Betelhem Makonnen
ROCK STANDARD TIME (RST)
Tito’s Prize Exhibition March 6 – April 4, 2020
Big Medium | 916 Springdale Rd, Bldg 2, #101 | 512.939.6665 | bigmedium.org
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⁺See following page for additional notes
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1. untitled (our misunderstanding of time, of ourselves) 2020 Rocks, watches, simulacrum grass, pedestal, vitrine $1,200
5. untitled (opportune time, morning kairos exercises) 2020 Installation 3 channel video with sound, monitor, sand 07:32 mins (looped) $1,800
2. untitled (in defence of inactivity as activity) 2020 Video with sound, printed vinyl mounted to wall, dimensions variable in proportion to size of original artwork 04:55 mins (looped) $1,100
6. conjugated keyboard 2020 Bluetooth keyboard, tumbled rocks edition of 3 $500
3. untitled (anti-productivity exercises or moving time and space) 2020 Installation of video with sound, monitor, rocks, gold shadows 25:40 mins (looped) $1,400 4. untitled (observational exercises) 2020 Polypthic of digital images printed on vinyl mounted to wall, dimensions variable NFS
7. in collaboration with NathanaÍl* conjugated correspondence 2019 – 2020 Digital prints on heavyweight cotton paper, polyptych in 12 parts + 1 16 x 20� each (framed) edition of 5 $850 (each) 8. anti-exhaustion wristwatch (monitors naps taken, long meals shared, climbing nothing, dream rate, and more) 2020 Used wristwatch and tumbled rock $60 (each)
For art sale inquiries, please visit the gallery desk, or email info@bigmedium.org.
9. in collaboration with Adrián Aguilera** Au + U 2020 Fiberglass, Bondo, car vinyl wrap, robots, simulacrum grass, and two rocks at rest edition of 5 sets $1,800 10. in collaboration with Flatpack Publications*** for conjugating perception of time/space/ourselves: A(n) Primer A To Z 2020 Artist book, inkjet on acetate with interior unbound booklet 9.25 x 6.5” (18.5 x 13” unfolded) edition of 100 $20 11. gallery space prep (golden hour light, conjugated now, tenacity and resilience) 2020 Vinyl window tint, wall clocks, and succulents NFS
⁺Additional notes 4. untitled (observational exercises), 2020, Polypthic of digital images printed on vinyl mounted to wall, dimensions variable, NFS
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a. Apr 19, 2013 5:50 pm b. Mar 2, 2012 9:19 am c. Apr 1, 2016 2:38 pm
d. Mar 10, 2010 12:50 pm e. Feb 14, 2011 9:35 am f. Apr 6, 2013 9:39 am
g. Nov 18, 2015 4:02 pm
7. in collaboration with Nathanaël* conjugated correspondence, 2019 – 2020, Digital prints on heavyweight cotton paper, polyptych in 12 parts + 1, 16 x 20” each (framed), edition of 5, $850 (each)
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Mar 2017 11:04 am Mar 2013 07:57 pm May 2017 07:59 pm Jul 2018 06:39 pm Aug 2015 06:58 pm
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Oct 2006 08:58 am Aug 2015 2:10 pm Jun 2015 10:18 am Mar 2008 11:19 am Jan 2012 06:00 pm
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r. Jun 2015 10:18 am s. Jan 2010 12:05 pm t. Feb 2020 01:49 pm
“[…] we must make common cause with those desires and (non) positions that seem crazy and unimaginable: we must, on behalf of this alignment, refuse that which was first refused to us and in this refusal reshape desire, reorient hope, reimagine possibility and do so separate from the fantasies nestled into rights and respectability. Instead, our fantasies must come from what [Fred] Moten and [Stefano] Harney citing Frank B. Wilderson III call ‘the hold’ : ‘And so it is we remain in the hold, in the break, as if entering again and again the broken world, to trace the visionary company and join it.’ The hold here is the hold in the slave ship but it is also the hold that we have on reality and fantasy, the hold they have on us and the hold we decide to forego on the other, preferring instead to touch, to be with, to love. If there is no church in the wild, if there is study rather than knowledge production, if there is a way of being together in brokenness, if there is an undercommons, then we must all find our way to it. And it will not be there where the wild things are, it will be a place where refuge is not necessary and you will find that you were already in it all along.” From The Wild Beyond: With and for the Undercommons, Jack Halberstam’s introductory essay to Harney, Stefano, and Fred Moten. The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study, 2013.
