Wave Pool is proud to present, Midwest Markdowns, a group show curated by our second of three Curatorial Residents, design duo SUBSTUDIO. Featuring the work of eight emerging artists and design collectives whose practices have been shaped by the unique opportunities afforded by working in the Midwest, their work has been influenced by a geographic region that has been both marginalized and romanticized. SUBSTUDIO posits that the Midwest has instead provided these artists with a platform for alternative methodologies, which are not easily accessible in larger coastal cities. Referencing scale, culture, collaboration, side hustles, and materials that have evolved from place, Midwest Markdowns brings together the work of these artists in order to spark a conversation regarding newer structures of practice, resulting from the pursuit of creative autonomy.
The factors that govern creative work in small Midwestern cities breed specific strategies, alliances, and opportunities. Kara Gut, a multidisciplinary artist whose primary focus is image-based digital media, creates work that investigates the new shape of human intimacy formed by niche online communities, dissolving many of the typical barriers that face non-coastal artists. Scott Vincent Campbell, a life-long New Yorker and Detroit transplant, has experienced an extreme scale shift and enlivened material possibility since relocating to Detroit. Team B, an architecture and design firm based in Cincinnati, has developed a body of work responding equally to both ordinary and bizarre aspects of Midwestern culture.
The artists selected were asked to present work that might act as a launching point for a conversation about how they structure their practice, and in what ways their presence in the Midwest has aided and/or altered their work. This exhibition is part of a larger investigation by the design duo into the realities and myths the art world perpetuates about creative endeavors based in place.
Visitors of the show are encouraged to contribute a physical artifact or anecdote descriptive of their own creative practice. Objects, ephemera, and text will be collected, catalogued, and published, generating a more expansive portrait of a Midwestern practice beyond the pragmatic limitations of a curated exhibition.
Contributing artist include: William Marcellus Armstrong, Scott Campbell, Clare Gatto, Kara Gut, Scott Holzman, L.D. Nehls, Chrissy Scolaro, and Team B (David Corns, Anna Kerr, Quinn Kummer, and John Stoughton).
The opening reception for Midwest Markdowns at Wave Pool will take place on Saturday, February 24th from 6-9pm. On Saturday March 24th at 6pm as a part of show’s closing event, Wave Pool will host an interactive panel discussion moderated by Bowling Green State University Senior Lecturer in American Literature and Critical Theory, Phil Dickinson. Featured artists will be encouraged to discuss the nature and structure of their creative practice. The conversation will take place in the upstairs gallery, inviting a dialogue with the partner show.
About our Curatorial Residents:
SUBSTUDIO co-founders Hannah Dewhirst and Ingrid Alexandra Schmidt are spatial artists and educators who found common ground with their research during their graduate studies in architecture at Cranbrook Academy of Art. They founded SUBSTUDIO Architecture in 2016 in pursuit of a method of autonomous practice that would enable them to pursue tool driven research and full scale built experimentation that challenges social and perceptual associations. Their past projects blur the boundary between architecture, performance, art and curation. Having spent their careers between the midwest and east coast, they currently manage their dual-city practice in conjunction with teaching at DAAP and Bowling Green State University.
The Curatorial Residency Program is supported by the generosity of community contributions to the ArtsWave Campaign as well as through an ArtSTART award from the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.