University of Memphis Interprets do it Instructions

February 26, 2016- The Art Museum of the University of Memphis, in collaboration with UofM Lambuth and Crosstown Arts, will present more than two dozen interpretations of do it instructions.

In the early '90s, international curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and artists Bertrand Lavier and Christian Boltanski hypothesized a flexible and open-ended art exhibition. Could "scores" or written instructions by artists be interpreted anew every time they were enacted? Twenty years later the exhibition they came to call do it grew to include instructions by nearly 300 artists, choreographers, writers and poets that have been featured in more than 50 exhibitions worldwide.

do it instructions will be presented this spring in the form of realized objects, performances and public engagement from Memphis to Jackson, Tenn. The dates for the exhibit are March 4-April 2 at Crosstown Arts, 422 N. Cleveland; April 9-May 7 at the Art Museum of the University of Memphis (AMUM); and March 17 from 4 to 6 p.m. at UofM Lambuth, Varnell-Jones Hall, Wisdom Parlor.

Crosstown Arts will host an opening reception Friday, March 4, from 6 to 9 p.m. and an artist talk and performance Saturday, March 5, from 5 to 7 p.m. There will be an opening reception at AMUM Friday, April 8, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.

The AMUM project, sponsored by the Student Activity Fee Fund, identified two curators/project managers to organize do it on the UofM campuses and in their respective communities. Curators Hamlett Dobbins (Memphis) and Lendon Noe (Jackson) have recruited additional partners and participants including Crosstown Arts, the UofM's Women's History Month celebration and the Lambuth Area Neighborhood Association.

do it is an exhibition conceived and curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, and organized by Independent Curators International (ICI) of New York. do it and the accompanying publication, do it: the compendium, were made possible, in part, by grants from the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation, the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation and with support from Project Perpetual and ICI's International Forum and board of trustees.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Kimberly Rogers
901.678.4164
krogers@memphis.edu