Cage Match Project Podcast

For this episode, we continue pairing up creatives for Ariel Wood’s “Round 21: cullective” exhibition on view from April 13th until July 7th at 916 Springdale Road. If you are just tuning in, Cage Match Project is a gallery that lives in an industrial caged trailer. Measured at 20x8x7 feet, this weathered and rusted container resides in a gravel parking lot in Austin, Texas, where it is under constant exposure to the elements and 24-hour public viewership. By fully embracing the caged trailer as both literal and conceptual context, Cage Match Project purposefully stages a narrative of the artist-at-odds, with either history, space, or a work of art itself. 

In this episode, Ariel Wood invites sculpture installation artist Maggie Jensen to be in conversation about their shared affinity for pipes and public city infrastructure.

Our current installation, titled “Round 21: cullective” by Texas-based artist Ariel Wood invokes a possible system of water collection, yet elements are either still needed or slowly being taken away. There’s a suggestion of past or future use, yet current stasis. The form of a water tower is built with steel beams woven together with blue twine. Ceramic thrown and altered pipes and vessels are held in alignment via welded steel structures bolted to concrete pavers. Each element holds the potential for collection and conveyance yet falls short of this linear progression. Partially protected from both sight and the elements. Round 21: cullective utilizes the relationships inherent to the exploded-view diagram—a lack of delineated function and an emphasis on labor—to call attention to access, control, and connection or a lack thereof.

In each of Maggie Jensen’s installations, she reveals paths and limits of the internal logic of systems or aesthetics of authority such as an art institution, a natural history archive, or extractive resource infrastructures. In Maggie Jensen’s Round 20 “Attitudes of Humility”, Jensen presented three sculptures that riff on the art-historical Land Art genre of the 1960s and 70s as well as on the constructued politics of landscape painting. “Attitudes of Humility” installation materials included an unaltered HDPE industrial culvert pipe, platforms of cement board and wood, a cast of a water main casing broken by extreme heat-related pressure, and a curved wall mapped with a reproduced constellation used by artist Nancy Holt in the 1976 landwork Sun Tunnels. 

Before we dive into this episode, remember to visit www.cagematchproject.com to register for Michael Anthony García’s Project Management for Artists on July 6th at 11am and remember to register for  the opening reception of “Re-Match: A Cage Match Retrospective” on July 6th from 1-8pm. 

These are free events with registration. Just visit www.cagematchproject.com  and click on the “Re-Match Exhibition” menu tab.

In this episode, artist and curator Michael Anthony García explains his concept of the cage as a ghost of an 18-wheeler and his use of material to create a visual story. Blanton Museum Associative Curator Claudia Zapata highlights the rise of the cage as a tool used to hold immigrants in detention centers inhumanely and the rising deaths of immigrant workers. This is a great conversation between two individuals who have such a supportive relationship. They discuss difficult topics and the possibilities of how storytelling can dive deeper into everyday injustices.

Michael Anthony García's 2017 Suspension of Belief explores themes of displacement, immigration, and migration. 

Attend a Professional Workshop by Michael Anthony García on July 6th at 11am. Register Here

About

Michael Anthony García

https://www.mrmichaelme.com/

Multidisciplinary artist & independent curator Michael Anthony García, claiming both Mexican and US citizenship, is based in Austin, Texas, and predominantly focuses his practice on photography/ video, sculpture/ installation & performance. He is a founding member of the Los Outsiders curatorial collective & has curated large-scale exhibitions of international artists in & out of the US.  Notably, he has had solo curatorial projects for the Mexic-arte Museum, Texas State University Galleries, the Austin Central Public Library gallery, and the Fusebox Festival. He participated in the 2011 Texas Biennial and has won awards for both his curatorial & 3D work. He co-hosts an intersectional conversation podcast named El Puente and is the publisher of POCa Madre Magazine. García has premiered work for The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Experimental Action Performance Art Biennale in Houston, The Contemporary Austin, SoundSpace at The Blanton Museum of Art, El Museo de la Ciudad de México, and ThreeWalls in Chicago.

