While offering precious few details, Denton's Good/Bad Art Collective announced its new entry in the Nasher Sculpture Center Xchange program, in which the group will take a stab at a popular late-night-TV format: the infomercial.
Titled "Curtains," it's the group's first major project in more than 10 years. The main component will be a 28-minute infomercial filmed at a new TV studio in Bryan Tower in downtown Dallas.
Most of the infomercial will be filmed in the months leading up to the start of the Xchange program, but with a last-minute live element: On opening night, October 19, anyone who visits the studio will be invited to participate in the filming. The finished product will air on late night and early morning television locally, regionally and nationally.
The exact nature of the infomercial has yet to be revealed; at the announcement of the project, Good/Bad leader Martin Iles said they will release snippets and teasers in the coming months. Currently the website has the start date of Nasher Xchange, 10/19/13, displayed across its one and only page.
Additionally, the studio at Bryan Tower will remain open throughout the length of the Xchange program, ending February 16, 2014. This will give visitors a chance to see the space where the infomercial was filmed, get an up-close look at the sculptural elements that were used as props, and more.
The project is in keeping with Good/Bad Art Collective's 20-year history of holding one-night events involving art, music and film. Their installations and events have often been interactive, humorous and thought-provoking.
These include one in which they re-created their Denton studio in a Houston gallery and put a roller rink around it; in another, visitors to the Arlington Museum of Art were given impromptu surprise parties, and pictures from the parties were displayed on a refrigerator in a 1970s-style garden apartment building the group built in the museum.
The announcement of the project was piggybacked on Bryan Tower's Sixth Annual Summer Sidewalk Chalk Art Event with Captain Hope's Kids. Children involved with Captain Hope's Kids, which serves the needs of homeless children around the area, made a public art project of their own by drawing colorful sidewalk chalk art.
This is the sixth project announced in the Nasher Xchange program, preceded by ones from Ruben Ochoa, Rick Lowe, Ugo Rondinone, Liz Larner and Alfredo Jaar. Four more projects will be announced in the coming weeks.
Good Bad Art Collective leader Martin Iles gave a brief description of the group's upcoming Curtains project for the Nasher Xchange program.
