October 5 – November 16, 2024
On View
Silver Street Studios
2000 Edwards Street
Gallery Hours
Wednesday–Saturday | 12 PM–5 PM
Opening Reception
Saturday, October 5 | 2–4 PM
Zak Loyd and Melanie Clemmons (Omnigenesis), Heaven (detail of Hamburger), 2023. From the series Trophy Club Nissan, 2023. Aluminum Dibond UV Prints. Courtesy of the artists and Liliana Bloch Gallery.
Artist-run, Artist-organized
FotoFest is pleased to present its autumn exhibition, Artist-run, Artist-organized, featuring projects by three artist groups: Migrating Memories and the Spaces Between by La Mecha Contemporary (El Paso, TX); Apeirophobia by Omnigenesis (Austin, Dallas, Denton, San Antonio, TX); and Troubling the Boundaries by Throughline Collective (Houston, TX).
Three multidisciplinary artists from the artist-run La Mecha Contemporary in El Paso, Texas, explore home as a physical space and mental construct in Migrating Memories and the Spaces Between. The artists examine memory, ephemerality, identity, the body, and decolonization, inviting viewers to reflect on their notions of belonging and displacement.
Migrating Memories and the Spaces Between challenges conventional norms and navigates the tensions between visibility and invisibility, belonging and alienation, and permanence and impermanence. The work employs photography, video, and multisensory elements to frame portraiture in a cultural and political context.
Artist-run, Artist-organized features these La Mecha Contemporary artists:
Marissa Baez
Grace McCoy
Yashoda Latkar
In Apeirophobia, meaning fear of infinity or eternity, the Texas-based Omnigenesis Collective investigates the growing generative capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI). Examining the nascent field of generative AI, six artists from Austin, Dallas, Denton, and San Antonio contend with the paradoxical state of fixing an image in time and space while being adjacent to an inexhaustible and endless field of iterations.
Without a discernible origin, Apeirophobia is characterized by ceaseless derivatives drawn from cumulative and statistical averages of training data. By subverting the conventional outputs of image generation models, the artists intentionally incorporate illegibility, absurdity, confusion, rhizomatic wayfinding, and the integration of technology into speculative AI futures.
Artist-run, Artist-organized features these Omnigenesis Collective artists:
Melanie Clemmons
Ashley Gillanders
Zak Loyd
Paho Mann
Christopher Meerdo
David Stout
Holly Veselka
Rodell Warner
Seventeen artist members of Houston’s Throughline Collective address how places can summon diasporic memory, repressed histories, and mystical experiences in Troubling the Boundaries. Situated between adaptation and preservation, each artist responds to a personally important site—external, internal, or in-between—related to their immediate environment within Greater Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast region.
Troubling the Boundaries embraces complexities beyond borders, explores boundaries between nature and culture, and pushes against the edges of outdated systems within local ecologies. The work is rooted in a cross-material approach that blends lens-based works with installation, mark-making, projections, photographic wallpaper, and sculpture.
Artist-run, Artist-organized features these Throughline Collective artists:
Beatriz Bellorin
Carolina Borja
Angela Chen
Jonas Criscoe
Margaux Crump
Diana Davis
Luisa Duarte
Jake Eshelman
Garland Fielder
Jeanette “Joy” Harris
Heather L. Johnson
Cindee Travis Klement
Molly Koehn
Colleen Maynard
and Mark Chen
Gabriel Martinez
Carolina Otero
Ellen H Ray
JR Roykovich
Alexander Squier
Sarah Sudhoff
Marissa Baez (La Mecha Contemporary), Marigolds, 2023. Digital photo. Courtesy of the artist.
Artist-run, Artist-organized speaks to FotoFest’s mission by supporting Texas-based artists and placing them in the international context of FotoFest’s programming and audience reach. Since its founding, FotoFest has supported Texas-based artists, including nine across its recent Biennial 2024 central exhibitions, Critical Geography and Ten by Ten.
The free exhibition call for Artist-run, Artist-organized, announced in March 2024, sought project proposals from artist-run spaces, collectives, and networked groups of artists based in Texas. The submission required a concept for a group exhibition utilizing image-based media—at least 50% film, photography, video, AI, computer-generated images, and/or light-based work—as part of their practice.
The call was juried by independent curators Leslie Moody Castro, Roberta “Nina” Hassele, and Kevin Rubén Jacobs, with FotoFest executive director Steven Evans. The groups and artists featured in Artist-run, Artist-organized include:
Artist-run, Artist-organized is co-organized by FotoFest manager of communications and engagement Asaeda Badat and exhibitions manager Chris Wicker and was originally conceived by former curator and director of publishing Max Fields.
For additional press information, interviews, or images, please contact Asaeda Badat, Manager of Communications and Engagement, at press@fotofest.org.
About the artist groups
La Mecha Contemporary is a non-profit 501(c)(3) artist-led contemporary art gallery in El Paso, Texas, dedicated to the celebration of art and creativity that enriches artistic discussion and educates the public about the work of contemporary women and under-represented artists. La Mecha Contemporary is a venue that encourages the expansion of the artist’s role to include mentor, curator, critic, and community developer.
Follow La Mecha on Instagram and Facebook, and visit the space in person at 3803 Frutas Ave., El Paso, TX.
Omnigenesis is a self-identified network of artists, educators, writers, and practitioners from across Texas invested in research and practice surrounding artificial intelligence in the arts. The group was established in 2024 through the organizational efforts of Christopher Meerdo.
Throughline Collective is an artist collaborative that organizes exhibitions and programming from their current space in Houston, Texas, showcasing a diverse range of contemporary art. The artists are well-known nationally and internationally, have received numerous prestigious awards and grants, and have their work featured in various major collections.
Formed in October of 2023, Throughline is a network of artists committed to prioritizing experimentation and collaboration, fostering a sense of community and a spirit of exploration. Throughline’s culture empowers artists to develop their creative and professional ambitions, continuously culminating in a wide range of events, from art shows to educational programs to cooperative partnerships with diverse organizations.
Follow Throughline on Instagram and Facebook, and visit the space in person at 3909 Main St, Houston, TX 77004.
Funders
FotoFest Major Institutional, Corporate, and Individual Support
Houston Endowment; The Brown Foundation, Inc.; National Endowment for the Arts; Texas Commission on the Arts; City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance; The Powell Foundation; Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation; John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation; The Susan Vaughan Foundation; The Wortham Foundation; Judith and Gamble Baldwin; Wendy Watriss and Frederick Baldwin; FotoFest Board of Directors; contributors to the FotoFest Annual Fund; and donors who wish to remain anonymous.
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