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WORK BY CREATIVE CAPITAL ARTISTS FEATURED IN UPCOMING 2002 BIENNIAL EXHIBITION

Seven grantees are among those selected for 2002 Whitney Biennial, the museum’s signature showcase in American art

NEW YORK, NY (January 7, 2002) – Every other year the Whitney Museum of American Art presents its internationally-recognized Biennial exhibition, which aims to show "the most significant work done by American artists during the past two years." Next year’s exhibition will feature work by 113 artists and collaborative teams, including seven artists currently funded by Creative Capital Foundation, the New York–based nonprofit arts organization. On view from March 7–May 26, 2002, the Biennial, an invitational exhibition, showcases video, film, live performances, and a sound installation by Creative Capital grantees Peggy Ahwesh, Tony Cokes, Joe Gibbons, Meredith Monk, Tracie Morris, William Pope.L, and Phil Solomon.

Grantee Projects Selected
"I make Lara a vehicle for my thoughts on what I see as the triad of her personas: the alien, the orphan, and the clone," says Peggy Ahwesh of her video She Puppet (2001). The work, based on the video game Tomb Raider, developed from re-edited footage of Ahwesh playing the game. Another video piece included in the exhibition is 2@ (2000) by Tony Cokes, part of a continuing series on popular music and the history of rock.

Two artists will screen films in the Biennial. Joe Gibbons’s Confessions of a Sociopath (2000) is an autobiography in which Gibbons reconstructs different forgotten aspects of his life from hospital psychiatric reports, police and court records, and home movie footage. Twilight Psalm II: Walking Distance (1999) by Phil Solomon is an abstract, lyrical film stylistically described as "left over from the Bronze Age."

Presented as a site-specific sound installation, Meredith Monk’s Eclipse Variations is a wordless ensemble vocal piece comprised of a series of two-note intervals that are passed from singer to singer. Tracie Morris offers a sound presentation that will also be performed live. Morris will perform sound(e)scapes (2001), a series of emotive sound-based poems, on selected days (schedule TBA). Finally, William Pope.L will crawl the length of Manhattan on a skateboard wearing a Superman suit as part of The Great White Way (2001). Performances by Pope.L are scheduled to take place downtown on Sunday, March 17, 11:00 AM at the northwest corner of the Customs House (State & Whitehall Sts.), and Sunday, May 5, 11:00 AM at the southeast corner of Wall Street and Broadway. The starting points for the crawls are subject to conditions in the city. Please check our website www.creative-capital.org/whiteway for updates on these schedules.

About Creative Capital
Founded in January 1999, Creative Capital Foundation is a national nonprofit organization that supports individual artists pursuing innovative approaches to form and content in the fields of performing, visual, literary, and media arts, as well as in emerging arts fields. Creative Capital evolved as a response by philanthropists, arts professionals, artists, and business leaders to government cuts in funding to individual artists. Its model differs from those of traditional grantmakers in that the foundation commits to a long-term approach to working with artists. Artists in Creative Capital’s grant program have access to professional services, including assistance in fundraising, networking, marketing, and strategic planning. In addition, grantees agree to share with Creative Capital a small percentage of any profits made by the project.

Creative Capital Foundation currently supports 118 projects, with another 30 to 40 to be added in the spring. For more information on the funded projects and for the latest on the foundation’s activities, visit www.creative-capital.org.