Opening Reception: "Assembling Animal Communication"
Friday, March 22nd, 2019
7:30 - 8:30 PM
Art Building Foyer
Texas Tech University School of Art will be hosting the reception for "Assembling Animal Communication," an exhibition curated by Dr. Kevin Chua and featuring works by artists Catherine Chalmers, Catherine Clover, Darcie DeAngelo, Lee Deigaard, and Maria Lux.
"For much of the 20th century, scholars considered language to be what defined the human. In screech and roar, animals couldn’t match the complexity – the sheer sophistication – of human language. This exhibition proposes to think of animal language in a different way: what if it didn't aspire to human grammar and syntax? What if it didn't simply occur within, but co-evolved with, an environment? When Deleuze and Guattari used the word “ritournelle” (refrain) to describe bird songs, they weren’t simply referring to the mundanely repetitious nature of bird language. Animal communication, they envisioned, took place in an emergent environmental field that moved in deep, molecular rhythm. Another term they used, “assemblage” – think of a bee swarm, moving with the wind, or a flock of birds, flying in loose unison – captures this more dynamic understanding of the way animals communicate with one another. Speech as environmental resonance; utterance cradled by context. Look closer. Listen. Enter the assemblage of animal communication."
Curated by Kevin Chua, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Art History at Texas Tech University, the exhibition is presented in collaboration with "Animal/Language: An Interdisciplinary Conference" held at Texas Tech University March 21 – 23, 2019. Exhibition runs Friday, March 22, 2019 - Sunday, April 28, 2019.
Support to present public lectures by artists Catherine Chalmers and Maria Lux in conjunction with the exhibition and conference is provided in part from a grant from the City of Lubbock, as recommended by Civic Lubbock, Inc. Additional support comes from the Ryla T. & John F. Lott Endowment for Excellence in the Visual Arts in the School of Art.