The pursuit, extraction, and exploitation of Gold and Uranium have had an exaggerated influence in shaping our current world. Projects of conquest, oppression, massacre and War—with an uneven distribution of both responsibility and vulnerability across the globe—have been fueled by Au and U. However, it is highly unlikely that the minerals themselves have registered any importance to this. Time, time, time is on my side Yes it is, yeah (Yes, yes) Time, time, time is on my side Irma Thomas. Time Is on My Side. Kent Records, 1983. LP.
* Nathanaël is the author of more than thirty books written in English or in French, and published in the United States, Québec and France. Notable works include Hatred of Translation (2019), La mort de ma sœur (2018), L’heure limicole (2016), and the essay of correspondence, Absence Where As (Claude Cahun and the Unopened Book) (2009). Nathanaël was Makonnen’s MFA thesis advisor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2019).
**Adrián Aguilera (b. 1981, Monterrey, Mexico) is a conceptual artist whose work uses the printed media as a symbol for mechanical reproduction of the natural world and its potential of (de)construction of cultural meaning. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in The Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas (Austin, Texas), The George Washington Carver Museum (Austin, Texas), Leun’un ArteHabitación (San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico), Institut Culturel du Mexique (Paris, France), and The Mexican American Cultural Center (Austin, Texas). He received his BFA in painting from the University Autonomous of Nuevo Leon, Mexico in 2004. He currently lives in Austin, Texas. adrianaguilera.net *** Flatpack is a small press/publishing platform project based around the concept of the open-plan: always adjustable and adjusting, a shoreline constantly in flux. It was founded/is run by Connor Frew. @flatpackpubs
Thank you Thank you to the Tito’s Prize curatorial panel, Florencia Bazzano, Annette Lawrence, and Rigoberto Luna, and Big Medium. A special thank you as well to those who contributed their time and labor in the production and installation of Rock Standard Time (RST): Adrián Aguilera Connor Frew Jessica Kulow Mayet Gebere Yohannes
Nathanaël Scott Bickerton Mark Kovtiya Sean McKaughan
About the artist Betelhem Makonnen researches questions on perception, presence, and place within a trans-temporal and trans-locative topology that operates on the relational dynamics of diasporic consciousness. In addition to her artistic practice, she is on the curatorial team of Fusebox Festival and co-editor of the online arts periodical Written & Spoken. She is also a founding member of the Austin‑based contemporary arts collaborative Black Mountain Project. betelhemmakonnen.com
Who We Are Big Medium is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting artists and building community through the arts in Austin and across Texas. We provide opportunities for artists to create, exhibit, and discuss their work and connect to an engaged and diverse audience. We strive to make art a part of everyday life. What We Do Big Medium produces the West Austin Studio Tour, the East Austin Studio Tour, the Texas Biennial, and the Big Medium Gallery. We provide additional opportunities for artists through the Tito’s Prize, The LINE Residency, and our international exchange program. We also provide studio space to artists at Canopy and umbrella artists through our Sponsored Projects program. Our newest program, Creative Standard, offers professional development workshops, presentations, and resources to support local artists at any stage of their career. Join Us Big Medium is an artist-run, grassroots, nonprofit organization that relies on support from people like you to make our programs possible. One of the best ways to support our local arts community as an individual is through Big Medium’s membership program. Membership starts at just $4.17 a month or $50 a year and all members receive a copy of the WEST and EAST catalog in the mail. Visit bigmedium.org/membership for more information.
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