BLITHE RILEY

Just returned from a very fruitful and challenging residency in a 1960’s housing estate in London with my collaborator Mary Coble.  We came home with two new video installation pieces, that we exhibited (as works in progress) last Saturday at a one day celebratory event called The Market Estate Project.

Here is our residency statement from our time there, and a few stills of the soon to be finished pieces. A complete record of our time in London is on our blog at http://coblerileyprojects.com

Coble/Riley Projects Market Estate Residency Statement

We came to London live on the Market Estate for two weeks and work site-specifically. In our collaboration, we approach a site as a place in which to move through and to house action. Our work together results in video installation pieces that are framed around a performative actions.

When we arrived at Market Estate,  we were immediately surprised by how my residents were still living on the estate. As artists this was ethically challenging for us, and informed our decision to work outside the estate as opposed to inside the flats. Living on the estate made us conscious of the interior flats as private spaces, and we found ourselves more interested in the construction of the building itself, and what was left behind as people moved out. Both of these pieces are Works In Progress. The final edits will be fine tuned when we return home.

Corridor
approx. 4 min (single channel or loop)
On our first day here we set up an outdoor tea station and sat down with residents and neighbors to chat about life here on the estate. With the exception of the local teenagers, most people seemed excited to leave and that the building was being torn down. Many neighbors talked about being scared walking by the building, that they would walk fast or cross the street. One resident said that it was simply just not safe here. We were interested in this idea of the estate as producing a condition of fear, and that fear often being invisible or generated from something that may or may not happen. While we don’t deny that violence was prevalent, we are also aware of the role stigma played in contributing to the living conditions on the estate. This piece explores the dynamic between what is invisible and tangible fear.

Pile (working title)
three channel looping installation (30 minute per cycle)

During our time here we have quietly witnessed the last remaining residents move out of the building. With each move, new piles accumulate in the hallways of the things that have been left behind. Initially we looked at the piles for some clue into the lives of the residents, but quickly realized that discarded items tell very little about the lives and history of the place.

We came to look at the piles as artifacts of this soon to be demolished estate that failed to successfully house its residents safely and securely. These are records of failure. The people we have talked to have many different ideas for why this place failed— the stigma, its poor upkeep, the residents, the building design. Regardless of the reasons, the fact remains that despite the high expectations for this place when it was built, it did fail. Our piece is a meditation on this failure in this odd moment in the buildings history.

Wednesday, March 3rd, 6pm – 9pm, and Saturday, March 6th, 7pm – 10pm
BronxArtSpace at 305 E. 140th St., #1A, Bronx NY 10454.
Live performances, experimental film, and visual art. The event will be free (donations accepted). The Synthetic Zero loft events will be part of the Bronx Culture Trolley.

Performances:
Jessica Danser/dansfolk – “The Opposite of War” – dance (only on Saturday)
Elizabeth Glushko – music
Jane Hsu and others – performance

Experimental Film:
Jeremy Newman – “Domestic Rhythms” – Mt. Laurel, NJ
Laura Migliorino – “Sprawl” – Minneapolis, MN
Damali Abrams – “Walking With Linda Montano” – Queens, NY
Lee Young Joo – “She Smiled at Me” – Frankfurt, Germany
Kate Balsley – “Autumn” – Brown Deer, WI
Holly Bynoe – “Boogieman” – Cliffside Park, NJ
Blithe Riley and Mary Coble – “Ascension / Immersion” – New York, NY
Yaron Lapid – “Casual Mechanisms” – Israel

Visual Art:
Yousuke Sasaki – drawings
Erik Sanner – installation
Akinori Towma – paintings
Annalisa Iadicicco – installation
Chris Riggs and Betty T Kao – paintings

February 6th, 2010: Fundraiser & Video Screening at Red Dirt Studios in Washington DC
February 19th-March 7th: Market Estate Project in London, UK

April 16-23rd: Residency at Institute for Electronic Art, Alfred Univerity

August 21st- December 31st 2010: Residency at Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ

New blog to host collaborations with Mary Coble! http://coblerileyprojects.com

Soup/Art/Beer: Community Soup Supports Artists Making New Art by Elizabeth Ward

1/26/09
Mary Coble is not what you would call an artist born of convention. Of course, not many artists are. She is an enthusiastic, uninhibited, lovely individual who seems to always be thinking, “Why not?”

When I met Coble, I was captured by her dedicated vigor and spontaneity of thought. As Red Dirt Studio’s newest artist in residence in Mt. Rainier, MD, she is already making big plans.

