A two-person exhibition by HATCH Projects Residents
Marissa L Benedict and Brittany Ransom
Curated by Christina Cosío

Opening Reception: December 7, 6-9pm
Benjamin Newby and Hessessy Black will present specialty Mead cocktails inspired by Life, in some form

Exhibition Dates: December 7 – 21, 2012 *
*CAC galleries are closed for the holidays December 22 – January 6. Exhibition viewings during this time can be made by appointment by contacting Director of Exhibitions & Community Initiatives, cortney@chicagoartistscoalition.org

For the joint exhibition, Life, in some form, Marissa Lee Benedict and Brittany Ransom present objects and installations that highlight overlapping themes of transformation, systems, and emergence. Both artists engage the processes of transformation to metaphorically gesture outward, beyond their installations and the gallery itself. Their practices include ongoing, lifelong investigations of the intersections of humans and nature; science and technology; order and disorder.

Marissa Lee Benedict, currently based in Chicago, IL, explores concepts of yield and use of technology in nature.  In Life, in some form, Benedict illuminates the ancient fermentation process of converting honey into the alcoholic beverage, mead. Previously working with the extraction of biodiesel from algae, she now tackles the process of combining yeast and sugar to produce ethanol and carbonic gas.  Visitors to the HATCH Projects gallery will witness controlled systems of chemical reaction and specific gravity as Benedict presents the potential of various generative processes.

Brittany Ransom, currently residing and teaching in Dallas, TX, will exhibit a sound installation of six steel sculptures inhabited by insects and fitted with custom-built sensors.  The steel structures will house insects in various stages of metamorphosis, ranging from caterpillar to cocoon to moth.  Visitors will experience the sounds of transformation and life, amplified throughout the gallery.  These butterfly habitations are the latest manifestation of Ransom’s evolving interest in insect life and how the examination and replication of their natural structures shed light on our own human systems.

During the course of the exhibition, two interactive events at CAC’s HATCH Projects gallery will relay the theme of emergence in Benedict’s and Ransom’s works.  On Saturday, December 8 (12:00pm-3:00pm), Benedict will guide a skill-share workshop at the gallery, inviting individuals to teach and/or learn a range of skills selected by the participants.  On Sunday, December 16 (1pm-3:00pm), Ransom will address her work and debut her Twitter-Remote-Controlled Cockroach.  This project encourages participants to log into their Twitter accounts to cooperatively affect the path and movement of the insect, which will be outfitted with a custom-built backpack that stimulates its antennae.

In Life, in some form, both Benedict and Ransom address methods of transformation by examining the constant shifting and overlapping of various systems.  The works on display and the related programs reveal the properties that emerge from shared knowledge and the intersections of technology, science, and nature — all representations of life, in many forms.

———————

A native of Southern California, Marissa Lee Benedict is an artist, researcher, writer, and all-around amateur currently based in Chicago, IL. She received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2007 and an MFA in sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she currently teaches in the Sculpture Department.  She has participated in exhibitions at the CUE Art Foundation (NYC), the LaSalle College of the Arts (Singapore), the Arsenal Center for the Arts (MA), and at Columbia College, the Sullivan Galleries, Zhou B Center, Defibrillator, Heaven Gallery, and Hatch Projects in Chicago. She was awarded an MFA Fellowship from the Joan Mitchell Foundation in 2011 and will have her first solo exhibition at threewalls in May 2013.  Currently, Benedict is exhibiting a hydroponic installation at SAIC’s Neiman Center, which serves as another satellite presentation of her larger, unfolding research on materials and containment.

In addition to her individual practice, Benedict maintains a number of collaborative partnerships – most recently with sculptor Andrew Barco on the project H.Y.L.O.Z.O.I.S.M: How You Land Or Zoom in On Inter-Subjective Matter(s) – and for the past two years with fellow Southern Californian artist Luis Palacios as one half (GRAFT).

Through her work, Marissa Lee Benedict conducts an ongoing investigation into the relationship between humans and the natural world. She is inspired by materials and grounded in research into social and scientific systems, studying expert and colloquial knowledge with equal interest. Her sculptures depict and undergo transformation: human interventions (grinding, mixing, distilling), combined with biological reactions (cellular growth, fermentation, photosynthesis). Thus, the resulting installations represent larger systems of order and disorder, constantly shifting and overlapping.

Brittany Ransom is an artist, educator, and researcher currently residing in Dallas, TX. Originally a native of Lima, Ohio, she received her BFA in Art and Technology from The Ohio State University in 2008 and received her MFA in Electronic Visualization (now known as New Media Arts) at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2011. She is currently the Assistant Professor of Digital/Hybrid Media + Art at Southern Methodist University. She is the recipient of the prestigious College Art Association Professional Development Fellowship (2011), The Lincoln Fellowship (UIC 2010-2011), and has been featured in several publications, including the Parsons Journal for Information Mapping. She has recently participated in exhibitions at the University of Texas Dallas, Aurora (Dallas), the Hungarian Multicultural Center (Budapest), St. Louis Artists Guild (St. Louis), Gallery 400, Hatch Projects, and Screenology at the Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago).

Ransom creates installations and site-specific interventions that strive to probe the line between human, animal, and environmental relations while exploring emergent technologies. Using technology as a material, Ransom’s work introduces concepts exploring the conflicted relationships between our culture, the concern for nature, and the way we interact with the natural world. She explores the paradoxical bond between human, nature, its inhabitants, and the co-evolution between the living and budding technological innovation while questioning these technologies. Ransom’s work invites the viewer to question how technology can concurrently invent, destroy, enshroud, and expose itself within our shared environments.

Christina Cosio, currently the Assistant Director of Exhibitions and Exhibition Studies at SAIC, has a studio background in sculpture and video and holds her MA in History with an emphasis in Museum Studies. Prior to joining SAIC, she served in curatorial and education departments at Laumeier Sculpture Park and The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts in St. Louis, MO, also working as Assistant Curator at the William and Florence Schmidt Art Center in Belleville, IL.  Most recently, she co-founded Perimeter Projects, a storefront venture that promotes Chicago artists with exposure and funding.  She continues to pursue her studio and independent curatorial work.

Chicago Artists’ Coalition, 217 N. Carpenter Street, Chicago, IL 60607. 312-491-8888
Holiday Gallery Hours December 7- December 21 are Monday-Friday 9:00am-5:00pm, and Saturday 12-6pm
CAC will be closed December 22, 2012-January 4, 2013 (Viewings available by appointment)

Friday, December 7, 2012