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

UNLOADED, Northern Illinois University Art Museum, Dekalb IL, August 25 - October 24, 2015

UNLOADED, Handwerker Gallery, Ithaca College, NY, Monday, January 25 - Friday, March 6, 2016

UNLOADED, Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids MI, March 31 - May 2016 and June/July 2016

UNLOADED, iMOCA, Indianapolis, IN, October 7 – December 31, 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, Dashboard, Atlanta GA (at Marcia Wood Gallery), April 28 - May 19, 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

UNLOADED, Trout Gallery, Dickinson College, Carlisle PA
November 2, 2018 to February 16, 2019

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