Two ongoing exhibitions, “Antena” and Anton Ginzburg’s, “Terra Corpus,” introduced a world of literature and exploration to visitors on Thursday and Friday at the Blaffer Art Museum. | Courtesy of Anton Ginzburg
Visual art and literature can be different and complement each other at the same time. An exhibition experimented with this concept on Thursday and Friday at the Blaffer Art Museum.
“Antena” is a gallery based on the fusion of art and language that will be on display through May 10. It features books from small presses in the United States and Latin America. Visitors are encouraged to touch and skim the books on display, even if they don’t intend to purchase them.
Founders Jen Hofer and John Pluecker established “Antena” in 2010. Hofer and Pluecker are writers, artists, literary translators, activist interpreters and bookmakers who experiment with language justice.
Workshops on writing will be open to the public.
“This is about experimenting with the idea of art and a bookstore,” Pluecker said.
“Antena” allows people to express themselves in the language that they feel most comfortable with, and the gallery will explore how views of languages can offer re-imagination and re-articulation of the world.
The collaborative efforts between the artists display experiences and exposure from the U.S. and Latin American countries, such as Mexico, Chile and Guatemala. The materials in “Antena” are printed in English and Spanish to properly channel the work from Latin American women, queer communities and more.
“I have always been an art person,” said biotechnology junior Keith Sanders. “To me, this is one of the better exhibits I have been to. I really like the story behind it, and Blaffer is a great place to start learning about art and get the college experience.”
Blaffer is hosting a weekly class, “In The Between: At the Intersections of Writing, Art, Politics,” which is open to the public and to students enrolled in the interdisiplinary art minor, IART.
From Feb. 13 to 16, all of the artists will be at Blaffer taking part in lectures and presentations. Some of the lectures will be in Spanish and others in English, with live translation for audience members.
The opening of Anton Ginzburg’s “Terra Corpus” on Friday introduced sculptures, films, photography and paintings from a trilogy of personal works.
A Russian-born artist, Ginzburg is based out of New York, and his Blaffer debut is the first showing at an American gallery. His work takes an in-depth look at landscapes from Oregon to eastern Europe.
“I am interested in various media,” Ginzburg said in June 2011 in T Magazine. “I like to find the one that is most appropriate for each project, because ultimately the creative energy is abstract — it doesn’t belong to any particular medium.”
The first part of the trilogy, “At the Back of the North Wind,” is a documentation of his expedition to find “Hyperborea,” a Greek mythical land that holds bliss and eternal peacefulness.
“Walking the Sea,” the second part of the trilogy, follows Ginzburg’s journey across the Aral Sea and describes the paradox of “seas without water.”
The exhibition remains open until March 18.
For more information, visit blafferartmuseum.org.
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