Branded and On Display
ORGANIZER Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion University of Illinois, Champaign
DATES
Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion, University of Illinois, Champaign
January 25 – April 1, 2007
Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kansas
August 25 – December 16, 2007
Tufts University Art Gallery
January 17—March 30, 2008
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Arizona
June 14 – September 21, 2008
Salt Lake City Art Center, Utah
February 21 – May 23, 2009
DESCRIPTION With one of our country’s founding fathers – Thomas Jefferson – a compulsive shopper, marketing and acquiring may just be part of being American. Virtually every activity in our lives is experienced through purchases, from bassinets to caskets. The landscape is studded with logos, brand names and billboards – inducements to participate in a culture defined by the acquisition of commodities. Branded and On Display examined the work of artists who explore specific strategies of branding and presentation. Representing a range of media – sculpture, video, installation, sound, painting and photography – the works are provocative, nudging us to “re-view” our culture with an appraising eye. The exhibiting artists demonstrate how the forms and tactics of branding dominate our cultural awareness and visual environment. Their works lead us to a fresh understanding of our own experiences – how frequently we are scanned each day; how complex perceptions have been condensed into simple signs and epithets; how advertising and display strategies shape our thinking. Exhibition design by Rice+Lipka Architects, New York.
ARTISTS Ai Weiwei, Conrad Bakker, Amy Barkow, Ashley Bickerton, Michael Blum, Louis Cameron, Diller + Scofidio, Terence Gower, Laurie Hogin,
Pierre Huyghe/Philippe Parreno, Clay Ketter, Ryan McGinness, Amelia Moore, Donna Nield, Haim Steinbach, Tempi & Wolf, Yuken Teruya,
Hank Willis Thomas, Brian Ulrich, Siebren Versteeg, Zhao Bandi
CATALOGUE The catalogue takes an interdisciplinary approach: essayists include the curators Judith Hoos Fox and Ginger Gregg Duggan; Linda Scott,
author of Fresh Lipstick (2005); Cele Otnes, author of Cinderella Dreams: The Allure of the Lavish Wedding (2003); Daniel Cook, author of
The Commodification of Childhood: The Children’s Clothing Industry and the Rise of the Child Consumer (2003); and Dung Kai-cheung, Hong Kong–based author of The Catalog (1999), a collection of one-page short stories whose titles refer to brand names such as Hello Kitty and agnès b.
