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07-27-15

Spring 2015 Education Program Perspective — Peter von Tiesenhausen, Guest Artist

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Peter von Tiesenhausen; photo: Nina Dietzel

Peter von Tiesenhausen
Spring 2015 Guest Artist

Peter von Tiesenhausen’ multidisciplinary practice includes painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, installation, event, video, and performance. His work often involves the community in which he is working and utilizes the materials to be found there. He has created several permanent and ephemeral public artworks throughout North America and in Europe and has works in many public and private collections.

He has exhibited and lectured widely across Canada as well as in Europe, the United States and Mexico.  He has had over 50 solo and many group exhibitions, which have been widely reviewed and the subject of three national television documentaries including a one-hour award winning film “Elemental” produced in 2000 for “Adrienne Clarkson Presents”.
http://www.tiesenhausen.net/
Peter von Tiesenhausen on Facebook

Why are you interested in creating work in response to a place/site?
I often work with locally sourced materials as they more effectively speak to the area in which I find myself. Just as I don’t prepare lectures or talks before I arrive so that the areas of focus can adjust as I meet my audience, I feel a true response to a place is found on or near the place.

The 800 year-old oak [on the property], the prehistoric mortars in the rock, the characters and current interests of the students—all must be experienced to get a sense of their essence. To have a preconceived notion of what to make, say, or do is so much less meaningful.

141025-10A Live Oak

Oak tree on FOR-SITE’s residency site; photo: Gillian Bostock

How did your practice and artistic interests complement the class focus?
My work is an attempt at being present, of a coming to know that how things are right now will never be again. Everything we do to the land has an effect and the signs of our passing can remain for millennia.

To have a few days on the amazing FOR-SITE land with a diverse group of interesting and creative people in the presence of rich natural and cultural histories was a wonderful opportunity for me, one who is often alone in the environment of the boreal forest of northern Canada.

Were you familiar with the site prior to the class? What aspects did you find most compelling, and why? Did you draw any parallels with places where you’ve worked before?
I had not been aware of [the FOR-SITE residency site] but have travelled widely and have worked in many different places. For me the highlights were the many traces of the indigenous cultures and the ancient nearby oak. As a recovered placer gold miner, the many long-term effects of the gold extraction industry—the diversion channel and polished river rock—were also of significant interest to me.

What is one impression that you took away from this experience?
It was encouraging to see the respect with which the land has been taken care of and the opportunity given to students to experience that land. The vision of the FOR-SITE founders and administration is commendable. Thank you to (executive director) Cheryl Haines, (program director) Jackie von Treskow, and (class instructor) Mia Feuer for including me in that experience.

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THIS WEEKEND: Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly, A Documentary Film by our founder @cheryllhaines will be on view at the 2022 GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL (@glastofest),

Screenings: Gas Tower Stage at Shangri La
🟡Saturday / June 25 / 4pm
🔵Sunday / June 26 / 4pm

The story of the film @aiww: @yourstrulydoc begins with FOR-SITE’s remarkable exhibition @ Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz. Following @aiww detention at the hands of the Chinese authorities, the outspoken artist and activist transformed the former island penitentiary of Alcatraz into an artistic platform. The resulting exhibition engaged over 900,000 visitors in a conversation about the plight of prisoners of conscience around the world.
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THIS WEEKEND: Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly, A Documentary Film by our founder @cheryllhaines will be on view at the 2022 GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL (@glastofest), Screenings: Gas Tower Stage at Shangri La 🟡Saturday / June 25 / 4pm 🔵Sunday / June 26 / 4pm The story of the film @aiww: @yourstrulydoc begins with FOR-SITE’s remarkable exhibition @ Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz. Following @aiww detention at the hands of the Chinese authorities, the outspoken artist and activist transformed the former island penitentiary of Alcatraz into an artistic platform. The resulting exhibition engaged over 900,000 visitors in a conversation about the plight of prisoners of conscience around the world.
1 day ago
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1/9
“Ultimately, Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly is a call to action, extending the incredible reach of Ai Weiwei’s art by asking us to take the issue of global human rights to heart and act accordingly.

In partnership with @amnesty International, festival-goers watching the Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly documentary at Glastonbury (@glastofest) will be given a blank postcard and invited by AI WeiWei to write their own message of hope to prisoners of conscience around the world. At the end of the festival, postcards will be sent by Amnesty to prisoners in Bahrain, China, Iran, and Vietnam. Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly is a call to action, extending the incredible reach of Ai Weiwei’s art by asking us to take the issue of global human rights to heart and act accordingly.” - @markhayeswestall for FAD Magazine (@worldoffad )

