Associate Professor of Art Nick Bontrager will exhibit his work “Alone Together” at the upcoming “New Stories: New Futures” new media exhibition.
Associate Professor of Art Nick Bontrager will exhibit his work “Alone Together” at the upcoming “New Stories: New Futures” new media exhibition at Pioneer Tower at Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth’s Cultural District.
“Alone Together” will be shown as part of the regional artist exhibition curated by Dr. Lauren Cross and presented by The Arts Council of Fort Worth and AURORA. Art in the exhibition will be projected on all four sides of Pioneer Tower on the evenings of Friday, Aug. 20 and Saturday, Aug. 21 from 9 p.m.-1 a.m.
According to the artist’s statement, Bontrager’s “Alone Together” features objects and imagery that are informed by both personal experiences and the history of gaming culture. The three reconstructed arcade cabinets in this iteration of “Alone Together” for “New Stories: New Futures” are sourced from early memories in dual moments of solitude/multitude. The works appear to slowly sink into the ground as their real-life counterparts continue to degrade and disappear from our shared public spaces.
The Arts Council of Fort Worth, with support from the Texas Commission for the Arts, commissioned Bontrager and nine other regional artists for the exhibition, which will be presented in conjunction with Fort Worth Public Art’s major installation on Pioneer Tower, curated by DooEun Choi, featuring international artists Refik Anadol and Quayola.
“Alone Together: Maquette” for “sustain/attack/decay/release #5”, 2017, is an example of Bontrager’s previous work.
Bontrager will also take part in an artist talk at the Kimbell Art Museum’s Piano Pavilion Auditorium on Saturday, Aug. 21 at 2 p.m. He says the conversation will likely address the themes of community, history and architecture in each artist’s work.
“The invited artists are all quite different in regard to background and practice, but the overlap of personal and community narratives created by the event will hopefully resonate with attendees and kickstart conversations,” said Bontrager.
For more information, visit the “New Stories: New Futures” website.