Megan Wilson, Home 1996 - 2008, synecdoche at home! curated by Maw Shein Win, 2008

CURATED EVENTS

Home 1996 – 2008 was a site-specific installation/environment that utilized the interior space of Wilson’s home to explore and challenge notions of comfort and protection, private and public, and the boundaries between art/life/architecture/ design. The title is a bit of misnomer because Wilson began working on the project in 2004 (the dates reflect the years that she lived at the residence).

As Part of Home 1996-2008 Wilson hosted a series of curated events. These included:

synecdoche at home! curated by Maw Shein Win
November 21, 2008 
emcee for the eve: Lael Gold 
readings by Carolyn Miller, Jenny Bitner and Maw Shein Win
musical performances by Nathaniel Parsons and Matt Wolka 
photos by Lissa Ivy Tiegel

Screening of Mr. Gary on the Feedback Show by Lise Swenson 
November 13, 2008 

Home 1996-2008 inspired media installation artist and filmmaker Lise Swenson to write, and shoot on site of the installation,  a short experimental film,  Mr. Gary on the Feedback Show.  The film takes Wilson's ideas and explores them through the fictional perspective of a self-content shut in. What is external in Wilson's installation is internal in Swenson's film. 

Mr. Gary  was also projected from dusk 'til dawn on November 13th, 21st and 28th from the second story windows of Home 1996-2008 in conjunction with Eliza Barrios' projection series.  

Focus Group: Jeff Foye & Gordon Winiemko 
November 7, 2008 

In the summer of 2008 Jeff and Gordon were approached by a progressive arts organization to participate in a series about "participation in the political process." 

Their response was to emulate one of the most ubiquitous forums for participation our society has to offer the ‘focus group’. 

So they staged performative question and answer sessions first with the staff of the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, then with friends and colleagues of the artist Kim Abeles, and finally with friends and colleagues of their sponsor org. 

synecdoche at home! curated by Maw Shein Win

Screening of Mr. Gary on the Feedback Show by Lise Swenson 
November 13, 2008 

The effect of viewing Mr. Gary on the Feedback Show within the installation is an extraordinary physiological and visceral experience; akin perhaps to entering the psyche of the protagonist. 

Lise Swenson 1959 - 2016

I wrote this in 2016, soon after Lise had passed:

To my dear, beloved friend Lise Swenson:

Lise, 
I still can’t believe that this has happened / is happening. You’ve been heavily on my mind since I learned that you had gone into hospice. I hear your voice - most often it’s you leaving a message on my voice mail: “Hi Megan, it’s Lise (pause), uhhhhh (pause), can you give me a call?” your voice is quiet and you sound vulnerable … or I hear your laugh and yelling “Buy. Sell. Buy. Sell … Someone get me a technician! Damn it!” from the footage of your performance “The Emperor Has No Clothes” during Art Strike’s Back! I see you too – you’re almost always smiling with that big mischievous grin and you look healthy, beautiful, glowing. Like you just came from working out. I was always so impressed with your commitment to go to the gym. Those are the flashes that come to me.

Then there are the deeper memories … 
Your great charm and passion – you were always able to rally people to get behind whatever project or movement you were spearheading … and we all would get swept up in the magic of your vision, like there was nothing else more important or worthy of pouring our energies into. Even more admirable to me was your integrity, and this is where I feel like we really bonded. No matter how much criticism you sometimes received from the status quo, you never waivered in your vision. You stayed true to yourself and your work. You were a kindred spirit, who regardless of my own criticisms of your work over the years, I loved the fact that it was more important to you to follow what you believed in rather than bend to meet someone else’s expectations. You were the embodiment of integrity.

Our TILT retreats – you, me, Anita Chang, Kara Hearn, and Jenee Gill meeting at your place – first on Valencia and later on Vermont - talking and imagining how we saw the dream that you had initially envisioned developing and expanding. The storage closet/ window space at ATA that sometimes FOUR of us would be working in at once, along with all TILT’s equipment. Our meetings with Goodman 2, then the 9th Street folks … You and me arguing about capacity and vision versus reality. You always dreamed so big. It was one of the things I loved about you; except when I hated it when we were working together and I always had to be the downer: “Lise, we just can’t do this, it’s not feasible, we don’t have the money.” You’d pause, and then repeat exactly what I’d said we couldn’t do by rephrasing it. And we’d go on and on and on like that until one of us would finally have to go. Somehow it all worked out and TILT is just one of your amazing legacies.

Art Strike’s Back – ALL ACTION! NO MEETINGS! In spite of those beginnings of the hell that has continued to grow from that first dotcom boom in 2000, we had so much fun that summer … it was A LOT of work and we definitely had our moments, but overall, we had so many wonderful experiences together that year – I’m happy that I did get the opportunity to apologize and tell you 14 years later in 2014 that you were 100% right about the toxicity of that person who will remain unnamed and who drove a wedge between you and I for a second – you were right, so right. And we stayed pretty true to our mantra with only two meetings … the apostrophe is back too :D

Mr. Gary On The Feedback Show – you came over for dinner and decided that you had to do a movie using my “Home” installation as the set. I loved this. I was so honored that you were that moved by my work that you wanted to make it part of your work – and to create a short film using the space as a launching point. As always, I loved the crew of amazing and interesting people that brought into my life, and now into my home. Those two weeks of filming onsite in July 2007 was a challenging time for me as I was struggling with my father’s imminent death, heavily medicating myself with alcohol, while also preparing to leave for a 5-week artist residency in the Philippines two days after you finished shooting. I was crazed and crazy, yet you handled it with grace and graciousness.

And I feel especially blessed that we did have the opportunity to spend some significant time together in 2014, sharing our stories, our challenges, and our successes.

I love you Lise, and that’s all I got.

Focus Group: Jeff Foye & Gordon Winiemko 

On November 7th, just three days after a victory of progressive, grass roots politics, Jeff and Gordon regaled invited guests with their findings. 

Presented in the form of an equally performative multimedia presentation, those findings amounted to nothing less than a playful examination of the progressive arts ethic itself.