Information Economy is the inaugural exhibition in DAC’s new home at 111 Front Street, suite 212. Throughout 2011 the theme of Economy will be explored at DAC in exhibitions, performances, workshops and talks.

Featuring work by:

Josh Blackwell Enid Baxter Blader Todd Bourret Gary Cannone Barbara Choit Charles Irvin Mary Jeys & Jesse Suchmann / Brooklyn Torch Jenelle Covino Lisa Hanawalt Chuck Jones Juie Lequin Jill Newman Brian O’Connell Bill Roundy Aeron Bergman & Alejandra Salinas Jen Schwarting Annie Shaw Jacob Weinstein

Information Economy is an exhibition of the variety of ways that artists manage information in their lives. Managing, encoding, and decoding the staggering amount of stimuli, tasks and demands in our lives takes immense time and resources. How do we economize these efforts? How is energy channeled and communication achieved in the most efficient means? The artists in Information Economy present different ways of approaching these questions in their artwork. Some attempt to develop strategies for simply dealing with the sheer volume of information in our lives, such as Gary Cannone’ and Charles Irvin’s carefully considered ultimate set-list for the band Foreigner; Barb Choit’s broadcasting of extremely localized time and temperature; Aeron Bergman and Alejandra Salinas tower of all the archival media of the artwork, and Chuck Jones’ hypnotic, frenzied video of all of the images he has downloaded over the past decade.

Others look at how to be efficient with their time and attention, including Jill Newman’s dual purpose curtain that is also a painting; Todd Bourret and Brian O’Connell’s list of materials needed for their upcoming show at DAC; and Julie Lequin’s video True Stories, in which she re-enacts the advice she has been given on how to manage her life.

Bill Roundy and Annie Shaw use their art almost as journalism: Shaw through re-purposing work-for-hire street flyers, Roundy in his comic-strip column “Bar Scrawl,” in which he patronizes and then reviews Brooklyn-area watering-holes. Similarly, Jen Schwarting’s cubicle-divider referencing sculpture looks into the boundaries of opportunity between politics and gender. Enid Baxter Blader also has an investigative bent, as she explores the residual energies left over from an abandoned Army base in her video “The Ord.”

An alternative to our existing economic system is proposed by Mary Jeys through her project to create a local currency, the Brooklyn Torch. Josh Blackwell is likewise looking to alter our experiences with everyday items, though rather than cash, he is re-purposing the common plastic bag. Blackwell will use the DAC gallery as a collection center for the bags, which will then be transformed into his artwork.

DAC will participate in the February 3, 2011 First Thursday gallery walk event.

Performances and Events:

January 22 at 6PM Ecstatic Energy Consultants, Inc. will commemorate Dumbo Arts Center’s new location (111 Front St.) and new director Karl Erickson by performing a House Blessing. EEC Inc.’s field agents Tom McKenzie and Steven L. Anderson will lead a participatory ceremony to sweep out old ghosts and usher in a positive, productive, new energy. The new era of Dumbo Arts Center begins now!

February 3 at 6:30PM Mary Jeys & Jesse Suchmann, creators of the Brooklyn Torch, a local currency initiative, will be holding a swap: gallery visitors are invited to bring an item or service for exchange either immediately, or later on through available vouchers. DAC will exhibit the ledger documenting these exchanges as part of Information Economy.

Feburary 13 from 6-9PM Original Cockette and archivist Rumi Missabu will present A Cocktail of Glamour and Anarchy.

February 16 from 7-9PM A conversation and film screening with Rumi Missabu, moderated by NYU Professor Joe E. Jeffreys, creator of Drag Show Verite. Films will include:

-PAG-THE LADY IS DEAD: director: Roy Raz 2010

- INTERIORS: director: David Riley 2010

- CHILDREN OF THE COCKETTES: director: Ben Wa (in progress)

- THE GLITTER EMERGENCY: director: Paul Festa 2010

- RUMI & FRANCOIS @ CLICK + DRAG: director: Joe E. Jeffreys 2010

March 6, time TBA A new rock opera by Rachel Mason.