Wonder Women is a residency program in its eighth year presented by _gaia at their studio in Jersey City, NJ. The Wonder Women mission is to engage practicing, yet underrepresented artists who are eager to participate in a collective dialogue about the art world and feminism today. The project has recently grown to incorporate an international artist exchange and has gone to Cyprus to continue the dialogue.

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Click here for more images from the WW6: New News is Old News Exhibition

Click here for more images from the WW6: New News is Old News Gallery Aferro Opening

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This year the residency program is tackling the concept of real time media and the ramifications of our evolving relationship with news. It is co-curated by Doris Cacoilo and Maya Joseph-Goteiner.

In our society, the importance of news has shifted; some would argue that it has been elasticized or else devalued. As the blogosphere replaces the daily newspaper as the purveyor and distributor of breaking news, the reporting of events is no longer filtered by the journalist/editor. Instead the voice of news is replaced by a dynamic exchange of information.
Already, online, the same article that has appeared black on white in the early print edition has been updated, corrected or even replaced on the web. Newspaper stories no longer fit the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of news as “a report of recent events: previously unknown information.” In many respects, we have created an endless source of updated information online, a bottomless pit of patter. We cannot possibly consume all the news and commentary published online, and while few people have the time to read the entire newspaper, even fewer can keep up with the minute-to-minute updates via Twitter, blogs, online publications, and RSS feeds.

http://www.gaiastudio.org/wonderwomen/

Christine DaCruz
Mairikke Dau
Sharon de la Cruz
Escobar – Morales
Melissa MacAlpin
Lindsey Muscato
Laryssa Myers
Cristine Posner
Sharone Vendriger
Nicole Wilson

Click here for more images from the WW5: Ah, Motherland Exhibition

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“In a land of immigrants, one was not an alien but simply the latest arrival.”

-Rudolf Arnheim

With the passing of time, advances in technology, transportation and an ever homogenizing economic global market, the world is a seemingly smaller place. Emigration and immigration have become less arduous, less final and less difficult – technically. However, the issues of identity, home, family, culture and politics are ever present and ever more complex. As conflicts change landscapes and relationships and economies grow with enticing opportunity and fail with devastating consequence, people are forced to make decisions of place and home that have lasting effects on their identity and the identities of their descendants.

Wonder Women invites 10 artists to reflect on notions of home and identity addressing emigration and immigration. We invite artists who have chosen to make the US their new home or who are descendents of immigrants to participate in a residency program that will focus on exploring immigration through the lens of feminism and social change. Weekly discussions will address issues related to art, identity, migration, economy, war, displacement, opportunity, government and policy. Each participant is encouraged to contribute to the discussion and to the source materials.

Every Sunday, beginning January 17th [through February 21st] accepted applicants will meet as a group at _gaia studio to discuss current social issues and topics brought forth by participants. There will be a potluck lunch each Sunday with group discussion and critique of works in progress. All accepted applicants must commit to all Sunday meetings. At the end of the program there will be a group exhibition at New Jersey City University Thursday, March 4th, 2010.

Wonder Women5 were:
Co-curators: Doris Cacoilo and Renata Moreira
Christine DaCruz
Pamela-Cleo Godard
Giana Gonzalez
Willa Goldthwaite
Anjelika Krishna
Lizette Louis
Roxana Marroquin
Holly Pitre
Sonali Sridhar
Agnes Wszolkowski

Click here for more images from the WW$: Money, Money, Money Exhibition

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Money makes the world go around.  Time is money.  Money doesn’t grow on trees.  A penny saved is a penny earned. Money is the root of all evil.  Put your money where your mouth is.  Money to burn.  A penny for your thoughts.  A pretty penny.  Top dollar.  A buck and a dream.  A fool and his money are soon parted.  Easy come, easy go.  Buyer beware.  No money down.  Penny wise and pound foolish.  You have to be in it to win it.  Take the money and run.  Go for gold.  Your money or your life.  Beggars can’t be choosers. We make money, not art.  Cash for gold.  Can’t buy me love.  Money changes everything.  Right on the money.  Dirty money.  Funny money.  Money money money.

Money takes all forms in our world. Essential as it is to the day-to-day workings of our society, it is a complex and abstract thought object.  At its most basic, money is a unit of currency, to be traded for goods or services. In contrast to this, it can also be magical, mythical and imaginary.  Rather than the straightforward nature of currency, magical money is based on hopes, desires and fears.  For a dollar, you can buy the dream of winning the lottery. In return for a monthly premium, you get peace of mind.

But at what cost?  Our society encourages a culture of debt, even positing it as a patriotic duty in times of economic downturn.  For many, debt is a reality, not a choice.  What are the alternatives to this cycle of want and spend?  How do systems like bartering, microlending and resource sharing change our relationship to money?

In 2008 _gaia was pleased to present WW$: MoneyMoneyMoney!! The six-week residency brings together ten emerging artists to engage in discussions about their work, the economy, feminism, and personal relationships to money.

