Jessica Angel: Facing the Hyperstructure
March 31 - July 29, 2017
Opening Reception, Friday, March 31 | 6 - 8 pm
Free Public Lecture by artist Jessica Angel | 5 pm
Developed by founding AEIVA director Lisa Tamiris Becker, along with the UAB College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office and Department of Art and Art History, Facing the Hyperstructure is a large-scale, site-specific installation by New York artist Jessica Angel. This ambitious project, which occupies the entire AEIVA lobby and Hess Family Lecture Hall, is the end result of Jessica Angel’s 15-week residency overseen by AEIVA Curator John Fields, with additional assistance from UAB students, staff, and volunteers.
The opening reception features a multisensory experience (available only during the opening) that includes lights, music, and video.
Warning: The opening of this exhibition will include loud noise and constant changing lights in brightly colored spaces. Persons with light and noise sensitivity or photosensitive epilepsy should use caution when viewing this exhibition on opening night as some elements could trigger a seizure.
Jessica Angel, "Facing the Hyperstructure proposal," 2016. Image courtesy of the artist.
Angel will live in Birmingham for 14 weeks and take over the AEIVA lobby to create the installation. She will work with AEIVA staff and UAB Department of Art and Art History students to create the work.
The smallest of the three AEIVA galleries will serve as Angel’s studio for the duration of her residency and will be open to the public during normal hours of operation. An exhibition documenting the creation of the installation will be displayed in the small gallery for the duration of the spring semester.
Angel’s installations aim to enable forms of collaboration among sciences, philosophy, music, art, and new media. Angel uses a variety of materials — including cut vinyl, paint, and wallpaper — to transform architectural interiors by distorting the viewer’s visual perspective.
The completed Facing the Hyperstructure installation will be unveiled to the public March 31, 2017, alongside the 41st annual Department of Art and Art History Student Juried Annual, for which Angel will serve as a juror. The installation will remain on view at AEIVA until July 29, 2017.
Angel recently completed a Studios at MASS MoCA Artist Residency and a solo exhibition at the School of Visual Arts’ CP Projects Space in New York. While living in New York, Angel was nominated for the World Technology Award in the Arts Category in 2014 and was invited to represent Colombia as an artist-in-residence at the 2014 Vancouver Biennale. She was awarded the Teaching-Artist Residency at The Cooper Union, as well as the BRIC Media Arts Fellowship, in 2012. She participated in “City Walls” with the Brooklyn Arts Council in 2010 and was the BOFFO artist-in-residence in 2009. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. Explore her work on her website.
Facing the Hyperstructure was developed by the late Lisa Tamiris Becker, along with the UAB College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office and Department of Art and Art History.
For a time-lapse video of the project, go to the Facing the Hyperstructure blog.
