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Romer Young Gallery

June 11 - July 11, 2010

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1240 22nd Street San Francisco, CA 94107
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Occupy the Empty
Opening Reception: Friday, June 11th, 6:00 - 9:00pm Ping Pong Gallery is pleased to welcome Amanda Curreri back to the gallery for her second solo exhibition, OCCUPY THE EMPTY. There will be an opening reception for the artist on Friday, June 11, 6-9PM Following the inspired careers of such artists as Felix Gonzalez Torres, Lygia Clark, Helio Oiticica, whose work centered on the commingling of public and private spheres, and the sustained commitment to narrative, social engagement and cultural commentary, Curreri offers an exhibition that depends on the contemplation, sensitivity, and participation of its audience. OCCUPY THE EMPTY takes the courtroom, the American hallmark of democracy, and translates it to the space of the contemporary gallery. OCCUPY THE EMPTY is born from an experience the artist had last summer in the Massachusetts courthouse where Italian-American anarchists, Sacco and Vanzetti, were sentenced to death in the early 20th century. The court case Curreri participated in was for her deceased father, also an Italian-American. The experience of those two weeks spent in the historical courtroom with her father’s loved ones, with lawyers, a judge, and jury shared qualities with the dramatic arts and the stage: theatrical and performative, positioning Curreri as one of the characters [dramatis personae]. Inspired by the work of radical democracy theorists Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, Curreri considers the assumption that democracy is inherently available, empty to be inhabited, performed and occupied. The gallery, explicitly empty by design, becomes a tangible stage for testing ideas of personal histories, democracy and the social body.