The projects that have developed over the course of the residency are diverse in form and concept.  Some of the artists are documenting their relationship to money, such as Andrea Callard in her sound piece “Comfort with Money,” or Sarah Julig in her visualization of her income and spending as a grid of collected and found baubles.  Other artists are inspired by the idea of personal and/or domestic currencies. Hanna Von Goeler takes money and transforming it into currency by handpainting or otherwise working domestic and foreign money. The current state of economic recession also informs several works. Michelle Loughlin isembroidering atop images of foreclosed homes in her neighborhood, rendering the new bank owner’s in cross-stitch.  Mary Button has created a board game where you buy and sell resources in an effort to rebuild society.

Wonder Women$ were:
Co-curators: Doris Caçoilo and Vandana Jain
Pollie Barden
Mary Button
Andrea Callard
Geraldine Juarez
Sarah Julig
Christina Kelly
Michelle Loughlin
Melissa MacAlpin
Holly Pitre
Hanna Von Goeler

Click here for more images from the WW3 Wonder Women Exhibition

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In 2008 the residency invited ten artists from the New Jersey/New York area to participate in a program to engage in discussion about their work, the cultural climate, the history of art, war, feminism, and social change. WWIII was interested in creating a dialogue and artwork that explores the issues of war andprotest in a modern age. Each participant was encouraged to bring to weekly discussions, their interest in readings, artist heroes, activist heroes, feminist heroes, ideas, etc. As the projects came into focus, it became clear that we are living in a state of misunderstanding of what it means to live with war.

The exhibition and residency explores questions that arise out of our need to process our current relationship to war. Are we in the throes of a third world war? What would another world war look like? How would an escalation in the current war on terror affect our lives, and those of the people of this planet? What have we learned from our violent histories? How can we reflect our fears, concerns, and protests through our artwork and activism?

WWIII became a collective journey to determine our level of knowledge of a world at war, as well as to set a new standard of living with compassion and awareness. Each project represents a personal struggle with war and it’s effect on the future’s certainty, our use of the planet’s resources, personal stability, intimate relationships, limited knowledge of geography and world events, and everyday routines.

Wonder Women III were:
Co-curators: Doris Caçoilo and Joanna Rose White
Pollie Barden
Jennifer Carpenter
Gwen Charles
Tamara Fitzpatrick
Maya Joseph Goteiner
Mary Jeys
Melissa Macalpin
Gina Riano
Amanda Thackray
Sarah Nelson Wright

Click here for more images from the WW2: Mother Of God Exhibition

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Who is the Mother of God? What does she have to do with art? With feminism?  With me?

In 2007 _gaia was pleased to present Mother of God: a Wonder Women Project.  The exhibition and residency explores notions of feminism, contemporary art practice, art historical iconographies, and spirituality.  The show brings together nine emerging artists from the New York/New Jersey area, invited to participate in the six-week residency at _gaia studio in Hoboken, New Jersey. The exhibition aims to examine and critique the societal, personal, and collective experiences of feminism and the history of organized religion.

The mother of a deity is an apt topic for a _gaia residency, sharing a consideration for feminism in all aspects of society.  In critiquing the dominant religious roles of biblical stories in western art, the Wonder Women residency remained committed to exploring feminism in this context.  Many of the projects developed for this exhibition embrace a visual history that addresses Mary’s indispensable position in the pantheon of biblical characters.  An instrumental part of the residency was the collection of texts brought to meetings each week.  Letter to a Christian Nation, by Sam Harris and Erring: A PostmodernA/Theology, by Mark C. Taylor, among other texts were both a catalyst and inspiration for discussion and forming this program. By critiquing religious structures, the resident artists open a dialogue about our supposed co-habitation with an ambiguous, yet all-powerful, all-knowing god.

Wonder Women II were:
Co-curators: Doris Caçoilo and Mary Jeys
Francisca Caporali
Jennifer Carpenter
Eileen Ferara
Asha Ganpat
Jasmine Graf
Alana Kakoyiannis
Michelle Levante
Elizabeth Seaton
Rachael Serbinski

Click here for more images from the WW1: Subconscious Hero Exhibition

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The work in this exhibition was the result of a unique artist residency which began on March 26th, 2006. Seven artists were invited to meet weekly at _gaia studio to discuss current social issues and to explore the topics brought forth in our artistic practice. The artists and curators would first participate in critical discussion, followed by the presentation of works in progress and group critique. It was intended that in this deep mindfulness with honest dialogue about social change, gender issues, and the social and political status of the world, our art would become the truest expression of ourselves relating to a shared dialogue.

If art provides a projection of our identity, then self-exploration and discovery can draw an enhanced connection to our work. If we want to recognize the potential of our distinct subjectivity, we must create a space of dialogue and of shared experience. The Wonder Women project provided a structure to investigate the exploration of self and subject as well as the creative process itself. A group blog was created in order to share our process between meetings, this also serves as a document of the project that we can refer to in the future for further exploration.

In focusing on process and dialogue, the group was given the opportunity to explore, question and begin to resolve new issues as our projects developed. In this brief experiment, we investigated the importance of asking questions and exploring issues surrounding art-making, and reviewed the roles gender and sexuality play in the creation and representation of the work. To recognize ourselves as part of a larger system, and to allow critique of that system, we can begin to control the part we play in it.

Wonder Women I were:
Co-curators Doris Caçoilo and Ingrid Dahl
Jennifer Carpenter
Borah Chung
Jasmine Graf
Mary Jeys
Jarah Moesch
Molly Sullivan
Stephanie Werthman