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San Jose Museum of Art

August 16 - January 14, 2013

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110 South Market Street San Jose, CA 95113
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Telling Fortunes Ranu Mukherjee, Ghost River Song (no place home), 2012, Ink on silk, 96x45.5 inches, courtesy the artist
The San Jose Museum of Art’s experimental gallery “Beta Space” will be the site of a new project by San Francisco-based artist Ranu Mukherjee, which is alos SJMA’s contribution to the 2012 Zero1 Biennial: Seeking Silicon Valley. Mukherjee explored the idea of the contemporary nomad in Silicon Valley—migrant laborers, expatriates, global tech workers, international students, even commuters. She collected images and stories of the nomadic from a variety of sources in the region including: the bees at Happy Hollow Park and Zoo; immigrants from Bangladesh and Pakistan; and worshipers at the Buddhist temples in the area. She has transformed excerpts from this ongoing “nomadic archive” into two abstract digital films, a series of six paintings on paper, and seven prints on sari silk. These works will be complemented by an audio installation, a collaboration between Mukherjee and Mike Maurillo, set in a nearby outdoor courtyard. “Via painting, digital animation, and photography, Ranu Mukherjee transforms crowd-sourced material into brilliantly colorful films that mix fact and fantasy; digital and analog; and the spiritual and the material,” said Jodi Throckmorton, associate curator at SJMA and curator of the exhibition. “We tend to think of nomads as age-old tribes, but in this installation, Mukherjee asks, ‘who are the nomads of the 21st century?’” To accompany the films, sound designer Mike Maurillo and Mukherjee have created an audio installation set in a simulated park space in the outdoor courtyard. Visitors will hear bees swarming, the sounds of birds, bits of conversations, and the voice of Mukherjee reciting hexagrams from the ancient Chinese text, the I Ching—all collected by the artist as she sought after the stories of Silicon Valley’s “nomads.” “I'm curious about the multitude of ways that the nomadic occurs in contemporary (global) experience, including migrant labor, travel or relocation for work, spiritual engagement, as brought on by natural disaster or war and in its archaic/ traditional forms,” said Mukherjee. “I sense this figure is related to a feeling of precariousness shared by many, and at the same time is deeply desired.” Mukherjee and Maurillo will present a sound performance in the exhibition on Saturday, September 15, at 3 PM. BETA SPACE Like the legendary Silicon Valley garage, SJMA’s Beta Space series serves as an experimental laboratory for artists, collaborative ventures, and catalytic ideas. “Beta Space” exhibitions are sponsored by the James Irvine Foundation, Theres and Denis Rohan, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. ZERO1 BIENNIAL Ranu Mukherjee: Telling Fortunes is presented in conjunction with the 2011 ZERO1 Biennial: Seeking Silicon Valley (September 12 – December 8, 2012). The ZERO1 Biennial, distributed throughout Silicon Valley and the greater Bay Area, is North America’s most significant showcase of contemporary work at the nexus of art and technology. For more information, visit www.zero1biennial.org. ABOUT THE ARTIST Ranu Mukherjee is a multi-disciplinary artist who makes hybrid films, works on paper, and collaborative projects. Her recent work focuses on processes of creolization, the figure of the nomad, speculative narratives, and the visual and political history of 19th-century Indian lithographs. Mukherjee co-created the collaborative artist Orphan Drift in London in the 1990s and has participated in numerous exhibitions internationally. She is represented by Frey Norris Contemporary and Modern, which hosted her first solo exhibition in the United States in 2011. She was a participating artist in Bay Area Now 6 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco. She earned her MFA at the Royal College of Art, London. She is currently an associate professor in Graduate Fine Art at the California College of the Arts and a visiting professor at the San Francisco Art Institute. SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART The San Jose Museum of Art celebrates new ideas, stimulates creativity, and inspires connection with every visit. Welcoming and thought-provoking, the Museum rejects stuffiness and delights visitors with its surprising and playful perspective on the art and artists of our time. The San Jose Museum of Art is located at 110 South Market Street in downtown San Jose, California. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 AM to 5 PM and until 8 PM on the third Thursday of each month. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens, and free to members and children under 6. For more information, call 408-271-6840 or visit www.SanJoseMuseumofArt.org.