Hudson (Show)Room Exhibition: Teresa Hubbard/Alexander Birchler

Teresa Hubbard/Alexander Birchler
10.16.02

About the Artists and Exhibition
ArtPace presents American and Swiss artists Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler in the Hudson (Show)Room, opening on Thursday, October 17, 2002. The exhibition features their acclaimed video Eight and new photographs from the series County Line Road.

Eight, a large-scale video installation shot in Austin, Texas, revolves around a young girl attempting to salvage a piece of cake from her rained-out birthday party. The looping video is shot from a single point of view with one camera, which functions as a steady, traveling eye. Similarly, the narrative is structured as a Möbius strip: beginning and ending seamlessly blend into each other to create a continuous cycle of disappointment, desire, and determination. Constant throughout this sequence is the driving sound of falling rain.

Hubbard and Birchler use filmic and literary references to develop uncanny narratives of disconnection. Their work is simultaneously unsettling and affirming: we recognize the sense, the mood—almost. The disruption of the familiar, the unexpected, lends a melancholic quality to the work. Typical to their work is the disconcerting treatment of architecture that seems to parallel psychological notions of comforts and vulnerability. In Eight, the sense of inside and outside is interlaced and the appearance of real shelter continually shifts throughout the video.

In addition to Eight ArtPace will debut Hubbard and Birchler's newest photographic work, County Line Road, that further explores architecture and perspective while continuing to blur the metaphorical and physical boundaries between exterior and interior space. The photographs were shot in Elgin, Texas in July 2002, during production of the upcoming video, Single Wide. Framing precise views, which alternate between interior and exterior perspectives, the artists juxtapose images of a kitchen in a trailer home and a woman sitting behind the wheel of a pickup truck. At one point, these two places intersect and collide with each other.

Previously based in Berlin, Germany, the American/Swiss collaborative artist couple Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler reside in Austin, Texas. Hubbard was born in Dublin, Ireland, received her MFA from Yale University School of Art, MFA Sculpture Program and her MFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax. Hubbard is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Texas at Austin. Birchler was born in Baden, Switzerland. He studied at Schule für Gestaltung, Basel and the University of Art and Design, Helsinki and received his MFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax. A major solo exhibition of their work is traveling to the following locations: Museen Haus Lange/Haus Esters, Krefeld; huis Marseille, Foundation for Photography, Amsterdam; Kunstverein St. Gallen Kunstmuseum; and Kunsthalle zu Kiel. The artist team was recently featured in 22 to Watch, New Art in Austin, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, Texas and in Out of Place: Contemporary Art and the Art of the Uncanny, at the MCA, Chicago, IL.

Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler will be on exhibit from October 17 through December 29, 2002 in the Hudson (Show)Room. Join us for the opening reception on Thursday, October 17, 2002 from 6:30-8:00 PM; gallery walk-through with the artists at 7:00 PM.

Acknowledgements
Eight (2002)

Cast
Girl in the rain Anna Reyes

Crew
written and directed Teresa Hubbard/Alexander Birchler
director of photography Ian Ellis
producer Ken Lewin, Nifty Pictures
executive producers Teresa Hubbard/Alexander Birchler
production coordinator Jacquelyn Lawrence
1st assistant camera Theda Cunningham
gaffer Charles Seligmann
best boy electric Wilson M. Waggoner
key grip Bob Lewallen
dolly grip Buz Maloy
swing grip / electric Jeremy Sartori
special effects coordinator Randy Moore
special effects technician Dennis Monk
still photographer Shaune Kolber
sound recordist Ethan Andrus
production assistants Mary Ann Hubbard
Pete Gonzales
carpenter Andy McCauley
hair / makeup Barbara Jean Whitbeck
costume Kari Perkins
catering Big Box Foods
editing facilities The Post Group, Los Angeles
audio studio Digital Domain, Austin

Special Thanks to: Center for Advanced Studies in the Arts (CASA)
College of Fine Arts (COFA), University of Texas at Austin
Susan Crites
Judy Reyes

Single Wide (2002)

still photographer Jennifer D. Small

About ArtPace
ArtPace, A Foundation for Contemporary Art | San Antonio serves as an advocate for contemporary art and as a catalyst for the creation of significant art projects. We seek to nurture emerging and established artists and to provide opportunities for inspiration, experimentation and education. Through our International Artist-in-Residence Program, we invite 9 artists annually to participate in a 2-month residency which supports the evolution of new ideas in art. Our broad range of panels, lectures, artist talks and studio visits cultivates diverse audiences for contemporary art and provides a forum for ongoing dialogue.

ArtPace is located downtown at 445 N. Main Avenue, between Savings and Martin streets, San Antonio, TX. Free parking is available on the corner of Savings and Flores streets. ArtPace is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, 12-5 PM, Thursday, 12-8 PM, and by appointment. Admission is free.

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org