Tollbooth Gallery
The Tollbooth Gallery was a site-specific exhibition space and project of the nonprofit arts organization ArtRod launched in 2003 and located in Tacoma, Washington.[1] The project featured contemporary art on view 24 hours a day and seven days a week. The aim of the Tollbooth was to offer dynamic and challenging installation and video art in an outdoor urban setting.[2][1][3] Tollbooth Gallery was created and curated by Jared Pappas-Kelley and Michael Lent.[4]
For each exhibition an artist or artist team was commissioned and tasked with the realization of their project at the site, while taking advantage of the freestanding concrete structure.[1][5] Art critic Regina Hackett characterized the project as “mind-expanding art packed into cramped quarters” and described the approach as: “Art that is eager to wrestle with reality.”[6] Hackett noted: “What it lacks in space, it achieves in time,” and “on top of that, it's fabulous.”[7]
The Tollbooth commissioned eight exhibitions per year, focusing on varied approaches and engagement with the site and viewer, with an emphasis on video art, time-based work, photography, printmaking, and installation art.[1][8] The gallery’s stated mission was to bring video and gallery work outside of the traditional museum setting, challenging artists and audience to approach site in different ways.[1] Participant and curator Fionn Meade described the Tollbooth site as a “challenging space to work with but in a good way,” commenting that “the limitations of a format make you be more decisive.”[8] This decisive approach to exhibiting contemporary art allowed the Tollbooth Gallery to program work that might be considered “edgier,”[9] which was furthered by the temporary nature of the commissions.[9] As the journal Public Art Review noted, the project benefited from the “dynamics” of its temporary exhibitions as they allowed for experimentation and “delivered on a short timeline.”[9][10]
Over the years the Tollbooth Gallery was selected by Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles to be included as part of their curriculum,[11] presented as part of the panel Conduit to Contemporary Art at Americans for the Arts National Conference,[12] and Make Your Own: Art in and out of Cologne at Henry Art Gallery.[13] A catalogue of the first year of exhibitions at Tollbooth Gallery was subsequently published as Toby Room 10.[8]
The Tollbooth Gallery was one of four major projects of the art organization ArtRod, which included Critical Line - an exhibition center, the publication Toby Room, and the film and video series Don’t Bite the Pavement.[14]
Exhibiting artists[edit]
- Wynne Greenwood (Tracy and the Plastics)
- Jared Pappas-Kelley
- Michael Lent
- Bill Daniel
- David Lester
- Fionn Meade
- Bridget Irish
- Denise Smith (Baggett)
- Vanessa Renwick
- Josh MacPhee
- Justseed's Celebrate People's History Project
- Tim Sullivan
- Patrick Rock
- Alex Schweder
- Lauren Steinhardt
- The Danish art collective Femmes Regionales
- Kevin Haas
- Ido Fluk
External links[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e "ArtRod". ArtRod. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
- ^ "Curatorial Projects". Pappas-kelley.com. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
- ^ "ArtRod". ArtRod. 2003-12-31. Archived from the original on 2015-02-13. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
- ^ Ponnekanti, Rosemary (2006-05-11). "That aroma from Tacoma? It's the smell of artistic success". Seattlepi.com. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
- ^ "Whitney Biennial Artist, Wynne Greenwood Exhibits and Performs as Tracy and the Plastics in TACOMA". Prweb.com. 2004-11-06. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
- ^ Hackett, R., 2004. Reviews: Tollbooth. The Organ Review of Arts. Mar./Apr.
- ^ "Mind-expanding art packed into cramped quarters at Tollbooth". Seattlepi.com. 2004-07-01. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
- ^ a b c "Catalogue for the first year at the Tollbooth Gallery, published in printed form as Toby Room 10 | Jared Pappas-Kelley". Academia.edu. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
- ^ a b c "Public Art Review" (PDF). Tacomaculture.org. 2005. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
- ^ Wagonfeld, J., 2005. Tacoma: The Dynamics of Temporary. Public Art Review. Spr./Sum.
- ^ "The Tollbooth Gallery | MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles". Archived from the original on April 10, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 1, 2006. Retrieved December 30, 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Make Your Own Scene!: Henry Art Gallery". Archived from the original on 2013-04-15. Retrieved 2012-12-30.
- ^ "ArtRod". ArtRod. Archived from the original on 2014-05-16. Retrieved 2016-04-15.