Jessica Angel, a Colombian artist living and working in New York, will live in Birmingham for 14 weeks to create a large-scale, site-specific art installation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Angel will take over the lobby of the UAB College of Arts and Sciences’ Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts to create the installation. She will work with AEIVA staff and UAB Department of Art and Art History students to create the work, titled “Facing the Hyperstructure.”
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, says AEIVA curator John Fields, MFA.
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 juror. The exhibition has its own score as well, "Nearly an Object" by Gilberto Castillo. The 25-minute album will be played from 3-5 p.m. on the first and third Saturdays, April through July. This endeavor marks the affirmation of a long term collaborative relationship that culminates in the creation of a solid body of work in sound design.
“This class will provide a unique opportunity for UAB DAAH students and AEIVA interns,” Fields said. “They will work closely with the artist on every level of development and execution of this installation. This type of hands-on experience, with such a large, complex project with a professional artist working at the national level, will be invaluable to their development as aspiring young artists.”
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 2018 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, www.jessicaangelarts.com.
“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.