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Event Detail

Finishing School Exhibition: White Flags

Thursday, November 7, 2024 12:00–4:00 PM
  • Location
    Theatre/Drama 001 - University Art Gallery
  • Description
    Event State: Confirmed
    Organization: ART GALLERY
    Expected Headcount: 45
    Attendees - Students: TRUE
    Attendees - Alumni: TRUE
    Attendees - Off Campus: TRUE
    Attendees - Faculty: TRUE
    Attendees - Staff: TRUE
    Event Contact Phone Number:: (209) 664-6948
    Event Contact Email Address:: ktwaddle@csustan.edu
    Event Contact Name:: Kory Twaddle
    Performer/Speaker/Lecturer?: FALSE
    Co-Sponsored with Off-Campus Entity?: FALSE
    Hiring Off-Campus Service Provider?: FALSE
    Attendees - Off Campus (Describe):: open to the public
    Agenda/Timeline for this Event:: Oct 5--16 installation Oct 17 open November 9 reception Dec 20 close Dec 21--22 deinstallation
    Invite Type: Open Event - No RSVP Required
    List Items/Materials on Exhibit:: art & video by Finishing School
    List Vendors Selling Items/Services:: Finishing School members will have their art for sale: Nadia Afghani Matt Fisher Ed Giardina Jason Plapp Jean Robison
    Physical Activity/Game/Sport?: FALSE
    Amplified Sound/Music/Speaking?: TRUE
    Registration/Entrance Fee?: FALSE
    (OPTIONAL) Registration/More Info Link:: https://finishing-school-art.net/White-Flags
    Non-Compensated Volunteers Involved?: FALSE
    Alcoholic Beverages Served?: FALSE
    Off-Campus Youth Present?: FALSE
    Soliciting Sponsorships, Donations, Gifts from Businesses for a Fundraiser?: FALSE
    OIT Tech/Media/Network Services Work Order Request Needed?: FALSE
    Dignitary/Elected Official Invited to this Event?: FALSE
    Food/Beverage Served?: FALSE
    Pay to Reserve a Parking Lot for Attendees (Moratorium)?: FALSE
    Custodial Service Requested for Turlock location?: FALSE
    Event Locator: 2024-ABATZH
    Organizer: yalvarez7@csustan.edu
    Describe the Amplified Sound/Music/Speaking:: a video will be playing with sound
    Moving, Removing, or Adding furniture or equipment, such as pop ups, lighting, speakers, stages, tables, chairs, etc?: FALSE

    The University Galleries are excited to announce the fine art exhibition White Flags by the artist collective Finishing School. The installation and video exhibition will open October 17 and be on display until December 20, 2024 at the University Art Gallery located in the Theatre building. Entrance is free to the gallery and it is open to the public. Gallery hours are 12:00 noon -- 4:00 p.m. Monday--Friday with a late close Thursday evenings at 9:00 p.m.

    In a time of growing uncertainty and socio-political tension, White Flags invokes the psychological challenges we face. The installation presents white flags with text cited from military tactical manuals, originally intended to guide soldiers in survival, evasion, resistance, and escape. These tactics, now removed from their military context, take on new meanings. Each flag becomes a point of reflection, prompting viewers to consider how they respond to the pressures and conflicts of the world around them.

    As viewers move through the space, the flags, arranged with propagandistic precision, evoke institutional authority and order. Yet, the text they bear introduces conflict. The white flag, a symbol of surrender, is reimagined as a site for exploring how we surrender or resist in the face of power. The content challenges each person to interpret these directives through their own experiences, revealing their own tension between personal survival and societal expectations.

    Ultimately, White Flags serves as a mirror, reflecting the choices we face between submission and resistance. It invites us to question our standing within systems of power and control.

    Based in Los Angeles and established in 2001, Finishing School is a collective comprised of artist-educators that playfully explore an expansive range of subject and media territories that respond to the current socio-political moment at the intersections of art, politics, praxis, and the everyday. The collective has five members who represent a broad range of skills and research interests. Finishing School produces socially-driven interdisciplinary actions, installations, workshops, design, publications, film, studio art, performance and new media.

    A reception will take place Thursday, November 7 at 6:00 p.m. and an artist talk at 6:30 p.m.

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