DAVID COLMAN: P3STUDIO
Press Release
DAVID COLMAN
SANTA CONFESSIONAL
February 12 – March 8, 2015
Hours: Wednesday – Sunday | 6 – 11PM
P3Studio
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
3708 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in partnership with Art Production Fund, is pleased to announce artist-in-residence David Colman. During Colman’s residency, guests will have the opportunity to participate in his interactive P3Studio installation, Santa Confessional. Originally staged in 2013 for Art Basel Miami’s exhibition, Social Animals, the work was extremely popular, engaging adults and children alike with its playful exploration of the tension between public and private actions and spaces.
Combining the department store Santa installations of youth with the religious practice of confession, Colman’s piece invites guests to enter an open-air confessional booth for an ironically public confession with Santa. The style and set-up of the booth offers passing guests the opportunity to observe and become participants themselves should they choose to get close enough to eavesdrop on Santa and the confessor.
Drawing on the ancient practice of the Catholic Church—the selling of indulgences as way to get out of Purgatory—the Santa Confessional also sells indulgences. Upon entering the studio, guests are greeted by an elf who gives them a special bill designed by currency artist, Mark Wagner. Once guests have confessed, they can use the bill to buy an indulgence from Santa. Along with a ceremonious kiss on the forehead, a pair of small gold magnets is fastened to the guest’s lapel, a lasting symbol of the visit and indication of its end.
David Colman is an artist, writer, curator, inventor and cultural theorist. Playful and engaging, his work addresses the social and aesthetic role that art plays in society and in the lives of individuals. His performance work has been put on by The Public Art Fund in New York and featured at Art Basel Miami. With his partner, Visionaire editor Cecilia Dean, he co-curated MOVE!, a participatory art-fashion performance at MoMA PS1 in New York and later at SESC in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A longtime contributor to The New York Times, his writing has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, Vogue and Artforum.
The artist-in-residence program at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas represents one component of its larger art program, in which artists create projects that are interactive and participatory, giving guests the opportunity to connect at an authentic and personal level. Developed and curated in partnership with Art Production Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to producing ambitious public art projects, it strives to reach new audiences and expand awareness through contemporary art.
