The Wassaic Project 2012 Summer Festival August 3-5, 2012 At the Maxon Mills + Luther Auction Barn 37 Furnace Bank Road, Wassaic, NY 12592

Wassaic, NY – July 10, 2012 – The Wassaic Project, an artist-run multidisciplinary arts organization located in a renovated mill in the hamlet of Wassaic, New York, is pleased to announce the fifth iteration of the Wassaic Project Summer Festival, a free multidisciplinary celebration of art, music, film, dance, and community from August 3-5, 2012. This year’s Festival features the Wassaic Project’s fifth annual summer exhibition, Return to Rattlesnake Mountain, curated by guest jurors Max Bode, Kat Cohn, Jessica Wallen, and Wassaic Project co-directors Eve Biddle, Bowie Zunino, and Jeff Barnett-Winsby. The Festival and Exhibition will bring together works by over 100 artists–including over fifty former Wassaic Project Artists in Residence–and will include live music by more than 20 bands, dance performances, film screenings, and much more.

The Wassaic Project’s annual Summer Festival and Exhibition are housed in historic buildings located in the small hamlet of Wassaic, NY, at the foot of Rattlesnake Mountain. The Wassaic Project aims to present art in a venue that challenges the white walls of traditional art spaces, focusing instead on site-sensitive installations and performances that encourage active dialogue. As visitors climb through the vertical levels of the Project’s historic wooden mill-cum-exhibition space, they are able to explore the work of over 100 emerging contemporary artists, whose bold and intricate installations, paintings, sculptures and videos respond beautifully to the unique architecture that houses them. In 2011 over 3,000 festivalgoers shared in the three-day celebration. The 2012 Summer Festival, which promises to be even bigger, offers a unique weekend-long opportunity for the general public, as well as artists of all media, to come together, exchange ideas, learn new things, and engage in a thriving arts community–free of cost.

Return to Rattlesnake Mountain is housed in the Maxon Mills, the Wassaic Project’s iconic seven-story grain elevator turned exhibition space. The polyvalent properties of the exhibition speak to the building’s unique architecture and to current movements in emerging art, and reflect the openness and diversity of the Wassaic Project community. From Cuppetelli and Mendoza’s interactive projections on the ground floor, to Jackie Mock’s Americana reliquary at the very top, the Milll is filled with dynamic and immersive art. Return to Rattlesnake Mountain features over fifty former Artists in Residence from the Wassaic Project’s competitive and innovative Artists Residency Program who have come from around the world to live and work in the shadow of Rattlesnake Mountain.

This year, participating visual artists include: Kelli Adams, Keighty Alexander, Eman Alshawaf, Man Bartlett, Curt Belshe & Lise Prown, Guy Ben-Ari, Alexander Bevington, Maximilian Bode, Josh Bricker, Joe Brittain, Robert Brush, Dan Carlson, Christian Chapman, Annica Cuppetelli & Cristobal Mendoza, Christopher Daniels, DISORIENTALISM, Brad Fesmire, Fisher/Leonard, Karen Flatow, Cecilia Fletcher, Patrick Gantert, Ghost of a Dream, Daniel Glendening, Kelly Goff, Jeila Gueramian, Libby Hartle, Homesteady, Brinton Jaecks, Anders Johnson, Laura Kaufman, Jen Kelly, Matthew C. Lange, Karl LaRocca a.k.a. Kayrock, Amanda Lechner, Eric LoPresti, Rob MacInnis, Evan Mann, Abby Manock, Ashley May, Andrea Mazzariello, Brendan McCarthy, Mollie McKinley, Jason Mitcham, Jackie Mock, Andrew D. Moeller, Terri L. Moore, Eliza Myrie, Lindsay Packer, Lorella Paleni, Lucy Davis Phillips, Sarah Nicole Phillips, Johanna Povrick-Znoy, Ida Rödén, Allyson Ross, Kristen Schiele, Emilie Selden, Nicholas Shepard, Millee Tibbs & Michael Woody, Amanda Tiller, Astrid Toha, Breanne Trammel, Ian Trask, Amanda Valdez, John Frederick Walker, Chloe Watson, Brindalyn Webster, Robin Williams, Alexandra Winsby, Jing Yu, and Alex Yudzon.

The Music lineup features over 20 bands, including headliners The Stepkids (featuring members of Alicia Keys’ band) and Avan Lava (featuring members of Fischerspooner) as well as The Suzan, Chrome Canyon, Bing Jing Ling, Falu (a featured musician at Lincoln Center as well as at President Obama’s first State dinner in 2009), Victoire, Friend Roulette, Beatie Wolfe, and Thieving Irons, among others. The film program, organized by the Wassaic Project’s Director of Film Programming Liliana Greenfield-Sanders, includes a selection of shorts, some premiering at Wassaic, and feature films, including Grainger David’s The Chair, which recently screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and won top prizes at First Run and SXSW, and A Brief History of John Baldessari by Henry Joost and Ariel Shulman, directors of the controversial documentary Catfish. The dance program, co-curated by Charmaine Warren (Harlem Stage, The Ailey School) and the Wassaic Project Dance Committee, features performances by Otis Cook and Alyssa Cassidy, Shandoah Goldman, Maré Hieronimus, Jenni Hong, Whitney Hunter, Freddie de Jesus, Toni Renee Johnson, and dancers from Earl Mosley’s Institute for the Arts. The performances will embrace the unique structure and environment of the Maxon Mills as the dancers interact with the art installations and audiences on the expansive renovated deck adjacent to the mill.

ABOUT THE WASSAIC PROJECT The Wassaic Project is an artist-run, sustainable, multidisciplinary arts organization that exists to strengthen local community by increasing social and cultural capital through inspiration, promotion and creation of contemporary visual and performing art and by providing an intimate and genuine context for art making and community building. We seek to make connections between artists of all disciplines and the public by utilizing our historic location to create new ways of working in the arts and to inspire new ways of seeing art. The Wassaic Project’s activities include an annual summer festival, a year-round artist residency, studio visits/critiques for artists involved with the organization by guest curators and visiting artists, artist workshops with community members, published catalogs, and fundraising exhibitions in Wassaic and New York City. Our programs intend to generate a dialogue and collaboration across geographic, ideological and disciplinary boundaries.

GETTING THERE: Maxon Mills and The Luther Barn are located within walking distance from Metro North’s Wassaic station. For schedules and fairs, visit the MTA’s website at http://mta.info/index.html.

CAMPING: Visitors are invited to camp at the Wassaic Project on the Luther Barn field. Tickets for the entire weekend can be purchased online in advance for $40 or onsite during the Festival for $60. No camping equipment will be provided.

For more information on The Wassaic Project Summer Festival, including program updates, visit www.wassaicproject.org/festival or contact [email protected]