of the masses through social engineering, the exhibition illustrates each artist’s preoccupation with the didactic as a counterbalance to mythopoeia in commercial and political messaging. Their works take the form of minimal plastic objects, stark black-and-white prints, and droning audio compositions created through a range of new and traditional media.
Cruz’s sculptures synthesize physical media formats believed to be obsolete, reflecting on the impact of technological advances on individuation. Inspired by dystopian science fiction, personal physical challenges, and thinkers such as Joseph Campbell and Jaron Lanier, Cruz manipulates religious and humanist aesthetic constructs to produce “an altar for projection and one for self-reflection.”
Dyer’s printed works engage the pastoral landscape as a site of collision. Constructed from original and found photography, his black-and-white images of menacing fires and collapsing beasts strive to reconcile an anachronistic past with what he considers “the inevitable something that is coming.”
Kranker’s sound collages are the byproduct of ten years of psychotropic experimentation and his study of controversial thinkers such as Terence McKenna and Timothy Leary. Inspired by “the darker aspects of the psychedelic experience,” his long-form, textural audio compositions create a space where “thoughts flow freely . . . and self-deception can be observed with sharpened clarity.”
"Separate the Shit from the Shinola" Luke Kranker, 2013
"Monument" and "Jera (Blót)" (right to left) Jeremy Dyer, 2013
Pigment print on cotton rag 30x30 inches
"Fimbulvetr" Jeremy Dyer, 2013
Pigment print on cotton rag 30x30 inches
"I Gave Gold for Iron" and "Surtr" (left to right) Jeremy Dyer, 2013
Pigment print on cotton rag 30x60 inches