Open Studio with Everything Is Collective
February 20 - March 1, 2020
Open studio reception: Thursday, February 20, 6-10pm
On February 20, CO-OPt Research + Projects presents works in progress by Everything Is Collective (E.I.C.). E.I.C. has been investigating the language and processes of Visual Resource Management (VRM), a system developed by the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to classify and categorize landscape and scenic qualities of public lands, ie. visual resources. The BLM uses VRM in environmental assessments to determine the visual value of a given landscape and to determine the impact of proposed developments on public lands.
E.I.C writes: "The system has numerous criteria for assessment and divides landscapes into several categories based on uniqueness of form, line, texture, harmony, and variety. The highest rated categories cannot be altered because they are deemed too visually valuable (beautiful) to change, the lowest categories can be changed dramatically because they are deemed of little to no visual value to the public (no one will miss them when they’re gone). Tellingly, the system takes into account how visible a land use project will be in a given landscape-- projects that are so distant, or so well hidden, that the general public is unlikely to notice them will be unrestrained by the regulations the system imposes. This shows that the system is most concerned with perception. Public perception. When the public perceives a landscape that is undisturbed and natural, it believes in a landscape that is undisturbed and natural."
Everything Is Collective Open Studio is the third in a series of short-term installations and exhibitions revolving around the theme of “Land” presented from January to March 2020 at CO-OPt Research + Projects. Further announcements about openings and other programming are forthcoming, but a tentative schedule is as follows:
Jan 15 - 28 – What Can We Make When We Can’t Make War?, a collaborative exhibition by J. Eric Simpson and Cody Arnall. Artist talk, moderated by Natalie Hegert, on January 23, 7pm.
Jan 31 – Feb 16 – Tumbleweed Rodeo, an installation by Sarah Aziz and Jack Craft
Feb 20 – Mar 1 – Visual Resource Management, works in progress by Everything Is Collective
Mar 7 – The True/False Suite, or, Ruse de Guerre, video, performance and installation by Caroline Doherty
About Everything Is Collective:
Everything Is Collective (E.I.C.) is an ongoing collaboration between three artists: Jason Lukas, Zachary Norman, and Aaron Hegert. Since 2013 the group has worked together on numerous exhibitions, publications, and web-based projects, all of which address contemporary issues in photography and image making. Our practice is truly collaborative, and all the works we create are attributed to the group as a whole. Because of the special nature of this collaboration, our projects do not conform to the traditional structures that photographic work often fits into, nor can our concepts be easily explained by a simple thematic text. We treat our collaboration as a microcosm, a space where the most contentious and exciting subjects in contemporary photography, art, and culture at large can be stripped away from the Grand Narratives to which they have been assigned, and be explored in a more intentional, devious, and uncompromising way.
