UNLOADED, touring 2015-2019
UNLOADED, a multimedia group show organized by Susanne Slavick, presents a number of perspectives on the image and impact of guns in contemporary culture, though none endorse them as a means to an end. Works by over 22 artists touch upon a host of issues surrounding access to and use of firearms, across demographic categories. They examine and represent the role that guns continue to play in our national mythologies, suicide rates, individual and mass murder, domestic violence, and the militarization of civilian life.
Gun ownership and control is a divisive topic in this country. The artists in UNLOADED visualize the power of the gun as icon and instrument, the damage it can do and how weapons might be rejected, broken or silenced. Some show the power that guns wield in our daily realities and personal fantasies. Others mourn and resist that power, believing there are better ways to resolve conflicts, ensure safety and keep the peace.
With works by: Lauren F. Adams, Natalie Baxter, Nina Berman, Joshua Bienko, Casey Li Brander, Anthony Cervino, Mel Chin, Cathy Colman, Dadpranks, James Duesing, Jessica Fenlon, Vanessa German, Jinshan, Andrew Ellis Johnson, Laura Karetzky, Jennifer Meridian, Adrian Piper, Don Porcella, Devan Shimoyama, Susanne Slavick, Renee Stout and Stephanie Syjuco.
UNLOADED CATALOGUE 2015 (Several artists were added to the touring exhibit after publication of the catalogue.)
UNLOADED GALLERY GUIDE (updated 2018)
UNLOADED ON FACEBOOK
The national tour of UNLOADED includes these venues:
UNLOADED, SPACE, Pittsburgh, PA, February 13 - April 26, 2015
In the Line of Fire, Carnegie Mellon Today, October 26, 2015
Unloaded, Afterimage, Volume 42, No. 6 online, June 2015
A group show takes aim at gun culture, Pittsburgh City Paper, April 8, 2015, cover and p. 36-37
'UNLOADED' exhibit aims to point out tragedies of gun violence, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, March 11, 201
'Unloaded’ at Space, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, April 1, 2015
Disarming Violence: SPACE Gallery event combines art and activism, Pop City, March 4, 2015
Art notes: Exhibitions look at guns and empathy, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, February 11, 2015
Art show takes aim at gun culture, Pittsburgh City Paper, February 11, 2015
UNLOADED, Northern Illinois University Art Museum, Dekalb IL, August 25 - October 24, 2015
Art Exhibit Examines Our Troubled Relationship With Guns, WNIU, October 8, 2015
UNLOADED, Handwerker Gallery, Ithaca College, NY, Monday, January 25 - Friday, March 6, 2016
Acts of Revolution: Local art shows unravel violence, search for change, by Amber Donofrio
UNLOADED, Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids MI, March 31 - May 2016 and June/July 2016
Confronting Museumgoers with Gun Violence in the US, Hyperallergic, May 10, 2016
Observing the 2nd Amendment, International Sculpture Center re:sculpt, June 15, 2016
Art exhibit ‘Unloaded’ at UICA starts conversation about guns, Fox17 West Michigan, March 31, 2016
UICA's 'UNLOADED' art exhibit explores gun culture, WZZM13 ABC, March 30, 2016
New UICA exhibit focuses on guns in America, Wood TV 8, Grand Rapids MI, March 30, 2016
Art exhibit ‘Unloaded’ at UICA starts conversation about guns, Fox17 West Michigan, March 31, 2016
A Look Inside ‘UNLOADED’ at UICA, Townsquare Media and The River Radio 100.5, March 30, 2016
’Unloaded’ exhibit at UICA opens conversation about gun culture in America, MLive Media Group, March 17, 2016
Group of Artists explores impacts of guns on culture in exhibition at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, February 27, 2016
UNLOADED, iMOCA, Indianapolis, IN, October 7 – December 31, 2016
Let’s Talk about Guns, Indianapolis Star, November 30, 2016
Guns in American life at iMOCA's Unloaded, NUVO: Indy’s Independent Voice, October 5, 2016
UP IN ARMS, Carlow University Art Gallery, Pittsburgh PA, January 17 - April 28, 2017
UNLOADED, Bolivar Art Gallery, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, January 20 – February 18, 2017
UNLOADED, Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA, Portland, ME, March 16 – April 14, 2017
Unloaded: The ICA Group Show Hits a Difficult Mark, The Portland Phoenix, April 4, 2017
Maine College of Art Presents Exhibit on Guns in U.S. Culture, The Free Press, March 16, 2017
A Powerful Message: Weapons Unloaded in Maine, Artscope, March/April 2017, p 21-23
UNLOADED, Dashboard, Atlanta GA (at Marcia Wood Gallery), April 28 - May 19, 2017
“High Five: 5 Shows in the South — May 12,” Burnaway: The Voice of Art in the South
“Gun culture is focus of ambitious show presented by Dashboard,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 1, 2017
“Dashboard takes the safety off: a locked and loaded conversation about “Unloaded”, ArtsATL, April 24, 2017
UNLOADED, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, MN, June 9 – July 16, 2017
Artists take aim at U.S. gun ownership in Minneapolis gallery show, Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 6, 2017
UNLOADED, Harris Art Gallery, University of La Verne, La Verne CA, September - October 2017
Curator's Lecture: September 14, 2017
UP IN ARMS, Ezra and Cecile Zilkha South Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
October 27 - December 10, 2017
“'Up In Arms' Artworks At Wesleyan Take On U.S. Gun Culture,” Hartford Courant. Also in CT Now, both November 10, 2017
“In ‘Up in Arms,’ Artists Engage in Dialogue on Gun-Related Violence,” The Wesleyan Argus, October 30, 2017
UNLOADED, Trout Gallery, Dickinson College, Carlisle PA
November 2, 2018 to February 16, 2019
Exhibit explores gun culture, Cumberland Sentinel, November 4, 2018
Other publications:
Loaded Objects: addressing gun violence through art in the gallery and beyond, by Annie Dell’Aria, Palgrave Communications 6, #15, 2020
Armed/Unarmed: Guns in American Visual and Material Culture Roundtable: The Politics, Ethics, and Aesthetics of Exhibitions about Guns, edited by Faye Gleisser and Delia Solomons, The Journal of Visual Culture, December 2018
Display of Arms: A Roundtable Discussion about the Public Exhibition of Firearms and Their History, edited by Jennifer Tucker, Technology and Culture, Johns Hopkins University Press, Vol. 59, No. 3, July 2018.
7 Artworks Take a Stand on Gun Violence, UNLOADED in Artspace, December 4, 2017
Photos below from UNLOADED installation at Minneapolis College of Art & Design