This exclusive UK screening of Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly will take place in the Shangri-La Field @shangrilaglasto at the Gas Tower at 4pm on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June at Glastonbury Festival.
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“Ultimately, Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly is a call to action, extending the incredible reach of Ai Weiwei’s art by asking us to take the issue of global human rights to heart and act accordingly. In partnership with @amnesty International, festival-goers watching the Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly documentary at Glastonbury (@glastofest) will be given a blank postcard and invited by AI WeiWei to write their own message of hope to prisoners of conscience around the world. At the end of the festival, postcards will be sent by Amnesty to prisoners in Bahrain, China, Iran, and Vietnam. Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly is a call to action, extending the incredible reach of Ai Weiwei’s art by asking us to take the issue of global human rights to heart and act accordingly.” - @markhayeswestall for FAD Magazine (@worldoffad ) This exclusive UK screening of Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly will take place in the Shangri-La Field @shangrilaglasto at the Gas Tower at 4pm on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June at Glastonbury Festival.
2 days ago
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2/9
The film Ai Weiwei: @yourstrulydoc  follows these postcards around the globe—from Alcatraz Island to Beijing, Washington, D.C., and Cairo—as director @cheryllhaines meets with former prisoners of conscience and their families to discuss their impossible choices and the comfort they found in messages sent by people they would never meet.
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The film Ai Weiwei: @yourstrulydoc  follows these postcards around the globe—from Alcatraz Island to Beijing, Washington, D.C., and Cairo—as director @cheryllhaines meets with former prisoners of conscience and their families to discuss their impossible choices and the comfort they found in messages sent by people they would never meet.
2 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
3/9
Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly, a documentary film based on the eponymous art installation that was part of @for_site’s 2014-15 exhibition @ Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz. Like the artwork, the film aims to inspire viewers to take action in the struggle for human rights at home and abroad.

@yourstrulydoc is part of the incredible line up at the 2022 GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL (@glastofest), June 22-26!
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Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly, a documentary film based on the eponymous art installation that was part of @for_site’s 2014-15 exhibition @ Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz. Like the artwork, the film aims to inspire viewers to take action in the struggle for human rights at home and abroad. @yourstrulydoc is part of the incredible line up at the 2022 GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL (@glastofest), June 22-26!
2 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
4/9
We are thrilled to announce that Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly, A Documentary Film by our founder @cheryllhaines will be on view at the 2022 GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL (@glastofest), June 22-26!

The story of the film Ai Weiwei: @yourstrulydoc begins with FOR-SITE’s remarkable exhibition @ Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz. Following @aiww detention at the hands of the Chinese authorities, the outspoken artist and activist transformed the former island penitentiary of Alcatraz into an artistic platform. The resulting exhibition engaged over 900,000 visitors in a conversation about the plight of prisoners of conscience around the world.

Stay up to date about the festival and showtimes by subscribing to our newsletter at the link in bio.
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Follow
We are thrilled to announce that Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly, A Documentary Film by our founder @cheryllhaines will be on view at the 2022 GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL (@glastofest), June 22-26! The story of the film Ai Weiwei: @yourstrulydoc begins with FOR-SITE’s remarkable exhibition @ Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz. Following @aiww detention at the hands of the Chinese authorities, the outspoken artist and activist transformed the former island penitentiary of Alcatraz into an artistic platform. The resulting exhibition engaged over 900,000 visitors in a conversation about the plight of prisoners of conscience around the world. Stay up to date about the festival and showtimes by subscribing to our newsletter at the link in bio.
3 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
5/9
Opening this Weekend: For-Site founder @cheryllhaines- @hainesgallery 
proudly presents Ai Weiwei: Everyday Monuments, a solo exhibition by the Chinese artist-activist opening June 2022.

Designed specifically for Haines’ new @fortmasoncenter gallery, Everyday Monuments comprises 18 works in materials such as LEGO, marble, and wood, each a synthesis of complex historical, cultural, and political references.

The exhibition marks the San Francisco debut of @aiww Zodiac (2018), a series of twelve panels depicting the mythical animals of the traditional Chinese Zodiac, created from thousands of brightly hued LEGO bricks. With their rich, contrasting colors and square shape, these works evoke Warhol’s celebrity portraits, while simultaneously referring to Ai’s first use of LEGO bricks for Trace, the enormous installation depicting political prisoners that was integral to the FOR-SITE Foundation’s 2014 exhibition @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz. Previously recreated by Ai in bronze, the Zodiac heads remain a potent trigger for conversations about nationalist sentiment, provenance, authenticity, and cultural exchange.
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Opening this Weekend: For-Site founder @cheryllhaines- @hainesgallery proudly presents Ai Weiwei: Everyday Monuments, a solo exhibition by the Chinese artist-activist opening June 2022. Designed specifically for Haines’ new @fortmasoncenter gallery, Everyday Monuments comprises 18 works in materials such as LEGO, marble, and wood, each a synthesis of complex historical, cultural, and political references. The exhibition marks the San Francisco debut of @aiww Zodiac (2018), a series of twelve panels depicting the mythical animals of the traditional Chinese Zodiac, created from thousands of brightly hued LEGO bricks. With their rich, contrasting colors and square shape, these works evoke Warhol’s celebrity portraits, while simultaneously referring to Ai’s first use of LEGO bricks for Trace, the enormous installation depicting political prisoners that was integral to the FOR-SITE Foundation’s 2014 exhibition @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz. Previously recreated by Ai in bronze, the Zodiac heads remain a potent trigger for conversations about nationalist sentiment, provenance, authenticity, and cultural exchange.
3 weeks ago
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6/9
The intimate, personal nature of the objects in @michelepred’s Encirclement highlight the ways we sacrifice privacy in exchange for illusions of safety.

