QC professors and grad students exhibit in Romania

BY JESSICA LYONS

Wednesday, November 12, 2008 6:04 PM EST

Two Queens College art professors and five graduate students recently completed a multi-media project that was selected for an exhibition in Romania last month, the only American institution to be included.

The Institute for Wishful Thinking (IWT) was a multi-media project that was collaboration between professors Gregory Sholette and Maureen Connor and students Andrea DeFelice, Susan Kirby, Matthew Mahler, John Pavlou and Nathania Rubin.

The project was created in response to the Periferic 8’s international art biennial theme “Art as Gift.” The goal was for “exhibitors to explore the social value of art and the practice of giving presents.”

The website created for IWT enabled employees of Periferic to submit requests for goods or services. The requests had to be for things that Periferic might not be able to provide due to not having the funds or resources, would assist the employees in better performing their jobs and “would help the exhibition realize its full potential.”

“The idea was to address the needs of people who aren’t visible,” said Sholette, an artist and writer.

About 12 requests were submitted through the website.

“When something couldn’t be done literally, we came up with our own interpretation,” Sholette said.

The solutions to the IWT requests were then displayed in Periferic 8’s international art Biennial in Iasi, Romania this past month. Queens College was the only American institution that was selected to participate in the show.

Documentation from the Institute for Wishful Thinking project was also included in the exhibition “Retail Space Available,” which feature the works of Queens College MFA students.

Photo Courtesy Queens College
Queens College Art Professor Maureen Connor and MFA student Matthew Mahler at Periferic 8, an international art biennial in Romania.