Installation

Antonio Muntadas was born in 1942, in Barcelona, Spain. He went to the University of Barcelona for undergraduate work, then received his MA from the Escuela Tecnica Superior Ingenieros Industriales in Barcelona. In 1971 he moved to New York and studied at Pratt Graphics Center. Muntadas is a media artist most interested in the investigation of the social and educational aspects of media.

During her graduate studies at Hunter College, Alice Aycock began to forge links between personal and more inclusive subject matter and form. In her quest for contemporary monuments, Aycock wrote her Master’s thesis on U.S. highway systems. Aycock’s large environmental sculptures create intense psychological atmospheres. Although she uses primitive rites and architecture as sources, her implementation of contemporary materials removes those specific connotations.

Blood and Guts in High School features actress Stephanie Vella in a series of video installations* that re-imagine punk-feminist icon Kathy Acker's book of the same title. The book received noteriety from 1978-1982 during the rise of Reagan republicanism and the emergence of punk rock. In Parnes' interpretation, each video-chapter presents a typical scene in the life of Janie bracketed by U.S. news events from the time period in which the book was written.

A documentary about Holt’s public installation work Dark Star Park in Arlington, Virginia, this video is about the process of developing and building the park. It includes commentary from the architects, contractors, foremen, and engineers who worked on the project, as well as with people who frequent the park. Holt transforms a site of urban blight into an aesthetically stimulating spot that addresses environmental issues.

Dennis Adams began as a painter, but by 18 he had become decidedly interested in relief space and then architectural space. By the time he was 20, Adams had become fascinated with family photographs and films. Adams was interested in the societal implications of images in general. A conceptual artist whose work includes photography, text, and installation, he is best known for his projects involving structures placed in urban bus shelters, uncompromisingly inserted into the public sphere.

Cai Guo-Qiang is a sculptor and installation artist who was born in China and trained in stage design at the Shanghai Drama Institute. He continued his training in Tokyo, where he lived from 1986 to 1995. His conceptual and installation work blend cultures and materials (including tea and gunpowder) to address political, spiritual, and social issues. He draws heavily on his native culture by incorporating herbal medicine, serpents, dragons, and Genghis Khan into his “fleeting” and site-specific works.

Judy Chicago is an artist, author, feminist, educator, and intellectual whose career now spans four decades. In 1974, Chicago turned her attention to the subject of women’s history to create her best known work, The Dinner Party, which was executed between 1974 and 1979 with the participation of hundreds of volunteers. This monumental multimedia project, a symbolic history of women in western civilization, has been seen by more than one million viewers during its 16 exhibitions held at venues spanning six countries.