 Image: Michele Pred, Encirclement; Home Land Security; FOR-SITE 2016; photo: @robertdiversherrick
The intimate, personal nature of the objects in @michelepred’s Encirclement highlight the ways we sacrifice privacy in exchange for illusions of safety.

 Image: Michele Pred, Encirclement; Home Land Security; FOR-SITE 2016; photo: @robertdiversherrick
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The intimate, personal nature of the objects in @michelepred’s Encirclement highlight the ways we sacrifice privacy in exchange for illusions of safety. Image: Michele Pred, Encirclement; Home Land Security; FOR-SITE 2016; photo: @robertdiversherrick
4 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
7/9
Living between New York and his native Seoul in a permanent state of migration, Do Ho Suh moves among cultures that have different views of individual and collective identity, fueling his interests in themes of identification, suspended illusion, and the fabric of memory. In his sculpture Some/One, thousands of dog tags representing individual soldiers combine to create a larger-than-life suit of armor, an arresting totem that suggests power composed of the many. But closer inspection reveals the dog tags to be fictional, each “name” a nonsensical string of characters. The mirrored surface inside the sculpture reflects the ambiguity of the individual’s relationship to the piece: When we see ourselves enrobed in the garment, are we secure in its embrace, or are we complicit in the illusion of security?

FOR-SITE’s 2016 exhibition “Home Land Security” extended focus on provocative art about place, inviting viewers into decommissioned batteries, an administrative building, and a chapel — some open to the public for the first time — that served for decades as key sites in the US Army’s Coastal Defense System. #ArtAboutPlace

Photo by @robertdiversherrick
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Living between New York and his native Seoul in a permanent state of migration, Do Ho Suh moves among cultures that have different views of individual and collective identity, fueling his interests in themes of identification, suspended illusion, and the fabric of memory. In his sculpture Some/One, thousands of dog tags representing individual soldiers combine to create a larger-than-life suit of armor, an arresting totem that suggests power composed of the many. But closer inspection reveals the dog tags to be fictional, each “name” a nonsensical string of characters. The mirrored surface inside the sculpture reflects the ambiguity of the individual’s relationship to the piece: When we see ourselves enrobed in the garment, are we secure in its embrace, or are we complicit in the illusion of security? FOR-SITE’s 2016 exhibition “Home Land Security” extended focus on provocative art about place, inviting viewers into decommissioned batteries, an administrative building, and a chapel — some open to the public for the first time — that served for decades as key sites in the US Army’s Coastal Defense System. #ArtAboutPlace Photo by @robertdiversherrick
1 month ago
View on Instagram |
8/9
@alexiawebster sets up temporary mobile portrait studios in the streets of refugee camps around the world, where she offers families uprooted by violence the chance to reclaim their heritage, dignity, and sense of belonging through professional photographs: “Whether in war or security, poverty or wealth, a family photograph is a precious object. It affirms our identity and worth, and our place in humanity,” Webster explains. 

 FOR-SITE’s 2016 exhibition “Home Land Security” extended focus on provocative art about place, inviting viewers into decommissioned batteries, an administrative building, and a chapel — some open to the public for the first time — that served for decades as key sites in the US Army’s Coastal Defense System. #ArtAboutPlace

Image:  Alexia Webster, Bulengo Studios, from the Refugee Street Studio Project, Home Land Security 2016, Photo by @robertdiversherrick
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@alexiawebster sets up temporary mobile portrait studios in the streets of refugee camps around the world, where she offers families uprooted by violence the chance to reclaim their heritage, dignity, and sense of belonging through professional photographs: “Whether in war or security, poverty or wealth, a family photograph is a precious object. It affirms our identity and worth, and our place in humanity,” Webster explains. FOR-SITE’s 2016 exhibition “Home Land Security” extended focus on provocative art about place, inviting viewers into decommissioned batteries, an administrative building, and a chapel — some open to the public for the first time — that served for decades as key sites in the US Army’s Coastal Defense System. #ArtAboutPlace Image:  Alexia Webster, Bulengo Studios, from the Refugee Street Studio Project, Home Land Security 2016, Photo by @robertdiversherrick
1 month ago
View on Instagram |
9/9

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