— Dec 14, 03:38 PM — 

PNCA’s MK Guth to Launch Whitney Biennial Project in Portland

MFA in Visual Studies Chair to begin “Ties of Protection and Safe Keeping” traveling installation this Saturday in Portland’s historic Gerding Theater at the Armory

MK Guth, the Chair of Pacific Northwest College of Art’s MFA in Visual Studies, will begin her Whitney Biennial project—an interactive braid sculpture titled “Ties of Protection and Safekeeping”—at the Gerding Theater at the Armory in Portland’s Pearl District on Saturday, December 15, from 11am -7pm. The project will travel to numerous US cities before reaching its final destination as part of the 2008 Whitney Biennial. MK Guth is the only Oregon artist among 81 artists overall to be selected for the exhibition, which opens at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City on March 6 and continues through June 1, 2008.

The interactive sculpture will consist of a large Rapunzel-like braid fabricated with the help of the gallery and public audience. Participants will be asked to respond to the question, “What is worth protecting?” by writing onto a piece of flannel fabric that will then be woven into the ever growing braid. With each stop, audience members will be asked the same question and their response will be added to the braid, continually extending the size of the object. Through the project, Guth hopes to explore mythic metaphors by constructing a site where the opposition between viewing and action becomes blurred.

The sculpture’s themes of protection and safekeeping will resonate in the physical starting and end points for the project: armories. The 2008 Whitney Biennial, which typically takes over most of the space within the museum’s Marcel Breuer building, will also utilize the Seventh Regiment Armory at Park Avenue and 67th Street for many of the sound-based, event-based and interactive works. After the braid’s arrival in New York, the interactive aspect of the project will continue in the Armory for 10 days, after which the completed work will be placed and woven through the Armory’s Silver Room/Library throughout the duration of the exhibition.

Given the final destination of the interactive sculpture, Guth decided to begin the project in Portland’s own historic armory, a 115-year old structure that was originally constructed to provide drill maneuvering space and an underground firing range for the Oregon National Guard. The venue has since been renovated into a state-of-the-art theater certified by the US Green Building Council as exceeding the requirements for LEED Platinum.

“The piece only works if people are willing to engage,” said Guth. “My role is to initiate a collaborative environment. What is interesting about ‘Ties of Protection and Safe Keeping’ is the placement of the piece in the Armory. There couldn’t be a more ideal space—it’s one myth bumping into another.”

After launching in Portland, the project will travel to numerous US cities including: the Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID (December 29); Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA (January 8); Houston Diverse Works, Houston, Tex. (January 11); and the Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 16). Schedule and additional information can be found online at www.mkguth.com.

MK Guth is a multidisciplinary artist working in video, photography and sculpture. Her interests lie in reconfiguring contemporary myths surrounding identity. Reviewer Barbara Pollock described Guth’s video “I Want To Hold Your Hand” as brilliant in the February 2003 issue of Art News. Her work has also been touted in other periodicals including Flash Art, New Art Examiner and Art in America.

She received a Betty Bowen Special Recognition Award from the Seattle Art Museum and an Award of Merit from the Bellevue Art Museum. She has exhibited with numerous galleries and institutions including: The Frye Museum, Seattle, Washington; The Melbourne International Arts Festival, Australia; Nottdance Festival, England; Swiss Institute, New York; Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland; A Gentil Carioca Gallery, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; White Box Annex, White Columns and Artists Space, New York; Betty Moody, Houston, Texas; Side Street Projects, Los Angeles; Catherine Clark, San Francisco; and Consolidated Works, Seattle.

Guth’s videos have screened nationally and internationally. She is a member and the original creator of “Red Shoe Delivery Service” (www.redshoedeliveryservice.com), a collaborative interactive video/performance project with Molly Dilworth and Cris Moss. RSDS has exhibited and performed nationally and internationally. Represented by the Elizabeth Leach Gallery in Portland, Ore., Guth received her BA from University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MFA from New York University. Guth is Chair of the MFA in Visual Studies Program at PNCA.

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