Claudia Zapata earned their Ph.D. in art history at Southern Methodist University’s RASC/a: Rhetorics of Art, Space, and Culture program. Their dissertation is titled “Chicano Art is Not Dead: The Politics of Curating Chicano Art in Major U.S. Exhibitions, 2008-2012.” They received their BA and MA in art history from the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in Maya art from the Classic period (250-900 CE). Their research interests include curatorial methodologies of identity-based exhibitions, Chicanx and Latinx art, digital humanities, BIPOC zines, and designer toys. Zapata was the curator of exhibitions and programs at the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin. They curated several Texas exhibitions, including A Viva Voz: Carmen Lomas Garza (2009), Sam Coronado: A Retrospective (2011), and Fantastic & Grotesque: José Clemente Orozco in Print (2014). From 2018-2022, Claudia was the curatorial assistant of Latinx art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, working on the award-winning exhibition, ¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965-Now.

They have published articles in Panhandle-Plains Historical Review, JOLLAS: Journal of Latino/Latin American Studies, El Mundo Zurdo: Selected Works from the Meetings of the Society for the Study of Gloria Anzaldúa, Hemisphere: Visual Cultures of the Americas, and Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies. Their essay "Chicanx Art in the Digital Age” is featured in the ¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics,1965-Now exhibition catalog, published by Princeton University Press in association with the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Their essay, “The Future is Feminist: How the Maestras Atelier Transformed Self Help Graphics,” is part of the anthology Self Help Graphics & Art at Fifty published by the University of California Press. In 2024, their forthcoming essays include “Post-Internet Latinx Art: Networked Interventions in the Digital Diaspora” in the academic journal Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture and the co-authored essay with Asiel Sepúlveda, “Rethinking the Ph.D. Exam for the Study of Digital Humanities” in What We Teach When We Teach DH: Digital Humanities in the Classroom, published by University of Minnesota Press.

They co-founded the Latinx art project Puro Chingón Collective in 2012. This experimental art group develops zines, prints, apparel, designs, and art toys. The collective’s zines are part of the collections at the Thomas J. Watson Library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) Library and Archives, Museum of Fine Arts-Houston, Mexic-Arte Museum, and London College of Communication Library, among many others. Zapata’s artwork has been featured at the Hawn Gallery in Dallas, the Blanton Museum of Art, Mexic-Arte Museum, and the Mexican American Cultural Center in Austin; the Carver Community Cultural Center and Lady Base Gallery in San Antonio; and the Trans-Pecos Festival in Marfa. Their designs have been part of Austin’s Fusebox Festival, Pachanga Music Festival, and the International Women's Day March in San Antonio.

From 2022-2023, Zapata was a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA, mentored by Charlene Villaseñor Black, professor in the Departments of Art History and Chicana/o and Central American Studies. Their research topic was "Advancing to Web 3.0: Chicanx and Latine/x XR Immersive Environments, NFT Decentralization, and Experiential Visions in the Metaverse.” In 2023, the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas, selected Zapata as their inaugural Associate Curator of Latino Art. Their current exhibition, Unbreakable: Feminist Visions from the Gilberto Cárdenas and Dolores Garcia Collection, is on display in the Blanton’s Latino galleries.

The curator of the Cage Match project and host for this podcast, Aryel René Jackson, interviews Maggie Jensen for the first episode of season 2. In each of her installations, Maggie Jensen becomes involved in different systems or aesthetics of authority, whether the art institution, a natural history archive, or extractive resource infrastructures. In this episode, Jensen discusses the process as she describes the material and history of the "model", "index", and found object in "Round 20: "Attitudes of Humility". Jensen talks about making requests of a cultural archive to access data about Nancy Holt's 1976 "Sun Tunnels" and how the process informs how we might think about displaying objects. Jensen's practice asks us to consider what paths and limits are revealed about the internal logic institutions related to the Land Art genre, water main casings, and drainage pipes. https://www.maggiejensen.com/

Installation materials consist of unaltered HDPE industrial culvert pipe; platforms of cement board and wood; cast concrete of water main casings broken by extreme heat-related pressure; a curved wall mapped with a reproduced constellation used by artist Nancy Holt in the 1976 landwork "Sun Tunnels".

