Hunt, Ashley

Born 1970, USA
Los Angeles, California

IN THE GALLERY

Ashley Hunt uses video, photography, mapping and writing to engage social movements, modes of learning, and public discourse. He is interested in how societal structures both allow some people to accumulate power and prevent others from getting it. He is also interested in how people come to know, respond and conceive of themselves within these structures. Rather than treating art and activism as two separate spheres, he approaches them as symbiotic and complementary.

CHARRETTES

Thursday, October 23
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Gallery
Charrette with Ashley Hunt and Parsons class:
3:00 – 5:30 p.m.
Presentation: 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Both events open to the public

"A World Map..." is an ongoing project which maps structures of power that determine political exclusion and inclusion, using soft pastel and chalk on chalkboard. The work is always generated through a collaborative effort; for OURS, it is created by Parsons students. By mapping concepts and discourses rather than specific geographies, the work traces how globalization as a supra-national system of economies, laws, and institutions, is built on the exclusion of certain persons—such as refugees or prisoners—and the inclusion of others.

An open glossary reinforces the public aspect of "A World Map...": terms and ideas generated by the charrette are posted on the blackboard, available for editing, discussion, changing, and erasing by the gallery visitors. The exhibition’s web site is updated periodically with the latest versions of the glossary. With its large blackboard, "A World Map..." is essentially a temporary classroom.

This charrette is hosted by Parsons faculty member Melissa Rachleff.

A World Map: In Which We See… 2005, ongoing

Chalk and soft pastel on blackboard

Courtesy the artist

Generated during a charrette on October 23

ONGOING: Click here for recent additions to the glossary.