Drive-In: Personal Space
Drive-In was a series of three experimental, one-night-only group exhibitions that employed vehicles as spaces for unconventional contemporary art. Each of the exhibitions included installations by Colorado-based artists who were invited to produce an artwork using their own, or borrowed, vehicles as a starting point for experimentation. The series explored our multifaceted relationships with automobiles beyond their function as modes of transportation.
Drive-In: Personal Space
Group Exhibition
Drive-In: Personal Space brings together 13 artworks that use artists’ vehicles. The artworks in the exhibition expand on how artists relate to cars as not only a form of transportation, but also as an extension of identity, economy, and value. From Toby Fike’s humorous look at the parallels between the stereotypical used car salesman and the art market, to Lucas McMahon’s dark look at the harmful nature of a vehicle, the exhibition highlights how deeply personal, and sometimes complex, our feelings toward cars can be.
For this first iteration of Drive-In, participating artists have been invited to produce an artwork using their vehicle as a starting point for experimentation. Part of the intention behind employing unconventional exhibition space of the car is to encourage them to be experimental – to dabble with mediums, approaches, or ideas new to their established art practices.
The exhibition location, an undeveloped lot and staging ground for a new multi-family housing complex, is at the nexus of a changing neighborhood. The site serves as an off-road place in the city, a space lingering in anticipation. The lot reflects the dynamic growth that the city is experiencing, while providing an opening for an exploratory art exhibition.
Ultimately, all of the works speak to the power relationship that cars have over our communities and personal lives, from the freedom they offer to the constraints they impose. At a moment when car culture is dynamically changing, (self-driving technology, electric vehicles, U.S. oil surplus etc.), and at a moment when Denver is experiencing more traffic than ever, this exhibition offers a space to ponder these relationships and our own attitudes about freedom, movement, and the open road.
Artists:
Amber Cobb, Graham Eschen, Tobias Fike, Kate Gonda, Caleb Hahne, Lucas McMahon, Dmitri Obergfell, Zach Reini, Nick Silici, Gretchen Marie Schaefer, Laura Shill, Kristen Hatgi Sink, Mario Zoots
Sound Performances by:
Killd by and Kim Shively
This exhibition is made possible through the support of the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, RedLine, TreeHouse Brokerage + Development, Root Residential LLC, and S*Park.
