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For immediate release Public Art Fund presents? Artist Josiah McElheny's Reconstructing a party held at the Bauhaus School in Dessau on February 9, 1929 On View December 1, 2001 through January 13, 2002 New York, New York (November 9, 2001) - The Public Art Fund is pleased to present an ambitious sculptural installation and ongoing participatory performance organized by acclaimed young artist Josiah McElheny at Brooklyn Front, one of the newest exhibition spaces in DUMBO's emerging arts community. The Metal Party-an elaborate reconstruction of a party held at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany on February 9, 1929-begins as an evening-long event and continues as a viewer-participatory installation that examines the party as a cultural artifact and reflects upon the Bauhaus notion that metal is inherently modern. This project, along with a forthcoming artist book, is presented in collaboration with Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco. On February 9, 1929, students and faculty at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany took part in The Metal Party, the most famous of the school's many collaborative spectacles. Participants from all of the Bauhaus architecture and applied arts workshops created a sculptural environment that reflected, literally, the era's utopian fascination with machine age materials. Partygoers arrived in wild costumes made of aluminum foil, pots and pans, spoons, and other functional metallic materials. The ceilings of the party hall were hung with reflective globes-the same ones that often appeared in the photographic self-portraiture of Bauhaus instructor László Moholy-Nagy and other Bauhaus photographers-and the space resounded with a live avant-garde audio performance. Taking the original Metal Party as its point of departure, McElheny's reconstruction of this bygone event is based upon various art historical and first-hand accounts found in Bauhaus histories, but also draws in key elements of the cultural present. Each viewer, upon arriving at The Metal Party, will be provided with a 100% mylar costume to put on over his or her own clothing. The costumes, specially designed by McElheny, are only the first element of an intricate installation that the viewer will encounter-and become an active part of-upon entering the space. By requiring the presence of "partygoers" to activate the work, The Metal Party recalls Fluxus happenings, Warhol's Factory parties and the interactive installations of Felix Gonzales-Torres, in which viewers participated in the artwork by taking a poster or piece of wrapped candy from a proffered pile. Hundreds of mirrored glass spheres, newly fabricated for this incarnation of The Metal Party, will line the ceilings above a dazzling reflective environment of metallic surfaces. Viewers are invited to see themselves as a part of this funhouse homage to modernism, and to document their experience with a Polaroid self-portrait photograph that may be incorporated into the display. A sound composition, produced by electronic media artists Beth Coleman and Howard Goldkrand (Soundlab Cultural Alchemy), will fill the room with period jazz music and Bauhaus-inspired experimental instrumentation, overlaid with contemporary dance rhythms. On the opening evening of The Metal Party, Coleman and Goldkrand will add live improvisational sounds that will become part of the composition for the duration of the exhibition. With The Metal Party, McElheny's most ambitious project to date, the artist and glassblower expands his ongoing conceptual exploration of the way in which cultural, art historical and anecdotal information shapes the way we perceive objects. His elegant sculptural installations, which typically feature beautiful glass works displayed alongside a quasi-historic narrative, have variously elaborated on the haute couture designs of Christian Dior, the writings of Jorge Luis Borges, religious fables, Renaissance painting and philosophy, and other beguiling topics. Many of McElheny's past projects have playfully examined the conventions and constraints of museum display, so it is particularly fitting that The Metal Party takes on an aspect of Bauhaus history that falls outside of traditional museum presentations. The Bauhaus was founded in 1919 with the aim of erasing the distinction between fine arts and applied arts in order to build a better future. It began as a craft school and later became increasingly famous for its utilitarian application of machine-age aesthetics. The school's harmonious vision of art integrated with daily life extended beyond the classroom and into the very social fabric of the Bauhaus community, which became known for its lively social scene and wildly extravagant masked parties. Each of these parties, collaboratively produced by the Bauhaus workshops, had a different participatory theme. The Metal Party, epitomizing the school's belief in the promise of modernity, now receives a reflective re-examination that coaxes history back to the present. The Metal Party takes place at Brooklyn Front, 126A Front Street (between Jay and Pearl Streets) in DUMBO, Brooklyn from December 1 - January 13 (closed December 24 - January 1). The installation is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday 11am to 6pm. To travel by subway, take the F train to the York Street station, walk down Jay Street and turn left onto Front Street; or take the A or C train to the High Street station, walk down Old Fulton Street towards the water, and turn right on Front Street. The Metal Party is sponsored by Banana Republic and is a project of the Public Art Fund series In the Public Realm, which is supported by The New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs, the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President, The Greenwall Foundation, The Jerome Foundation, The Silverweed Foundation, The JPMorgan Chase Foundation, and friends of the Public Art Fund. The Metal Party was produced with the assistance of Brooklyn Front and Superfine, and is a joint presentation with Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, where the project is concurrently on view November 17, 2001-January 27 2002. About Josiah McElheny About Public Art Fund The Public Art Fund is a non-profit arts organization supported by generous contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations, and with public funds from The New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs. # # # Contact:
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