Summer 2016 – Exhibit in Spokane/Performance in Seattle

The Stinktown2 Collective (a collaborative project by Scott Kolbo and Lance Sinnema) will be exhibiting a new body of work in Spokane in August 2016. #2 – We will be  staging a special election year performance in Seattle at the Soil Gallery on August 7th.The info is below.

#1 The Escalation: The Surveillance Project

Saranac Art Projects
25 W Main Ave. Spokane, WA
www.saranacartprojects.wordpress.com/
August 5 – August 27, 2016
FREE OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, August 5, 2016. 5 – 8 pm.
Admission is free and the gallery is open to the public Thursdays from 2-6pm, and Fridays and Saturdays from 12-8pm.

The exhibit will include a new video project and a series of collaborative drawings centered on the theme of surveillance and the widespread distrust we all appear to have for the other side of the political divide… The work will include plenty of our usual slapstick comedy/moments of catharsis, but the meaning of the project has taken an unexpected turn in light of recent social and political events. We hope it will prompt plenty of laughter, but also some reflection on the state of the world we have created for each other.

This project was generously supported by the Washington Artist Trust and we are grateful for the equipment it allowed us to purchase – and for time this grant gave us to work together again.

Alongside the Spokane show we will also be preforming at the Soil Gallery (in conjunction with all the activity surrounding the Seattle Art Fair).

#2 “Does Live Art Have to be Experienced Live?”

Escalation: Election Year Battle
SOIL Artist-Run Gallery, 112 3rd Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104, USA (map)
https://doesliveart.wordpress.com
Sun, August 7, 9pm – 10pm
(We are currently scheduled to perform at the time listed above, but make sure you double check the schedule on-line – and think about taking in some of the other performances that will be happening that weekend). 

Escalation, performed by Scott Kolbo and Lance Sinnema is a collaborative performance/project inspired by the increasingly volatile language that surrounds our current political discourse. The artists will explore of the tensions produced by our current situation – living in a state of constant surveillance mixed with a sense of on-line anonymity. For this performance the artists will monitor social media forums where political argument takes place and catalog the phrases and words that appear regularly. This anonymous language will then be transferred onto foam letterpress clubs and boxing gloves and used as a means to impress this aggressive political speech onto human bodies. When a word that is on one of the weapons appears on the one of the current presidential candidate’s social media streams the appropriate combatant will be allowed to use it on the body of the other. This will encourage the audience to participate by discovering words (or perhaps tweeting words themselves to activate the performance).

Escalation: Surveillance Project

The Escalation: Surveillance Project will be exhibited at Saranac Art Projects in Spokane Washington August 5 – 27.

Opening reception
August 5th, 2016
5-8PM

Saranac Art Projects
25 West Main Avenue
Spokane, WA 99201-5090

Hours:
2-6 Thursday
12-8 Friday
12-8 Saturday

ESCALATION ANACORTES

 

Escalation Anacortes Documentation

Escalation was performed in Anacortes Washington in August 2013.
Link to video documentation below:
https://vimeo.com/74605575

Escalation in Seattle

Documentation of the Exhibit, Seattle Pacific University Art Center. Fall 2012

September 24– December 5
Scott Kolbo: Young Punks, Old Fools
Reception and artist’s talk, November 14, 5 – 7 p.m.

In a multi-media installation including drawings, animation and live-action film, new SPU Associate Professor of Art Scott Kolbo explores issues of identity, aging, loneliness and community. Exhibited works include Escalation, a video project lampooning America’s poisonous political rhetoric, andUntitled, an ambitious multi-media project exploring the impact of urban spaces on the childhood imagination. This serio-comic exhibition also features characters from Kolbo’s past oeuvre, including the artist’s alter ego, “Heavy Man” (see above). Come join us in welcoming Prof. Kolbo to Seattle.

The SPAC Gallery is open 9:00 – 5:00 Monday through Friday while SPU classes are in session. Admission is free.

 

Scholarly Criticism of the Escalation Project

Click here for some Escalation Critical Analysis

Escalation Projections – 2 Up

Another version of the Escalation project video projection – both videos side by side…

https://vimeo.com/41179334

 

 

Final Documentation from the Escalation exhibition and performance

 

Screen Shot from the Escalation Final Performance. Scott Kolbo and Lance Sinnema.

Link to Video: Escalation Final Documentation

 

Escalation Propaganda Posters

This gallery contains 27 photos.

Escalation Documentation

For the past year Spokane artists, Scott Kolbo and Lance Sinnema have collaborated on performance based video pieces inspired by the increasingly volatile language that surrounds our current political discourse. The artists undertook significant research into the forums where political argument takes place in the contemporary world, and the phrases and words they recorded in newscasts, political advertisements, and the comments beneath on-line political articles were translated into physical form and used as literal weapons in an attempt to attain complete victory. The video projections and drawings on display in the Saranac Art Projects Galleries serve as documentation of these performances, as well as a damning indictment of our ability to argue rationally. Thankfully they they are also hilarious slapstick comedy.

The following images are documentation of the exhibition called “Escalation” – which took place at the Saranac Art Projects in March 2012.

Escalation Exterior

Propaganda Posters!

Voting Stations

Link

http://www.vimeo.com/35488491