Organized by Jenny Moore

Elizabeth Dee Gallery announces Carte Blanche, a month long program in two parts that provides intellectual stimulation and refreshing respite from the lazy, hazy days of August.

Part One-from August 2 through August 10-will feature a wide spectrum of video programs curated by gallery artists, the gallery director, guest artists, or guest curator. Each day a different program will be presented in the front gallery, while Aldir Mendes de Souza’s groundbreaking experimental film Suicidio Brasileira will be presented in the second gallery. Shot entirely in x-ray, de Souza’s film was a hallmark of the 1971 Bienal de Sao Paulo and has only been shown twice before in the United States.

Highlights of Part One include

• Alex Bag’s Fancy Pants, an expose on an underground dance troop
• Rare interviews of art world celebrities living and working in New York in 1970 by Art Club 2000, a collective founded in 1992 by gallerist Colin de Land with seven students from Cooper Union
• Erika Vogt’s engagements with space, sound, and the video medium
• Cecilia Alemani’s program featuring work by Rä Di Martino, Rosa Barba, Marinella Senatore, and ZimmerFrei whose individual videos explore subjects ranging from historical events and geological shifts to musical forms and evocative journeys
• Harry Dodge and Stanya Kahn’s videos of social outcasts and imaginary communities that reveal post-modern psychological conditions
• Ronnie Bass’ take on classic Q&A film formats, including interviews and videos by John Miller in collaboration with Richard Hoeck, Adam Putnam, Dana Hoey, Fionn Meade, Michael Smith, and Leonid Tsvetkov with surprise guest appearances.
• Liz Wendelbo’s investigations into the physics of photography, the alchemy of color, and the allure of sound

Part One will close with a sound performance by Xeno & Oaklander and Grey Hour, Friday, August 10th at 6:30pm.

The division between the two sections of Carte Blanche will be marked by an improvisational dance performance by Felicia Ballos and Flora Wiegman. Staged in the midst of demolishing the exhibition format of Part One and constructing the setting for Part Two, the performance takes inspiration from the actions performed by the gallery workers, with each dancer creating her movements in response.

Part Two-from August 15 through August 24-will feature Tom Marioni’s seminal conceptual work The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest Form of Art. A revelation in conceptual art and a precursor to the relation aesthetics movement of the 1990’s .Beer with Friends.recasts the social space of the gallery as a place for the exchange of ideas and the enjoyment of beer. Every evening at 6:30pm.Beer with Friends. will serve as the setting for lectures presented by a select group of artists, art historians, and art theorists, whose aim is to broaden our minds through intellectual rigor and humor.

Highlights of Part Two include

• Drew Heitzler’s historical accounting of artist run bars

• A special activity with Kevin Landers

• Amy Gartrell and Patterson Beckwith’s “cheap beer” tasting test panel discussion

• Peggy Reynolds’ examination of time, scale, and subjectivity in an age of infinite fear and the role art plays in this condition

• Alexander Dumbadze’s lunchtime lecture featuring a formal analysis of Artforum.com’s Scene & Herd diary and evening lecture presenting the most notable failures in contemporary art

• A brief history of visual poetry from Mallarme and Apollinaire to the International Concrete Poetry Movement, presented by Erica Funkhouser and Justin Beal, with consideration of the text-based work of artists such as Marcel Broothaers, Dieter Roth, Carl Andre, Guy de Cointet and others

On Friday August 24th, we are honored to celebrate the closing of Carte Blanche with a lecture by Tom Marioni, recounting the history of The Act of Drinking Beer with Friends is the Highest Form of Art.