December 11, 2008 — February 15, 2009
Long before large art exhibitions and blockbuster shows, crowds were awed by traveling shows called “phantasmagoria” in which stories were preformed with the use of magic lanterns and rear projections, creating dancing shadows and frightening theatrical effects. These lively, interactive events incorporated narrative, mythology, and theater in a single art form that entertained while providing a space for thinking about the otherworldly. The artists in Phantasmagoria: Specters of Absence draw on forms of representation linked with the tradition of fantasy and magic used by phantasmagoria and reframe them around contemporary issues. Their works create ghostly images that reflect on notions of absence and loss, sometimes using spectral effects and immaterial mediums such as shadows, fog, mist and breath. These artists’ approaches range from the festive to the ironic, counterbalancing the emotionally charged, often somber implications of their subject matter.
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Phantasmagoria: Specters of Absence is a traveling exhibition co-organized by iCI (Independent Curators International), New York, and the Museo de Arte del Banco de la República, Bogotá, Colombia, and circulated by iCI. The guest curator for the exhibition is José Roca. The exhibition, tour, and catalogue are made possible, in part, by the iCI Exhibition Partners and the iCI independents.
Salina Art Center programs, exhibitions and films are presented in part by the Kansas Arts Commission, a state agency, and by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency which believes that a great nation deerves great art.
January 29, 2009 — February 11, 2009, Thursday, 5:30 pm
The Power of What is Not Told: A Poet’s Take on Phantasmagoria with Patricia Traxler
Learn more…February 12, 2009, Thursday, 5:30 – 7:00 pm
Cynthia Killion: Psychic Phenomena
Learn more…February 16, 2009 — March 04, 2009