Pompeii 2079, Relics and Possibility
Schnake's traveling project Pompeii 2079, Relics and Possibility stages a hypothetical interactive experience looking backward and forward from the year 2079. Using the ancient city of Pompeii and cement as metaphors for seeing and thinking about our world, Schnake uses cement, first made with lime and volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius during the Roman empire to examine the terrain between science and art.
The Reynolds Gallery presents MobileIntent: Pompeii 2079, Relics and Possibility featuring sculptural works and an interactive installation by Northern California artist Ann Schnake, on view October 31 through November 28, 2016. Gallery reception and presentation by the artist, Thursday November 17, 6:00 - 8:00 pm in Room 209, Jeannette Powell Art Center. The public is invited to this free event.
Schnake's traveling project Pompeii 2079, Relics and Possibility stages a hypothetical interactive experience looking backward and forward from the year 2079. In this exhibition, fragments of a 21st-century carbonized world are cast in cement. Using the ancient city of Pompeii and cement as metaphors for seeing and thinking about our world, Schnake uses cement, first made with lime and volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius during the Roman empire (the "fixative" that froze the ancient city of Pompeii, Italy in 79 AD) to examine the terrain between science and art: "what does a carbonized globe mean in both geophysical and poetic terms? Schnake uses cement's historical significance to explore our current global and ecological challenges. Pompeii's citizens anticipated the volcano's eruption but did not understand its devastating power or the consequences. Pompeii 2079 asks the visitor how we might consider our current dilemma with a carbon intensive environment against the span of history and how we might reimagine our future around resource conservation and social cooperation.
About the Artist
Ann Schnake, lead artist of MobileInTent, is a social practice and visual artist who builds installations and sculptural works activating objects, space and inventions for failing economic and ecologic systems. Her visual and performative works are exhibited locally and internationally in art venues and in unexpected locations, from gallery to hospital to tent. Often though, Schnake is ringleader of collective endeavors: MobileInTent (2012-16); Odd Sunday Dinners, curated meals and conversations (2010-14); Traveling Medicine Show and Empanada Stand, guest artist at dOCUMENTA(13) Germany (2012): ArtsChange, exhibitions, performances and social dialogue in public sites in Richmond, CA (1996-2011); the Bosnian Youth Art Workshop in East Oakland (2005-8). She is also a nurse and often collaborates with other body workers, and artists.
Visit www.annschnake.com for more information about the artist.
Contact Us
Jeannette Powell Art Center
University of the Pacific
3601 Pacific Ave.
Stockton CA 95211