On Saturday, February 6, Coble and her artistic collaborator from New York City, Blithe Riley, are hosting a fundraising event called Soup / Art / Beer at Red Dirt Studios. While this event is indeed a fundraiser for Coble and Riley’s next collaborative project in London, the true heart of the event is in its ability to bring a community together for art’s sake. As Coble states, “Of course the fundraising part is exciting, but bringing together a community of people to eat and talk is even more exciting.”

The duo has been invited to participate in the Market Estate Project, an event transforming 100 empty flats in a 1960s housing estate in London into an art production site and exhibition arena prior to its slated demolition. They will live and work at the site, which is a mostly vacant complex, for two weeks in late February.

Their project consists of modifying a section of the housing complex into a kind of set, that they will then use to create a series of performances for video. These video performances will then project back into the space, transforming the space once again through a multi-channel video installation. They are intent on working on this project spontaneously – “responding to the environment and its history as a housing project, its current state as an empty relic, and its future as a vacant demolished lot.”

The only problem left unanswered in this exciting new project? How to get to London.

Thus, Soup / Art / Beer.

As Coble explains, the idea for the community soup came from an experience she had while at a residency in Skowhegan, Maine this past summer, where she met Blithe Riley. Riley organized an online auction and dance party to raise money for her dental bills that she sustained from a horrible bike accident. Like many artists, she didn’t have dental insurance to help, but the creativity and cooperative spirit of the event inspired the community to raise over half of her total bill.

“The ability to do this for ourselves and hopefully, eventually, for others is extremely empowering!” says Coble.

This fundraiser is more than a “fundraiser” as we see at galas, events, performances, and the like. Instead, it is a community vehicle to raise awareness about the lack of funding and support for U.S. artists creating new work. With this obstacle facing new work, how can we expect for opportunities to be fulfilled unless we can come together and help one another out in cool, new ways like bringing onions and carrots for soup parties?

Soup / Art / Beer will include soup, beer, a presentation and screening of Coble and Riley’s London project, and a raffle. People are encouraged to bring $10 and their favorite soup ingredients for all-you-can-eat-and-drink conversation and food-cutting community fun. Glut Food Co-op is generously donating much of the soup ingredients, and kegs will be provided.

Soup making begins at 3pm. A short video screening and presentation will happen at 5:30pm & 8pm. At 11pm, Coble claims all the kegs must be kicked.

Red Dirt Studios is located at 3706-08 Otis Street, Mt. Rainier, MD 20712.

For questions, contact Mary Coble at mary.coble@gmail.com

Come to the benefit in DC to support my new project in London, a collaboration with Mary Coble!

If you can’t come, please consider donating $10 online

SOUP | ART | BEER

Red Dirt Studio 2/6/10
Soup and Beer to HELP FUND NEW WORK

DC Artists and Arts Lovers Unite!
Mary Coble and Blithe Riley invite you to eat, drink, and be merry at a community event at Red Dirt Studio in Mt. Ranier, MD. Proceeds from this event will help Coble and Riley complete their next collaborative project in London!

Coble (DC) and Riley (NYC) were invited to London to create a new piece at The Market Estate Project, an event transforming 100 empty flats in a 1960s housing estate in London into an art production site and exhibition arena, right before its slated demolition. They will live and work as site in this mostly vacant complex for two weeks in late February.

What: Soup, Beer, Presentation & Screening, Raffle, & Good People
Where: Red Dirt Studio: 3706-08 Otis Street, Mt. Rainier, MD 20712
When: 3pm – 11pm
How Much: $10 all you can drink + soup is free (what a bargain!)

Preserve/ Persevere, Gouache & Pen on Paper, 2010

Preserve/ Persevere (detail)


Spell, Watercolor & Pen on Paper, 2010

Happy New Year!
Exciting prospects ahead!
• Heading to London mid February for the Market Estate Project, collaboration with Mary Coble
• Spring Residency at Institute for Electronic Arts at Alfred University

Buy some art!

I just finished a residency at Experimental Television Center, and made a lot of progress on my current project, The Edna Experiments.

November 14th I’m participating in SkowheganWALKS GOWANUS STUDIO TOUR.

Featuring the studios of Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture Alumni:
Vera Iliatova (‘04)
Christian Maychack (‘08)
Stephanie Diamond (‘00)
Blithe Riley (‘09)

Located on Gowanus, Brooklyn
Free

email for detailed information and to RSVP mail@skowheganart.org

I have finally settled on a final version…

This video is part of a series of works I’ve been doing around regulatory systems that dictate daily life. In this piece four states of the weather become the basis for a orated wordplay/gameshow of associative emotions.