The Great Poor Farm Experiment VII
“Listening and Making Sound”
With an ear toward political engagement, “Listening and Making Sound” was a departure from the Poor Farm’s tradition programing built on focused solo projects. The artists invited to the Poor Farm in 2015 have, by necessity or choice, worked in the spaces between artist and activist. They have been nurtured within and by communities: the San Francisco lesbian community of the early nineties, punk and riot grrrl in Olympia, Jacmel, Haiti’s artists and poets, Act Up in NYC in the 1980’s. Before thinking in terms of a detached audience or critical judgment, these artists were performing in basements, attending consciousness-raising meetings, and listening to poetry readings in dance clubs. (The refashioning of the self in listening.) This urgent thematic group exhibition was guest-curated by artists Molly Zuckerman Hartung and Nicholas Frank, and included work by госкино, Tracy + the Plastics, Cary Cronenwett, Cauleen Smith, Gregg Bordowitz, Amy Yao, Joshua Ploeg, Kirsten Stoltmann, Poncili Creación, Microlights, Dana DeGiulio, Bryan O’Keefe, and Danny Giles. This exhibition was accompanied by an artist publication.