End of year lists

I suppose it would be rude of me NOT to have at
least one list of the best things I saw last year. In retrospect it was
a somewhat underwhelming year and I honestly can’t hink of 10 shows I
absolutely loved in Austin. There was great work being shown in
otherwise lackluster shows though, so there’s a list for those pieces
in shows I didn’t necessarily adore that really made an impression on
me. I also made a list of my favorite things outside of the Austin
visual arts scene because, well, why the hell not.

SHOWS:

 

1 RESET/PLAY at Arthouse at the Jones Center curated by Marcin Ramocki and Paul Slocum (I wrote a review of this for the most recent Artlies).

 

 2 FUTURE PROLOGUES by Totally Wreck Institute at Creative Research Labs (read what I wrote about it here).

 

3 SOL LeWITT x2 at AMOA (read what I wrote about it here).

 

 

4 IF YOU SEE ANYTHING INTERESTING PLEASE LET SOMEONE KNOW IMMEDIATELY by Mads Lynnerup at Lora Reynolds Gallery (read what I wrote about it here ).

 

5 SWAN SCHOOL: THE MATRICULATION by Ali Fitzgerald at Art Palace (read what I wrote about it here).

 

HONORABLE MENTION:

 

 

 

WE’RE ALL IN LOVE WITH DYING AND WE’RE DOING IT IN TEXAS by Jesse Butcher at MASS GALLERY

OTHER WORKS:

 

1 I-BE AREA by Ryan Trecartin from WE’VE GOT TISSUES at Okay Mountain

 

2 Colin Leipelt‘s installation for SLOW COOKED at Okay Mountain

3 Kurt Mueller‘s karaoke sculpture for the 2008 UT MFA graduate show (unfortunately I don’t have an image for it).

 

4 John Lennon Communication Device by Eric Gibbons
and Joe Craig’s videos from NAT23 at Arthouse .

 

5 Wild Seed by Lauren Kelley from Rapture in Rupture at Arthouse

 

HONORABLE MENTION:

PLAYGROUND by Michael Smith and Seth Price from ATELIER 2008 at the Blanton.

OTHERS:

1 THE THIRD BODY by Peggy Ahwesh at the 2008 New York Underground Film Festival.

2 The explosion of Net Art that happened this year. The amount of feeds and bookmarks I have accumulated is frightening.
3 Take Your Time by Olafur Eliasson at the Dallas Museum of Art.
4 DRILL BABY DRILL by heathendude.
5 Ten Years Later (Or Maybe Just One) by Mitzi Pederson at the 2008 Whitney Biennial.
5 Neal Medlyn’s LIONEL RICHIE OPERA by Neal Medlyn at FUSEBOX 2008