“There is another world, but it is in this one,” said Surrealist poet Paul Éluard. In this exhibition, artists look to the future, imagining how we move forward from the tumultuous events of the past year. [read more]
Art in the Plague Year is an online exhibition organized by UCR ARTS: California Museum of Photography and curated by Douglas McCulloh, Nikolay Maslov, and Rita Sobreiro Souther. UCR ARTS’s programs are supported by UCR College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, the City of Riverside, Altura Credit Union, and Anheuser-Busch.
All works in this exhibition are reproduced with permission of the artists/copyright holders. Works (images, video, audio or other content) must not be used or reproduced for any purposes other than fair use without prior consent of the artists.
United Catalysts (Kim Garrison and Steve Radosevich)
Kim Garrison (b. 1974, Orange, CA. Lives and works in Southern California and Nevada)
Steve Radosevich (b. 1962, Encino, CA. Lives and works in Southern California and Nevada)
Psychic Protectors
“Some of the old ways aren’t working anymore,” states United Catalysts. “We must create new systems of operating. To do that we must internalize what is happening to us, ground ourselves in it, and look for creative solutions. Rituals are an effective way to do this; they are transformative precisely because they combine a physical action, through assigned symbolism, with an intention for change. They make our reactions to the challenges we face more hopeful. And they put us in a sacred space when we set about fixing things, one tiny piece at a time.”
Psychic Protectors documents two rituals the collaborative team has performed for many years and which have accelerated in this year of plague: altering the “Mystery Ranch” studio in the Eastern Mojave and inking the Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary. The studio upkeep is part ritual, part repair. The devotional dictionary inking focuses on “choosing what seems important, a meditation on seeking and finding knowledge.” Results of the two ritual actions are presented together in photo collages. The goal is to move forward in an era of confused crisis. “At times we are at a loss of what to do. But each day we can do a little something; we maybe can’t affect the entire system in a meaningful way, but we can affect our own microcosm of it, and our own understanding of it.”
