Renowned New York-born artist Abigail DeVille will activate her piece Blur Horizon into a live performance on the USC campus upon exiting the museum. This wearable sculpture comprises scavenged materials from a 10-day road trip through the American South in 2014. The battered and bruised cape resonance is a powerful exploration of the historical significance of the Great Migration movement in the United States (1910-1970). Jacob Lawrence's Migration Series (1940-41) depicts the hardships of the six million African Americans who embarked on this journey, which was the impetus for this sculpture. Through Blur Horizon, DeVille skillfully reflects upon the enduring migratory patterns experienced by numerous individuals forced to leave their homes due to the continued discrimination in America. Followed by a conversation with the artist and Associate Professor, Art / Chair of Art 2D Edgar Arceneaux.

This program is organized by the USC Fisher Museum of Art and co-sponsored by the USC Roski School of Art and Design and USC Visions and Voices.

About the Speaker:

Edgar Arceneaux (b. 1972, Los Angeles) works in the fields of drawing, sculpture, installation, performance, and video; often exploring connections between historical events and present-day truths. Arceneaux has had solo exhibitions at such institutions as The Kitchen, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; the Vera List Center at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and Museum für Gegenwartskunst in Basel, Switzerland; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Museum of Contemporary Art, Linz, Austria.

His work has also been presented at the Museum of Modern Art, Bronx Museum, Performa 15 and Whitney Museum, New York; Astrup Fearnley Museum of Art in Oslo, Norway; San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, among other venues. Arceneaux's work resides in such collections as the Whitney Museum, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Ludwig Museum, Cologne; Walker Art Center; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Orange County Museum of Art, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Arceneaux attended the California Institute of the Arts (MFA, 2001), Fachhochschule Aachen (2000), the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (1999), and the Art Center College of Design (BFA, 1996).

Abigail DeVille was born in 1981 in New York, where she lives and works. Maintaining a long-standing interest in marginalized people and places, DeVille creates site-specific immersive installations designed to bring attention to these forgotten stories, such as the sculpture she built on the site of a former African American burial ground in Harlem.

DeVille often works with objects and materials sourced from the area surrounding the exhibition site, and her theatrical aesthetic embodies the phrase, “One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.” Though collected objects are essential to her installations, DeVille’s priority is the stories her installations can tell. DeVille’s family roots in New York go back at least two generations; her interest in the city, and her work about it, is both personal and political.

About the Exhibition:
Scene Shift: The Exhibit is a chance for the audience to get up close and personal with the work of contemporary scenic designers. Every designer has a different story to tell, sometimes that story is translated into art, and sometimes it is theatre. On view from February 2, 2024 through April 6, 2024. This exhibition is curated by Maureen Weiss and Sibyl Wickersheimer.

Inspired by the book, Scene Shift: US Set Designers in Conversation, the exhibition will feature work by Abigail DeVille, Regina Garcia, Marsha Ginsberg, Shing Yin Khor, Mimi Lien, Collette Pollard, and Deb O among others.

Individuals with disabilities who need accommodations to attend this event may contact Maria Galicia at (213)740-5549, galiciam@usc.edu. It is requested that individuals requiring accommodations or auxiliary aids such as sign language interpreters and alternative format materials notify us at least 10 days before the event. Every reasonable effort will be made to provide reasonable accommodations in an effective and timely manner.