PROTAGONY: $100 for Truth as part of “Home As Situation” at U of Kentucky

Solo Exhibition: Esther Marveta Neff
Link ONLINE EXHIBITION curated by Rae Goodwin, web-install by Becky Alley
Link VIDEO PLAYLIST of all 12 performances/processes:

Challenging the idea of “solo exhibition,” I (Esther) conceptualize a process of responsive creation.

I assemble a body or “jury” of 12 individual artists: Lorene Bouboushian, IV Castellanos, Christen Clifford, Shawn Escarciga, Ayana Evans, Simone Johnson, Anya Liftig, Iki Nakagawa, Sierra Ortega, Elaine Thap, Bret Schneider, and april vendetta. Each artist is offered $100 in exchange for a “statement of truth” in the form of a brief text and 3-minute video. After receiving the texts and video, I attempt to substantiate and embody subjective interpretations of each artist’s judgements of truth in brief performances resulting in material remains (e.g. sculptural objects/wall works).

Demanding that artists intentionally materialize “truths,” is both idealistic and absurd, while attempts to understand, interpret, and materialize truths are earnest and interpersonal, enacted between friends, colleagues, comrades. While cultural actors (artists) especially tend to disbelieve the idea of any universal or non-relative “truth,” art is also often claimed to be “more true than true” in spiritual or affective ways. As a theatrical third option, this performance/process proposes that feelings of being at home in this world (more valuable than money) are directly materialized by attempts to have one’s personal, emotional, and political truths substantiated.

FRAMING TEXT:

“PROTAGONY: $100 for Truth culminates in an exhibition of 1) 12 videos, each pairing an invited artist’s video and that artist’s statement with the interpreting (“solo”) artist’s video responses, are shown online. 2) the material remains made by Neff (the “solo” artist) are exhibited as sculptures, images of these pieces are also shown online via the exhibition. 5) videos and images may be shared “mnemonically” via social media and are linked on the U of Kentucky gallery websites.

In the context of Home As Situation, this social performance frames truth-claims and social substantiation of those claims as a homeboundings or homebases. Here, acts of truth-evaluation are homing devices, enabling us to find and care for one another.”