It is rolling art experiment and transient exhibition. “Cargo Space” at INOVA is the brainchild of Christopher Sperandio and Simon Grennan. Their aim is to explore notions of artist residencies by literally taking the show on the road in a richly decorated diesel bus. The INOVA installation incorporates work by artists based in Milwaukee and Chicago, complemented by a corresponding exhibition at Chicago’s A + D Gallery. There is a variety of works on view in a mutating, changing show with the underlying premise aimed at offering insight into the creative process.
To that end, it is best to keep the show in mind as emblematic of process, at times based in transient experiences of performance. Shana McCaw and Brent Budsberg offer an installation of a formal dining room table, replete with overhead chandelier. In the industrial quiet of the gallery, it is an alien form but serves as a physical artifact of the duo’s TEA: Transitory Experiment in Association project, initiated by invitations to partake in a gathering with light refreshments. The sequel to this event is a second series of invitations, offered to friends of the initial guests, but without the initial invitees attending the follow-up. Conceptually it is aligned with the functions of social networking, becoming friends of friends, but in this case in the real rather than virtual world.
Another gathering area is set aside for group discussion while a video recounting the planning of an exhibition plays out. The setup is like eavesdropping on the dialogue of ideas, the give-and-take inherent in collaborative efforts. Collaboration and instruction are also evident in the walls of ephemera where drawings, sketches and ideas are laid out. Some come with instructions regarding their placement and hanging, not always followed, however. Perhaps most interesting, in the form of directives, are instructions by Judith Brotman. Booklets of pithy statements, perhaps recalling Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies, are posted for each artist. Some of the works are clever, some opaque, but in the interest of exploration, this exhibition embraces everything as fair game.
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“Cargo Space” continues through Sept. 20 at INOVA, 2155 N. Prospect Ave.