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The curator of the Cage Match Project and host for this podcast, Ariel René Jackson, interviews Rachel Means for the last episode of the season. Rachel Means is an Austin-based multidisciplinary installation artist. Means will be installing her project in the cage in the next upcoming months. We talk about Means' practice and how she incorporates line, natural fibers, and found materials to explore ritual, Christian faith, and nature. Her work explores form and ways of becoming. She earned her Masters in Fine Arts at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts before arriving in Austin, Texas. Episode Art: "Remembered Humility" 2019 by Rachel Means. https://www.rachelsreflections2014.com

The curator of the Cage Match Project and host for this podcast, Ariel René Jackson, interviews André Fuqua, an interdisciplinary artist based in Austin, Texas. Fuqua's training in civil engineering and architecture guides much of his practice and his work explores ideas surrounding space, visibility, otherness, and power. He has strong interests in material ethos, the built environment, and hidden narratives. We talk about how Fuqua's background of engineering and southern familial heritage influence and direct the materials and subjects of his artistic practice. Fuqua discusses the ethos of materials as he explains his developing term "material symbolism" and how cultural and societal symbols develop out of our surroundings and cultural heritage. Episode Art: "A He" 2015 by André Fuqua https://www.andreishere.us 

The curator of the Cage Match project and host for this podcast, Ariel René Jackson, interviews Stephanie Concepcion Ramirez, a second-generation Salvadoran-American born and raised in Prince George's County, MD and now based in Pearland, TX. Ramirez's photographs and installations utilize familial and historical archives as well as found objects such as emergency blankets to confront existing narratives of Central American migrants. We talk about her use of emergency blankets and archival imagery in her 2019 installation "vibraciones de temblores" (vibrations of tremors). We consider what political artwork could look like when there is room for vulnerability in processing traumatic histories. Episode Art : "por amor" 2019 by Stephanie Concepcion Ramirez https://stephaniecramirez.com/Project-Index

The curator of the Cage Match Project and host for this podcast, Ariel René Jackson, interviews Aimeé Everett, a New Orleans native currently based in Austin, Texas. Everett creates visual diaries through abstract paintings, utilizing her thoughts, inspirations, and experiences as inspiration for generating line and color. Her work explores portraying silence oftentimes using a circular surface of wood or canvas. We discuss Black interiority and the ways that Black abstract artists use the genre to address inward exploration. Episode Art : "A Visualized Trauma" 2018 by Aimeé Everett https://www.aimeemeverett.com

The curator of the Cage Match Project and host for this podcast, Ariel René Jackson, interviews Torkwase Dyson, a painter working across multiple mediums in order to explore the continuity between ecology, infrastructure, and architecture. Dyson's abstract works grapple with the ways in which space is perceived and negotiated, particularly by Black and Brown bodies. In this episode Dyson describes her working term "Black compositional thought" that names the ways that Black bodies mold and shape spaces for self-liberation. We discuss the importance of self-care and revisiting the lived experiences of Black ancestors for inspiration in finding ways to survive and prosper. Episode Art : Untitled (419) 2018 by Torkwase Dyson https://www.pacegallery.com/artists/torkwase-dyson/

The curator of the Cage Match project and host for this podcast, Ariel René Jackson, interviews Mukhtara Yusuf, a Yoruba-Nigerian-Muslim designer and scholar whose work focuses on decolonizing design, sustainability, alternative economies and design in the global south. Their interests explore the relationship between science, code, Ifa, and colour in order to bring Yoruba epistemological knowledge production into dialogue with Western scientific epistemology. On this episode discusses their Yoruba design framework and approach to Western design. Yusuf talks us through the problematic confinement and destructive nature of Westernized design. How can we insist on Indigenous traditions of design in a world that understands technology as Western specific? Follow Mukhtara Yusuf at www.instagram.com/mukhtarayusuf/

The curator of the Cage Match project and host for this podcast, Ariel René Jackson, interviews hiba ali, a digital artist, educator, scholar, DJ, experimental music producer and curator based across Chicago, IL, Toronto, Ontario, and Austin, Texas where our paths crossed during our time as graduate students attending The University of Texas at Austin. ali is currently a PhD candidate in Cultural Studies at Queens University in Kingston, Canada. Her performances and videos center on surveillance, womxn of color, and labor. She also conducts reading groups addressing digital media and workshops with open-source technology.  On this episode we discuss ali's artistic practice and dissertation research on Amazon and how it has monopolized perceivable options of where to purchase items online during COVID-19. hiba discusses some alternatives to purchasing items on Amazon. Check out www.threshold.us/c/cancelprime for practical strategies as well hiba ali's "Amazonification : Reading List" at www.hibaali.info/projects/amazonification-reading-list for more information.