For RELEASE

WEST BANK SHOP: A 50-day project & 13 artists.

Process, Practice & Collaboration, 10 October – 30 November 2008

→ First open: Friday, 10 October
→ Weekly hours: Open Daily, Hours Vary
→ Address: 404 Cedar Avenue South, Minneapolis MN 55454
→ Contact: westbankshop@gmail.com


As a group we have questions about both the nature (philosophical) and the possibilities (everyday significance) of Art within our lives and within the lives of the communities we work in. We also have questions regarding the common understanding of what comprises an artistic practice, of its cultural necessity, and its necessary environment of support. Taking things into our own hands, this collective project is conceived of as a kind of workshop in which we will explore these open-ended queries. The outcome will most likely reveal itself with only more questions, due to both failures and successes. Both are welcome.

Taking its name from the already existing sign on the storefront that we will inhabit, West Bank Shop brings together a core group of 13 artists: Beth Jeffries Barnes, T.J. Barnes, Rebekah Champ, Adrian Freeman, Travis Freeman, Katinka Galanos, Jason Gaspar, Lauren Herzak-Bauman, Sam Hoolihan, Lisa McGrath, Peter McLarnan, Peter Haakon Thompson, and Brennan Vance.

It is our hope that our group will grow in numbers as we begin to work both individually and collaboratively, overlapping projects in this space, in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood. We conceive our project as an engaged, fluid, critical, and playful endeavor. A project that is open and experimental, collaborative and process-based, conceptual and social. Ultimately West Bank Shop is a place for us to try out new ways of thinking, new processes, to take chances, to work with others, and to invite others in. It will be an experiment in creating a public forum. Everyone is welcome.

We are 13 artists, working in almost every way you can think of: circumambulation, ceramics, drawing, meditation, situations, installation, painting, physical training, slide shows, sculpture, performance, printmaking, sound, music, language, survival, confessions, readings, lectures, video, film, photography, talking, writing, dancing, projection, workshops, video games, storytelling… For this project we hope to withhold any common or typical conception of these practices, choosing to work between process, propositions, statements, conversations, situations, invitations, and collaborations. Bringing diverse ways of working and thinking to the table, we seek to push our own limits and those of the passers-by. This will help us to refocus our ideas of process and exchange with each other, the surrounding community and the public-at-large.

A few semi-relevant art historical references: Allan Kaprow's Happenings, Claes Oldenburg's The Store, and Black Mountain College (list of participants too long to name here).