Empty History: Deirdre Logue, Lucas Michael, Paul Wong

“As a participant in Vtape’s Researcher is Present residency program, [Adam Barbu] has explored the ways in which artists use video to un-work the narrative conventions of queer history. Over the course of the past year, [Adam Barbu's] research interests have been shaped by readings, conversations, and numerous encounters with the Vtape collection. This exhibition – Empty History – marks the culmination of the residency and includes works by Deirdre Logue, Paul Wong, and Lucas Michael."

“Empty History asks us to think through the work that representations of historical progress cannot do, as well as the ways in which such representations oftentimes erase and obscure the power of inaction, non-productivity, and worklessness. Logue, Wong, and Michael do not seek to repair the unjust and the uncertain by constructing new queer utopias. Instead, they pursue pleasure in the broken, the unchanging, and the everyday. Their works refuse resolution and finality, opening up a space of perpetually unfinished business in which action always already fails to result in change. And this is not for lack of care. The artists each negotiate an intensified lateral movement, occupying the difficult space in between meaning and disfunction, acting out and stepping back, seeking change and giving up. Within the frame of the screen, life itself is presented in a fixed state. In an embrace of that which cannot be assimilated into totalizing narratives of shared history, Empty History raises the possibility of curating “queer” beyond teleology.” – Adam Barbu

OPENING RECEPTION
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
6-8pm (Adam Barbu, Deirdre Logue and Lucas Michael will be present)

CURATOR’S TOUR
Saturday, November 23, 2019
2pm

Hours: Open Monday – Friday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
(only during exhibitions) Saturday 1-5pm