CHRISTIAN HOLSTAD: FREE PLAY
Press Release
Art Production Fund, in association with PERFORMA 05, is pleased to present “Free Play”; an interactive jukebox sculpture by artist Christian Holstad. Holstad has previously worked with jukeboxes – altering their musical content and physical appearance for sublime results. For this project Holstad takes the idea a step further, designing a jukebox especially for the general public, and traveling it to spots ranging from a grand public plaza to neighborhood banks and local community centers.
The jukebox is essentially a self-portrait; where participants are invited into Holstad’s life through the free tunes, personal narratives, and other sounds he offers on vinyl. As with all of Holstad’s work, the art is communal, sourcing and reinterpreting culture in every sense. His materials are common - yarn, cloth, newspaper, found objects - and his methods are ordinary – he sews, knits, erases. The results are intense objects that somehow contain residue from all our lives; memories, emotions, desires, and experiences that have been crystallized for all to see.
Christian Holstad was born in Anaheim, California in 1972. He lives and works in New York. Selected exhibitions include: Greater New York, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, 2005, Beautiful Lies You could Live in, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, 2005, A Dark Room in Which to Stagger Sorrow, Whitney Biennial , New York, 2004.
APF is a non profit organization dedicated to facilitating ambitious projects by contemporary artists, reaching new audiences and expanding public participation and understanding of contemporary art. APF was co-founded in 2000 by Yvonne Force Villareal and Doreen Remen. Past projects include: SHOW, by Vanessa Beecroft, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC, 1998; FISCHERSPOONER: LA, performance, Los Angeles, 2001; Keith + Farrah, collaborative exhibition by Keith Edmier and Farrah Fawcett, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and The Andy Warhol Museum, 2003, and PLAN B, Rudolf Stingel summer 2004, Grand Central's Vanderbilt Hall and The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.
Free Play is presented as part of PERFORMA 05, the first biennial of visual art performance in New York City, which will take place November 3- 21, 2005, and include a multidisciplinary program of live visual art performances, film screenings, lectures, and exhibitions. PERFORMA 05 is organized by PERFORMA, a nonprofit organization committed to new visual art performance from around the world.
