Teen Age: You Just Don't Understand

"High school's full of phonies; all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be able to buy a goddam Cadillac some day, and you have to keep making believe you give a damn if the football team loses...." - J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye.

In every era, teenagers push the boundaries of accepted behavior. They thrive despite raging hormones, clueless parents, ridiculous authority figures, and the dawning recognition that the entire status quo is absurd. They will define the future of new media.

Curated from 60 international submissions, this group show coincides with ZER01's 01SJ Biennial, Build Your Own World, highlighting art at the intersection of technology and culture. Teen Age: You Just Don't Understand considers the role of new media in newly emerging worldviews. Each project is a collaboration involving at least one teen and one so-called adult.

"Here we are now, entertain us". - Nirvana

Artists and Projects (in no particular order):

• Couch Fort
  Sam Wheeler (16) and Whitney Lynn
  Virginia, USA
  Sculptures from found couches, "...like reading, playing games, or listening to music, sitting in your couch fort is a way to zone out and be yourself."
  

• Gh0st L1fe
  Allison Reilly (17) and Miguel Farias
  San Anselmo, CA (USA)
  Long-exposure photographs of teens in their rooms engaged in games and videos, portraits of "placid bliss...escaping the pain of reality."

• Negative Space
  Twenty Teens (14-18) and Christopher Santiago
  Chicago, IL (USA)
  Video installation about "the desire to obtain, manipulate, explore and do anything but fall into a state of boredom."

• The Leela Cyd Project
  Leela Cyd Ross (16) and Richard Ross
  New York, NY (USA)
  self-portraits documenting struggles with "boyfriends, body, self-image, identity, fashion, and general teen craziness."

• Pills for Parents
  Maize Buchholz (11) and Suzie Buchholz (grandmother)
  SF, CA (USA)
  Installation and Facebook page allowing teens to post comments and videos with prescription "pills" for their parents, such as: "Take me shopping and don't judge what I buy."

• Metapuentes
  100 Teens from Colima and Richmond (15-19), Amanda Eicher, Mayra Padilla
  Richmond CA (USA) and Colima, (El Salvador)
  Wooden doors inscribed with conversations being held in text-clubs between teenagers in Colima and high school students in Richmond, California.

• Illuminated
  Virgil Taylor (16) and Kris Lang
  SF, CA (USA)
  Portraits of teens illuminated by cell-phone light with associated texts: "Chuggahchuggah erreee(screeching noise) errr the train has come to a stop."

• The Teenage Frequency
  10 Teens from Marin (16-17), Zachary Gilmour, Gabrielle Gamboa
  Novato, SF, CA (USA)
  Drawings and paintings exploring how social networking websites, online games, and global media are expanding and distorting perceptions of the world.

• Newflowers
  Marisa Olson (16) and Marisa Olson (32) and Tanlines
  New York (USA)
  Digital video based on a poem written in 1994 when Marisa was 16, before she discovered the internet. Including images from the AMIGA computer and music written for the poem by the Tanlines.

• (Ar)Rhythmic Dictation
  Ben Vertzhaizer (15) and Sivan Eldar (sister)
  Tel-Aviv (ISRAEL) and SF, CA (USA)
  Video installation with Israeli and American teenage musicians responding to YouTube videos of classical conductors.

Dedicated to the memory of J.D. Salinger (1919-2010)

Background:

• Facebook Page
• Press Release
• Catharine Clark Gallery Contact: (415) 399-1439, info@cclarkgallery.com
• Call for proposals (closed 15 March, 2010)