Upcoming Exhibition

TRIENNIAL REVISITED

August 18 - September 25, 2011

Opening Reception:

Thursday, August 18, 7-9 pm

With TRIENNIAL Revisited, 701 CCA presents a selection from the five S.C. Triennial exhibitions organized by the S.C. Arts Commission and S.C. State Museum between 1992 and 2004 and shown at the museum. TRIENNIAL Revisited is a juried exhibition that provides a prelude and historical context for the inaugural 701 CCA South Carolina Biennial. That exhibition will open in October and will be shown in two parts through December.

The artists for TRIENNIAL Revisited were selected by seven South Carolina curators who were involved with one or more of the five Triennials. Five of these curators were each assigned one Triennial year for which they served as a juror and asked to select three living artists from that year who still reside in South Carolina. Two other curators together made an additional three at-large selections. The 18 artists selected represent a broad range of styles and approaches for TRIENNIAL Revisited. The list of curators is included at the end of this release.

The South Carolina State Museum and the South Carolina Arts Commission launched the first TRIENNIAL exhibition in 1992. The goals of the TRIENNIAL exhibitions were to provide a venue to showcase recent work reflecting local, regional and national trends and issues influencing contemporary artists living and working in South Carolina and to increase awareness and appreciation of the artistic contributions and accomplishments of the state’s visual artists. The exhibition drew on the breadth of the visual arts community by providing a multi-media juried statewide exhibition opportunity in a major museum every three years. Artists were selected for the exhibition by curators with local, regional and national perspectives. The exhibition was considered South Carolina’s most prestigious survey of contemporary art during its run from 1992 -2004.

“We have played for a while with the idea of reinstating a regular overview of the best contemporary art in South Carolina,” says Wim Roefs, board chair and director of 701 CCA. “Inspired by the TRIENNIAL brand, 701 opted for a biennial model and we thought it would be important to provide some context. TRIENNIAL Revisited provides that context by examining the state’s art scene during the span of the five TRIENNIALS.”  The art scene has changed considerably since the last TRIENNIAL and some works included in the exhibition reveal the magnitude of those changes.  Roefs states that it was “important to include as many works as possible from the original TRIENNIAL exhibitions to underscore change and continuity in South Carolina’s contemporary art scene.” Roefs sees the exhibition as an introduction for younger artists and audiences and an appetizer for all with respect to the upcoming Biennial.