Arts & Sciences PROJECTS is pleased to present Takako Oishi and Ryan Compton in Hypothesis Testing, the first in our series of Weekend Labs.

Hypothesis Testing is an opportunity for artists to present new ideas, works in progress, and pilot art projects in a publicly accessible venue designed to foster the progression, reformulation, and perhaps, outright rejection, of works in the formative stage of development. The goal of Hypothesis Testing is to provide artists an opportunity to emerge from hibernation to inject new data and new ideas into their creative endeavors.

Takako Oishi’s exhibit will feature video and photography from Moist and Tasty, a 10-minute video that explores the boundary between documentary and fiction. To test this boundary, Oishi had to “plan” the unpredictable and spontaneous. Instead of writing a script, she used various devices to prompt unscripted and yet “controlled” responses – both in the structure of the video itself and in the video’s participants. The source of the video’s organic growth is an American woman baking cookies – and discussing topics – of a sexual nature.

Ryan Compton will exhibit Sallie Mae + Campus Partners, a series of line drawings, each with 1000 lines on a 22×7 inch panel. Each unit will be a binary of one drawn line for each dollar owed in student loans. What begins as a series of drawings representing a personal debt becomes through multiple processes of interaction a critique of institutionalized debt burden, gallery structures and the art market, and ultimately an opportunity for composing culture.

Hypothesis Testing will be on display and open to the public for 2 weekends (Feb 19-20, and Feb 26-27). Artist Talks will be held 2-4pm on Sat., Feb 19th, providing an opportunity for dialogue with the general public about the works in progress.

Takako Oishi is a New York-based artist who works in video, photography, and performance. She has participated in solo and group shows in Kyoto, Tokyo, Vancouver, Mexico City, and New York. Currently an MFA candidate at Hunter College in New York, she received a B.F.A. from Kyoto University of Art and Design, in Kyoto, Japan.

Ryan Compton mixes cultural experiments with drawing, installation, and new media tools to explore context and conditioning within contemporary society. He has exhibited in group shows and projects at the Tate Modern, X Initiative, John Connelly Presents, White Box, and Foxy Production, and has been published in Vogue Nippon, Charley Independent, K48, Time Out New York, Friends and Friends of Friends, and White Ice Sherbet. Based in New York, Compton graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2003.