Shift Pause Play :: Curator seeks Proposals from African American Artists working in New Media, Video at the Elliot Hall Space for New Media, Tennessee State University, Nashville - space for invention - space for innovation - space for African American contribution - space for technology - space for art.

Shift - 2009: In the past ten years the digital information revolution has shifted the way we go about teaching, learning, making art, doing business, even shopping. Tennessee State University has established a space for thinking, working and serving, (reinforcing the University’s motto) through its Space for New Media, a physical space to contain exhibitions that promote shifts that education can foster — thoughts, ideas, change, all while honoring history. Along with the (traditional) Hiram Van Gordon Memorial Gallery, the Space for New Media will serve the digital media community as an educational resource for students on the rich history of African American involvement in technology-driven projects. The digital age allows for the Space for New Media to rely on current technology and programming mirrors efforts in the “traditional” Hiram Van Gordon Memorial Gallery. The Space creates a presence of a dedicated space to African American efforts in New Media/technology and the arts.

Pause - 2010: A facet of modern humankind is reflexivity or the notion that one can be self-reflexive. Innovators and artists, in many ways, serve the public. In their best moments, they lift a mirror up to our society. They show us where we succeed and where we fail. They provide society with a needed touchstone of perspective. The Mission of the Space for New Media is to both introduce and educate students and visitors to new media and technology-driven projects by African Americans. Seeing the historical precedence of the importance of geography throughout history (e.g. the civil rights movement) the gallery has opened up programming specifically to local Nashville area artists to submit curatorial proposals for summer exhibitions that support existing programming missions. In addition to serving the arts community, the mission echoes the historic imperative set by Historically Black Colleges to serve their immediate neighborhoods. The Gallery endeavors to serve area Middle Schools and neighbors, allowing access and an ownership of the art space by community members.

Play - 2011: New Media can be seen as a metaphor for the innovation of African Americans in the arts. Programming will reflect the sometimes playful irony of digital media, hackers, game theory and video culture. The art spaces serve a community of scholars, artists and students through the art spaces. TSU’s Hiram Van Gordon Memorial Gallery, a “brick and mortar” traditional gallery space that houses student, faculty, and special exhibitions. With the 2009 addition of a Space for New Media (African American advances/innovations in Technology, Arts and Sciences), audiences are, at the very least, threefold: community/students, the regions’ artists, and the immediate neighbors.

Application Deadlines:

July 1, 2008 for SHIFT 2009
October 1, 2008 for PAUSE 2010
December 1, 2008 for PLAY 2011

Application and information questions submitted to:

Jodi Hays
Director, Hiram Van Gordon Memorial Gallery and Space for New Media
Tennessee State University Department of Art
3500 John Merritt Blvd., PO Box 9562
Nashville, TN 37209