Event State: Confirmed
Organization: ART GALLERY, 25LIVE RESERVATIONS OFFICE
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?: TRUE
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:: November 7 5:00 set up microphone 6:00 open event 6:30 artist talk 6:45 (estimate) q&a 8:00 end event
Invite Type: Open Event - No RSVP Required
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
Custodial Service Requested for Turlock location?: FALSE
Pay to Reserve a Parking Lot for Attendees (Moratorium)?: FALSE
Event Locator: 2024-ABBCFG
Organizer: 25live@csustan.edu
Describe the Amplified Sound/Music/Speaking:: a microphone and speaker system may be used.
Performer/Speaker/Lecturer Name & Affiliation:: The Finishing School members will discuss their work: Nadia Afghani Matt Fisher Ed Giardina Jason Plapp Jean Robison
Moving, Removing, or Adding furniture or equipment, such as pop ups, lighting, speakers, stages, tables, chairs, etc?: FALSE

The University Galleries are excited to invite you to the reception for the fine art exhibition White Flags by the artist collective Finishing School on Thursday, November 7, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. and an artist talk at 6:30 p.m. followed by a question and answer period. The reception offers free admission and is open to the public.

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.