The Parallel Campaign III

Dexter Sinister Whitney Plaque

Notes

Didactic wall text collaged only from existing Biennial artist wall texts. To be released as a wall text in the Whitney Museum near hallway leading to 2nd Floor restroooms beginning week of 24 March 2008.

Sources

The work of Dexter Sinister turns on the opposition – and ever-mounting imbrication – of art and design. (In reference to Matthew Brannon, written by Lisa Turvey)

But, at the same time, the duo’s work refuses fixity of images or categories; virtually impossible to characterize, their practice encompasses producing printed matter and merchandise-based items, arrangements and displays, creating objects, writing texts, and initiating gatherings and events. (In reference to Fia Backström, written by Suzanne Hudson)

Sometimes using the gallery’s press release as a vehicle for narratives substantiating an exhibition’s actions and visuals, … (In reference to Bozidar Brazda, written by Trinie Dalton)

… Dexter Sinister breaks down the barrier between audience and artist by conducting their projects as workshop-style situations. (In reference to Lucky Dragons, written by Trinie Dalton)

While their practice evades rhetorical summation and aesthetic synthesis alike – effectively becoming mimetic of its profligate situation – the artists’ interest in the mobility of form suggests a common denominator. (In reference to Seth Price, written by Suzanne Hudson)

For the installation Hektor Meets Dexter Sinister (2007), … (More here)

… what looks like ad hoc graffiti scrawled on a wall by an angry teenager is contextually inverted by the fact that the “graffiti” was premeditated, designed on a computer, then carefully placed on the wall as a formal painting. (In reference to Gardar Eide Einarsson, written by Trinie Dalton)

The visuals were combined with serial performance elements including sonically spare noise music grounded in Minimal composition and evoking a post–John Cage mayhem … (In reference to New Humans, written by Todd Alden)

… in a series of digital feedback loops. (In reference to Lucky Dragons, written by Trinie Dalton)

For their Biennial project True Mirror, … (More here)

… viewers are invited to come in close proximity with their own reflection, upon which the mirror discloses a secret. (In reference to Gretchen Skogerson, written by Nathan Lee)

Inquisitive viewers may discover hidden portions of the work, placed behind or inside its more evident structures. (In reference to Amanda Ross-Ho, written by Trinie Dalton)

Like most of Dexter Sinister’s work, True Mirror can be understood as a hall of mirrors – … (In reference to Sherrie Levine, written by Todd Alden)

… garnering its real power by revealing itself as part of a conceptual system, one that catalogues this mirrored subjectivity as it walks upright through the morass of cultural and political history. (In reference to Rachel Harrison, written by Trinie Dalton)

In it, we find language is not so much an aspect of their production as it is an essential and symbiotic other half. (In reference to Frances Stark, written by Lisa Turvey)

Dexter Sinister takes a collective approach to their work, employing a constantly changing roster of collaborators from different disciplines who contribute to a relentless layering of visual and aural textures, creating a discordant dialogue. As a result, it’s possible to view their outcomes as organic culminations of multiple individual inputs rather than the result of directorial cues. Their philosophical disinterest in materialism and the manufacturing of goods, however, more closely recall Buckminster Fuller’s practical approach to architecture. (In reference to Fritz Haeg, written by Trinie Dalton)

Most recently, Dexter Sinister has comaintained a space on Ludlow Street in New York to be used for panel discussions, lectures, exhibitions, and as the editorial center for Dot Dot Dot, a magazine they edit collaboratively … (In reference to Cheyney Thompson, written by Suzanne Hudson)

… with an epigrammatic collage of their own writings and excerpts from others. (In reference to Frances Stark, written by Lisa Turvey)

Lined & Unlined

The Parallel Campaign III

Notes

Sources

Further Reading