HOUSE SYSTEMS was a year long experiment in ad-hoc collaboration, free choice learning, interdisciplinary study, and endurance that took place at SEATTLE UNIVERSITY’S HEDREEN GALLERY from September 2010- October 2011.
The house system is a traditional feature of British-acculturated schools. The Bishop Cotton School was one of the first public schools in the world to have a House System, which was an attempt to create camaraderie out of a faceless crowd. The word house refers only to a grouping of pupils under one of various banners, each with their own internal hierarchy and structure. The question worth investigating is the model of education applied to art. HOUSE SYSTEMS used its chosen structure as a tool to negotiate between the academic structure of an institution and the structure of the external practice of art. What we were doing was essentially a group experiment – verifying/overturning assumptions together, which is what education and research, as fundamentally social and experimental mediums are supposed to do. The difference is between operating on and operating with, a network versus a pyramid.
The program operated through four terms based on Seattle University’s academic calendar. Each term took its overarching conceptual cue from common civilized western social clubs. A club in favor of construction, one for academic knowledge, a congregation of solemn observers on the sea, and one of hidden knowledge. All intended to trigger emotion, to be emotionally charged, to engage the illogic of sense. Artists will be asked to participate only a few weeks in advance. There will be no formal openings or closings. Maintaining a short and inflexible time frame, we aim to encourage spontaneity and the harnessing of entropic energy one engages when fighting a deadline or solving a dilemma. The space will be used, nothing will be exhibited in it. Objects that came and went, but our aim was to go beyond the static arrangement of objects. Accumulation is important, and so is change.
The weekly program was broken down as follows:
Wednesday: SHELF
Thursday: DIRECTIVE
Friday: LUNCH
Saturday: FACE TIME
FORT CLUB
Potentiality of space. Latency. Intervention. Spontaneity. Friendship. Adaptation of resources. Making Do. Iterative processes. Collectivist conventions of long-term development based on short form planning. Adventure playgrounds. DIY ethos. Environmental actionism. Field recording. Physical and social space that is both hopeful and enthusiastically disenchanting. Inside/Outside.
BOOK CLUB
Puns. Rare pamphlets. Secrets. Knowledge in plain sight. Poetic wandering. Anti-blogging. Exploring perception. Logorrhoea. Editions. Loosely associated presentation strategies. Transcendence. Knock down comedy. Profanity. Wordsmithing. Formatting and text manipulation. (sans)Serif. Tracking and kerning. Casual dismissal. Joyous acceptance. Spines.
YACHT CLUB
The deep. Rain coming down sideways. Seagulls and crows. Trees growing out of cliffs. Old soaked planks. Weathering. Brined goods. Nautical exploration. Curls of smoke. Cold blues. Wind. Wool. Tar. Pine and wood-smell. Flotsam/jetsam. Cruising. Power squadrons. Knot tying. Amateur cartography. Orienteering. Maritime instrumentation. Shanties and sea songs.
NIGHT CLUB
Covens. Basements, and the stairs to get to them. Low visibility. Underground(s). Nightgames. Social Survival. Photoluminescence. Body Awareness. Magic that is a deception. Minimal commitments. Circles of trust. Sometime before dawn. Liminal states. Floor mats, gaffers tape, alcohol, bed sheets. New-age homeopathy. Social Camouflage. The thrill of recognition.
Curators: JESSICA POWERS + WHITNEY FORD-TERRY
Curatorial Assistant: AMELIA HOONING
HEDREEN GALLERY | SEATTLE UNIVERSITY
901 12TH AVENUE | PO BOX 222000
SEATTLE, WA 98122