Traveling with Gulliver   June 24 - July 24, 2005

District of Columbia Arts Center (DCAC) 2438 18th Street NW, Washington DC, 20009 Opening: June 24, 2005 7pm - 9pm Press Release [ PDF ] Works Floor plan Postcard [pdf] Installation photos Opening photos

INTRODUCTION

Gulliver's Travels is an adventure story in the form of a travel diary, recounted by ship's doctor Lemuel Gulliver. Through a series of mishaps Gulliver ends up marooned on several unknown islands, each populated by creatures of unusual sizes and philosophies who by various means try to co-opt him into their way of life. Through luck, common sense and unflappable good humor Gulliver manages each time to return home to England, only to set out on a new voyage once he has told the tale of his most recent adventure. Throughout, Swift's hero remains the calm eye in the storm around him, the counterpoint to the inexplicable situations and characters he encounters. At once innocent and iconoclast he represents the idealist in all of us.

Jonathan Swift's original work Travels Into Several Remote Nations Of The World: In Four Parts is more than the tale of Lilliputians and giants. Not as well known as the earlier chapters, parts three and four of the original story contain some of the novel's most fantastic imagery and as a result some of Swift's most biting social satire.

The artist's collaborative KIOSKdc (Karen Joan Topping, Ian Jehle, Alan Callander), cartoonist Ben Claassen III and writer Peter Donovan will present an exhibition titled Traveling with Gulliver which uses the four lands visited by Gulliver as a thematic framework to showcase four original works by the artists. With the help of guided narration, Traveling with Gulliver invites its audience to experience this enchanted and intellectually challenging environment with a sense of wonder, good humor and befuddlement similar to Swift's hero.

EXHIBITION WORKS

Each artist will present work loosely corresponding to one of Gulliver's four adventures.

Book I (The Land of the Lilliputians) - Karen Joan Topping
A site-specific miniature landscape of cellophane Easter grass and vinyl punctuated with short stands holding tiny plastic Easter egg sculptures in vitrines.

Book II (The Land of the Giants) - Ian Jehle
Four, large, detailed portrait drawings, approximately 4 ft. x 6 ft. tall, framed and hung on the wall.

Book III (Various islands including the Flying Island and Japan) - Alan Callander
Abstract color video projection with an experimental audio sound track.

Book IV (The Land of the Civilized Horses) - Ben Claassen III.
Original comic drawn on the wall.

Additionally, artist, writer, musician, poet and lay scholar Peter V. Donovan will provide narration, roughly corresponding to the "Author's Letter" throughout the exhibition.

EXHIBITION FLOORPLAN

INSTALLATION PHOTOS

OPENING PHOTOS