With Everything but the Monkey Head:
Theorizing Art’s Untheorizable Practices
Iteration V: Christian Smith (August 1 – 6, 2016)
Finissage: Saturday, August 6, 2016, 6 – 8 pm
The Institute of Cultural Inquiry (ICI) is pleased to announce the launch of With Everything but the Monkey Head: Theorizing Art’s Untheorizable Practices, a major project centered on the burgeoning field of studio-based research in the visual arts. This project will be a long-term collaboration with a host of diverse participants including nine researchers who have participated in some sort of visual research at the ICI; a set of specially selected interlocutors whose questions will help construct and strengthen the ideas central to each researcher’s project; and the curious spectators who bring discussion and debate to public exchanges.
The fifth iteration of the project will feature Christian Smith, a 2011 participant in the ICI’s 100/10 project. Smith returns to the ICI for an intense one-week mini residency during which time he’ll share his thoughts about his own research practices while collaborating with the ICI to build a treatise on the organization’s own visual research endeavors. His stay will culminate in a finissage on August 6, 2016 during which time he’ll share his ideas with the public.
During his residency, Smith will explore the role of materials and technique when setting research parameters. Utilizing antiquated wet-plate photography processes in a portable darkroom he’s built for this project, Smith aims to capture new environments in old ways as he continues to build his experimental, alternative map of Los Angeles.
Each iteration of With Everything but the Monkey Head will be accompanied with a unique laboratory workbook created by the researcher over the course of their short residency. In addition, each researcher will contribute to the project’s catalog, which is being produced to emulate late 19th century ‘sample’ books used by traveling salesmen, books whose form lends itself to an idea that is still unfolding.
All parts of the project can be followed on the ICI’s website. The construction of the lab books and the catalog will be charted on ISSUU where finished publications will be offered to the public through the print on demand service of ICI Press.
A PDF version of the press release for this iteration of the projects can be downloaded here.
