Rice University to host FotoFest exhibitions

MEDIA ADVISORY

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Jeff Falk
713-348-6775
jfalk@rice.edu 

Rice University to host FotoFest exhibitions
Theme of the 2016 biennial explores the future of the planet  

HOUSTON – (Feb. 23, 2016) – Rice University will host five exhibitions that are part of FotoFest’s 16th International Biennial of Photography and Mixed Media Arts, which takes place in Houston March 12 through April 24. The 2016 biennial will feature the work of 34 leading international artists whose exhibitions will explore the theme “Changing Circumstances: Looking at the Future of the Planet.”

All five exhibitions will be on view at the Rice campus, 6100 Main St., and are free and open to the public.

The location and exhibition information is as follows:

Moody Center for the Arts site: “Dear Climate,” a collection featuring work by Marina Zurkow, Una Chaudhuri, Fritz Ertl and Oliver Kellhammer, and “Another Storm Is Coming” by Judy Natal will be displayed in reconfigured solar-powered Mobile Grid juiceBOX containers located on a patch of land between Tudor Fieldhouse and the Moody Center for the Arts construction site.

March 12-April 24.
Hours: 3-6 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays; and noon-5 p.m. Sundays.

“Dear Climate” collects agitprop posters and meditative audio experiences to “help people meet, befriend and become climate change,” according to the organizers. “Another Storm Is Coming” considers the impact of present energy uses and imminent climate futures, “seeking hope in devastation through (Natal’s) characteristically contemplative photographs and videos.” Both exhibitions are sponsored by the Arts and Media Cluster of Rice’s Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences, the only research center in the world specifically designed to foster and incubate research on the energy/environment nexus across the arts, humanities and social sciences.

The Moody Center for the Arts is currently under construction and located on the west side of Rice’s campus at Entrance 8 at Stockton and University Boulevard. Paid parking (credit card only) is available in West Lots 4 and 5. For a map, visit http://rice.edu/parking.

Rice Media Center: “Photographs Taken at One-Hour Intervals During a Walk from Galveston Island to the West Texas Town of Marfa” by Joshua Edwards.

March 12-April 9. (Note that the Rice Media Center will be closed March 31-April 3.)
Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays-Fridays and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays.

Edwards’ exhibition chronicles his 40-day trip by foot across Texas, from his birthplace on Galveston Island to the West Texas town of Marfa, where he and his wife “will build a house and settle down after many years of moving around,” he said. Edwards’ exhibition is presented by Rice’s Department of Visual and Dramatic Arts.

Two events at the Rice Media Center will mark the openings of the Moody Center and Media Center exhibitions. From noon to 1 p.m. March 11, Zurkow, Natal and Edwards will join in a conversation with Joseph Campana, the Alan Dugald McKillop Chair in English and associate professor of English literature. From 6 to 9 p.m. March 12, an opening celebration will feature a “climate change” cocktail drink and a reading by Edwards of hurricane prayers, storm songs and poetry of the Gulf Coast.

The Rice Media Center is located on the west side of Rice’s campus at Entrance 8 at Stockton and University Boulevard. Paid parking (credit card only) is available in West Lots 4 and 5. For a map, visit http://rice.edu/parking.

Anderson-Clarke Center, Glasscock School of Continuing Studies: “Intimate Cartography.”

March 24, 2016-Feb. 28, 2017.
Hours: During FotoFest, the Anderson-Clarke Center will be open 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Fridays.  

“Intimate Cartography” highlights the diverse ways photography can “trace the ephemeral quality of places, nature, people and our visual experiences,” according to organizers. Juried by Houston artists Bevin Bering Dubrowski and Libbie Masterson, the exhibit features the work of six Glasscock School of Continuing Studies students: John Chaney; Kelly Dempster; Jim Pomerantz, a professor of psychology at Rice; William Snypes; Mickael Szymanski; and Bill Walterman.

An opening reception will be 5 to 6:30 p.m. March 24 in Anderson-Clarke Center’s Dean’s Commons.

The Anderson-Clarke Center is located on the west side of Rice’s campus at Entrance 8 at Stockton and University Boulevard. Paid parking (credit card only) is available in West Lots 4 and 5. For a map, visit http://rice.edu/parking.

Rice Gallery: “The Great Cape Rinderhorn” by Thorsten Brinkmann.

Feb. 4-May-15.
Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursdays; and noon-5 p.m. Sundays.

German artist Thorsten Brinkmann describes his Rice Gallery installation, “The Great Cape Rinderhorn,” as a “decaying palace.” A self-proclaimed “serialsammler” (serial collector), Brinkmann keeps whatever catches his eye as he sifts through the broken and discarded items sitting in purgatory on thrift store shelves, according to Rice Gallery. Brinkmann incorporates his finds into photographs, which he then combines with the found objects to create his room-sized installations.

Rice Gallery is on the ground floor of Sewall Hall near campus Entrance 1, at the intersection of Main Street and Sunset Boulevard. Paid parking (credit card only) is available in the Founder’s Court Visitor Lot directly in front of Sewall Hall. For a map, visit http://rice.edu/parking.

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Related materials:

FotoFest’s 16th International Biennial of Photography and Mixed Media Arts: http://home.fotofest.org/2016biennial/home.aspx#.VsYeMfkrLIU.

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,910 undergraduates and 2,809 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for best quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” go to http://tinyurl.com/AboutRiceUniversity.