THE ANXIOUS CONDITION

Opening Reception, Friday, May 12, 6-9pm

This 2-day exhibition is a result of UNC, Chapel Hill’s spring MFA Seminar. In the seminar, Professor elin o'hara slavick and students focused on curating – from Hans Ulrich Obrist, Paul Virilio and Theaster Gates’ theories and practices to their own. THE ANXIOUS CONDITION is the 4th and final collaborative/curatorial project of the seminar. Drawing from the previous exhibitions at atypical sites and their studios, slavick has selected work that touches upon anxiety. In this unpresidential time of the Anthropocene, all of us are on edge, teetering between post-traumatic- election-disorder and apocalyptic weather patterns, denial and bipolar bliss. As Frederic Jameson says, “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” Yet, we continue to feast and play, make art, go to work, send our kids to school, pull up weeds – as if everything is alright. What else can we do? There will be, among other things: wire hills between opposite walls; post-surreal- folk-narrative, explosive and abstract paintings; videos of car accidents, a lawnmower on fire, the fluttering landscape of rural Virginia and a naked woman fidgeting with onions; a baby carriage in trouble; sculptures of plaster and dirt; paper troughs and photographs; a ramshackle phone booth; hidden mirrors; anti-confederate gestures; and a ramped roof that lights up as you approach it. You will not be disappointed and may even find yourself temporarily relieved of pessimistic stress.

Artists: Britta Anderson, Allison Coleman, Kimberly English, Sara Farrington, Luke Firle, Joel Hopler, Wayne Marcelli, Lindsay Metivier, Joy Meyer, Vanessa Murray, Emily Smith, Jeanine Tatlock, Louis Watts, Lamar Whidbee, and Carley Zarzeka