one / another

SPACE Gallery is pleased to present one / another, a performance-based video by Deborah Wing-Sproul and Ling-Wen Tsai, on view in our front gallery.  one / another marks the formal beginning of a series of collaborations between the two artists.
 
“Although we come from two different cultural backgrounds and different sides of the world, we continually discover shared approaches to work and life.  one / another is a series of collaborative projects which allow us to explore this shared sensibility and find ways to articulate our mutual emotional, physical, intellectual and intuitive responses to the world. Our explorations manifest in a series of projects in various mediums and contexts through which we hope to deepen our understanding of one another and share our discoveries.”
 
In today’s political climate, considerable emphasis is placed on culture and cultural identity, primarily focusing on differences between populations. Instead of embracing a polar stereotype of East / West, Ling-Wen Tsai and Deborah Wing-Sproul collaborate out of an empathy for one another and the world at large. In their video, one / another, one half of a split screen focuses solely on Tsai, the other half on Wing-Sproul. The work is a document of their respective physical explorations of a single interior environment. Their reciprocal approach to space and time makes visible an intangible shared sensibility.
 
one / another is part of an international exhibition series, Here, There and Everywhere, Anticipating the Future of Art, curated by TransCultural Exchange. All of the projects for this series involve collaboration between at least two artists from different countries. Here, There and Everywhere, Anticipating the Future of Art represents approximately 60 artists from nearly as many nations, with exhibitions taking place throughout the world in 2009.  one / another is simultaneously being screened here at SPACE Gallery and at Tampopo ArtSpace, Tainan County, Taiwan.  All of the exhibits will be fully documented in both a virtual catalogue (at the Transcultural Exchange website: www.transculturalexchange.org) and a print catalogue. An annual conference, which focuses on international opportunities in the arts, is hosted by TransCultural Exchange. This year the conference will be held April 3-5 in Boston.

To learn more about the collaborations between Deborah Wing-Sproul and Ling-Wen Tsai, please visit their shared space at oneanothercollaborations.net
 
Artist Bios:

Deborah Wing-Sproul is a Maine-based artist working in video/performance, sculpture/installation, photography, printmaking and projects of social engagement and exchange.  Deborah holds an MFA from the State University of New York at New Paltz.  Her work has been exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; Smithsonian, National Museum of American History, Washington D.C.; Islip Art Museum, Islip, NY; Arts + Literature Laboratory, New Haven, CT; Dinnerware Contemporary Art Gallery, Tucson, AZ; The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA; Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, Queens, NY; Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME; Sundog Media, Plymouth, UK; and the Museum of New Art, Pärnu, Estonia, among others.  She has taught in the printmaking department at the State University of New York at New Paltz and in the sculpture department at the Maine College of Art. This spring she will work with MFA students in the New Media Department at the University of Maine, Orono as part of their Visiting Artist Lecture/Workshop series.
 
Ling-Wen Tsai was born Taiwan and has been living and working in the United States since 1995.  She received a BA from Webster University and an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. Her work has taken the form of installation, performance, video, painting, drawing, photography and combinations of these media.  Ling-Wen has shown her work at CMCA; Whitney Art Works; Portland Museum of Art; ICA at Maine College of Art; Springfield Art Museum, MO; Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, MO; Heaven Gallery, Chicago; The Green Gallery, Milwaukee; Digital Media & animation Gallery, Alfred State College, Alfred, New York; Center for the Arts, University at Buffalo, New York; Richmond Center for Visual Arts, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan; CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, New York; University of Virginia; Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France; International Video Festival in Porto, Portugal, among others.  Ling-Wen is currently an Associate Professor in the Sculpture and New Media at Maine College of Art, Portland, Maine.