COLLECTION NAME:
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
mediaCollectionId
ArtArtHiAAH~7~7
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
Collection
true
Image Record ID:
aahi0005683
image_record_id
aahi0005683
Image Record ID
false
Work Title (display):
Knowmad (Detail)
Image Title:
installation view
Work Dates (display):
1999
Work Dates type:
creation
Image Date (display):
2010-02-24
Work Creator (display):
Mel Chin (American, born 1951)
Work Creator gender:
male
work_creator_or_agent_gender
male
Work Creator gender
false
Work Creator notes (display):
Mel Chin was born in Houston to Chinese parents in 1951, the first of his family born in the United States, and was reared in a predominantly African-American and Latino neighborhood. He worked in his family's grocery store, and began making art at an early age. Though he is classically trained, Chin's art, which is both analytical and poetic, evades easy classification. Alchemy, botany, and ecology are but a few of the disciplines that intersect in his work. He insinuates art into unlikely places, including destroyed homes, toxic landfills, and even popular television, investigating how art can provoke greater social awareness and responsibility. Unconventional and politically engaged, his projects also challenge the idea of the artist as the exclusive creative force behind an artwork. "The survival of my own ideas may not be as important as a condition I might create for others' ideas to be realized," says Chin, who often enlists entire neighborhoods or groups of students in creative partnerships. In "KNOWMAD," Chin worked with software engineers to create a video game based on rug patterns of nomadic peoples facing persecution. Chin also promotes "works of art" that have the ultimate effect of benefiting science or rejuvenating the economies of inner-city neighborhoods. In "Revival Field," Chin worked with scientists to create sculpted gardens of hyperaccumulatorsplants that can draw heavy metals from contaminated areasin some of the most polluted sites in the world. Chin received a BA from Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1975, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1988 and 1990. He lives in North Carolina. (PBS Art21 Accessed 2008-02-06)
Work Creator UCB affiliation (display):
visiting artist, Visiting Artist Program, 2000
Work Style Period:
20th century
work_styleperiod
20th century
Work Style Period
false
Work Style Period:
Contemporary
work_styleperiod
Contemporary
Work Style Period
false
Work Subject:
tribes
subject
tribes
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
computers
subject
computers
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
rugs
subject
rugs
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
popular culture
subject
popular culture
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
games
subject
games
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
politics
subject
politics
Work Subject
false
Work Worktype:
video art
work_type
video art
Work Worktype
false
Work Worktype:
installations (visual works)
work_type
installations (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Category (VRC classification):
video
work_category__ucbaahvrc_classification_
video
Work Category (VRC classification)
false
Work Material and Technique (display):
interactive video installation with Playstation, vintage carpets, and fabric tent
Work Measurements (display):
dimensions variable
Work Location (Repository or Site) name:
Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum
Work Location (Repository or Site) role:
exhibition
Work Location (Geographic) name:
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Image Source Reproduction refid:
053604
Image Source Reproduction refid type:
UCBAAHVRCSlideAccessionNumber
Image Rights (display):
unknown
Work Rights (display):
© Mel Chin
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Holding Institution:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Collection:
Art and Art History Visual Resources Collection
Collection info and contact:
For information about this collection, see