As artists and participants in our consumer culture, we often become very attached to things that we own and make. Our creations and possessions are considered extensions of our identities and symbols of status and achievements. This residency challenges this cultural default, and emphasizes the importance of a collective experience of creation over individual achievement. In rejecting the preciousness of art objects in favor of a non-attached and non-individual mutual communal creation, we re-examine the paradigm of art as commodity.

This communal residency created by Los Angeles artists: Arezoo Bharthania, Diane Williams, Nicole Stirbis and Sophia Allison, took place over a period of two weeks at Atche Art Space, a 120 square foot artist space in a domestic space. We invited artists to come and work together in various iterations over that time period. It is an exploration that values the joint experience of creation above the end result of an art object belonging to one artist. Materials and art work provided at the space are all fair game for each artist to add to, deconstruct, or re-create. Artists were encouraged to create wall hanging art, installations or freestanding sculptures in and around the space and the surrounding outdoor areas with the understanding that anything can happen to ‘their’ pieces. The focus is the experience of time spent in space as a non-material creation, and the interaction between artists verbally, temporally, artistically and materially.

Artists included: Diane Williams, Sophia Allison, Nicole Stirbis, Arezoo Bharthania, Heather Arndt, Paul Evans, Sarajo Frieden, Susan Tompkins, Suzanne Adelman, Mariah Anne Johnson, Chelsea Dean, Marjan Vayghan, Max Presneill, Michael Blasi, Carolyn Castano, Michiko Yao, Narsiso Martinez, Cindy Rehm, Diana-Sofia Estrada, Stacey Wendt, Dawn Ertl, Amanda Mears, Alanna Marceletti, Aaron Kimbrell, and Maya Mackrandilal.

Making Lightly: A Communal Residency at Atche Art Space

As artists and participants in our consumer culture, we often become very attached to things that we own and make. Our creations and possessions are considered extensions of our identities and symbols of status and achievements. This residency challenges this cultural default, and emphasizes the importance of a collective experience of creation over individual achievement. In rejecting the preciousness of art objects in favor of a non-attached and non-individual mutual communal creation, we re-examine the paradigm of art as commodity.This communal residency created by Los Angeles artists: Arezoo Bharthania, Diane Williams, Nicole Stirbis and Sophia Allison, will take place over a period of two weeks at Atche, a 120 square foot artist space in a residential area. We invited artists to come and work together in various iterations over that time period. It is an exploration that values the joint experience of creation above the end result of an art object belonging to one artist. Materials and art work provided at the space are all fair game for each artist to add to, deconstruct, or re-create. Artists may create wall hanging art, installations or freestanding sculptures in and around the space and the surrounding outdoor areas with the understanding that anything can happen to ‘their’ pieces. There is a small contemplation space with a typewriter and paper for artists to write temporary art statements, manifesto, a joke. Statements may also be sympathy letters to themselves about the loss they may feel of the work they contributed to. The focus is the experience of time spent in space as a non-material creation in and of itself, and the interaction between artists verbally, temporally, artistically and materially.

Artists included: Diane Williams, Sophia Allison, Nicole Stirbis, Arezoo Bharthania, Heather Arndt, Paul Evans, Sarajo Frieden, Susan Tompkins, Suzanne Adelman, Mariah Anne Johnson, Chelsea Dean, Marjan Vayghan, Max Presneill, Michael Blasi, Carolyn Castano, Michiko Yao, Narsiso Martinez, Cindy Rehm, Diana-Sofia Estrada, Stacey Wendt, Dawn Ertl, Amanda Mears, Alanna Marceletti, Aaron Kimbrell, and Maya Mackrandilal.

Making Lightly: A Communal Residency at Atche Art Space

Diane Williams asked Los Angeles artists and cultural workers to document their environs and create a discourse on the subjects of gentrification, diasporic identities, LGBTQ, immigration, racial and gender-based violence, power dynamics and decolonization. The photo and video documents are responses and interpretations of their areas of interests. Based on structures of consciousness as experienced by individual social and cultural investigations, how do the images speak to each other collectively? Do our individual backgrounds and conditions implicitly invoke our collective experiences?

Collaborators:
Amanda Mears, Andre Yi
, Arezoo Bharthania, Carolyn Castaño, Chenhung Cheng, Ching Ching Cheng, Christopher Velasco, Cynthia Lujan, Dakota Noot, Debby and Larry Kline, Diana-Sophia Estrada, Diane Williams
, Erin Adams, Fiona Yun-Jui Chang, Fran Siegel
, Gazelle Samizay, Gloria Sanchez, Hings Lim, HK Zamani
, Hung Viet Nguyen, Jackie Castillo
, Kio Griffith
, Labkhand Olfatmanesh, Laura Brody
, Melora Garcia
, Monica Sandoval, Narsiso Martinez, Nicole Belle
, Paul Evans
, Pranay Reddy
, Randi Matushevitz, Renae Barnard, Samantha Fields
, Shiva Aliabadi
, Sophia Allison, Stephanie Sherwood, Yee Li

“Hybrid Altar” was a collaboration that explored the blending of cultural rituals and customs of artists, Diane Williams and Ching Ching Cheng. Both are immigrants from their respective countries of Philippines and Taiwan. Their works examine traces of their lineage influenced by colonization, mixed ethnicities and cultures. Colonization heavily influenced their backgrounds. Taiwan was under Japanese rule and Philippines was colonized by Spain, United States, and briefly by Japan. Their countries of origins have developed unique traditions that are practiced today. “Hybrid Altar” is their version of mixed cultural representations that combine iconic symbols and depictions of the cultures they grew up in.