State of the Art/Art of the State

Organized by the Cameron Art Museum, this exhibition focuses on contemporary art by artists currently living in, or native to, the state of North Carolina. Artists are invited to bring a single work of art to be installed in the museum, delivering the work within a 24-hour period (between 5:00 pm Friday, May 6 and 5:00 pm Saturday, May 7, 2011). During this timeframe, one of three internationally renowned curators will be present to greet each artist, shake his/her hand – and direct the exhibition installation. All three curators will attend the exhibition opening on Saturday May 7, 2011 from 6:00-9:00 pm.

The design of this project provides any participating artist equal opportunity to meet a significant curator working in the field of contemporary art today and have their work seen by all three visiting curators. The curators for this event are Susan Davidson, Senior Curator, Collections & Exhibitions at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and Nicholas Cullinan, Curator at the Tate Modern, London.

This event pays homage to the open, creative curatorial spirit of the late art world maverick, Walter Hopps (1932-2005). In 1978, responding to a comment from his junior colleague, Deborah Velders (Jensen) about the problems artists face gaining access to notable curators, Walter Hopps conceived an entirely open, unmediated event to remedy the situation. His program invited any artist to bring a single work of art, to meet Hopps, and see installation of work. This event called “36 Hours” occurred in a gritty, street-level alternative space called MOTA (Museum of Temporary Art), located in downtown Washington, D.C. There was no jurying, no selection (or rejection), and no entry fee. The only restrictions were size (work needed to fit through the door), weight (regarding transporting/placing and support capacity), and the delivery time frame (36 hours). This unprecedented opportunity for artists was covered by the Washington Post, and attracted over 400 works of art, all by artists living and working in the Washington, D.C. area.