Stephen Hendee, “The Last People” (2013). (image via site-lab.org)
GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — In a smaller city like Grand Rapids, where the cost of living is far lower than American art centers like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, there can be more curatorial opportunities — if one plays their cards right. The Not Yet exhibition curated by Paul Amenta of SiTE:LAB is proof that an ambitious curator with a devoted team of art-hungry fellows, including co-founder Tom Clinton, can bring together a strong show in a city that otherwise wouldn’t experience work of this caliber.
The 18 installations in The Not Yet take over 54 Jefferson, the former home of the Grand Rapids Public Museum, which shuttered its doors in 1994 but left its guts intact. SiTE:LAB builds on and around the taxidermy animal dioramas and three-dimensional installations on human anatomy, including the reproductive and circulatory systems. Amenta creates a series of 18 projects almost the size of an artist-run fair like Chicago’s MDW. This year SiTE:LAB takes on topics such as the not-so-distant future where new intelligence roams, our mediated present as told through the story of a young Detroit girl, the ongoing work of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the beginning of life on Earth.
read the full story on Hyperallergic: http://hyperallergic.com/86329/sitelab-raises-the-bar-for-artprize/
