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"Before the 19th century, paper was made with rag. With the rise of capitalism, paper was made with wood pulp, whose acidity eventually leads to its disintegration (nature's revenge for the loss of so many trees?) Now, through a new technology, this can be halted, albeit through a painfully slow process involving each book's deacidification in a vat. Paradoxically, contemporary books, which are printed, on acid-free paper are using unstable inks. In the future, we will be faced with pages of healthy whiteness, but devoid of the contaminating text.
The Reading Room reminds us that although perceived threats can be fought against and perhaps vanquished by new technology, they are only precursors to the next level of danger. Our determination to preserve only the material of life and not its essence will ensure the catastrophe to come. The two of us have been concerned with "threat" and its philosophical multiplicity of meanings for more than a decade. We like to examine the connections between the archaic (ur-forms) and the modern technologies."
-- Michael Piazza and Bertha Husband
Michael Piazza holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago. His collaborations with disabled artists at the Art Center at Little City Foundation, with resident youth at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center and a local community in St. Louis have shaped his site-specific installations and assemblages. Mr. Piazza has exhibited at Beret International, De Paul University Art Gallery, and Temporary Services in Chicago, Gallery 210 in St. Louis, Sculpture in Chicago-The Next Generation, University of Illinois at Chicago, BiblioVertigo, Northern Illinois Univeristy Art Museum, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, IL; Youth and Technology: a collaboration with CCJTDC, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York and many others.
Bertha Husband was born in Argyll, Scotland in 1948. She received an MFA in painting from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 1973. A well-published art historian and critic, Husband has been involved in theatrical and filmatic projects as well. She has participated in a myriad of group and solo exhibitions, both in the United States and abroad.
READING ROOM 978
paralipomena: Michael Piazza and Bertha Husband
Opening Friday, December 5, 2003
6pm-10pm
December 5 - January 2, 2004
Polvo Art Studio
1458 W. 18th St 2F
Chicago, IL 60608
773.677.1914
Hours: Sat from 12-6pm or by appointment
http://www.polvo.org
polvoarte@yahoo.com