Our Crowdfunding Groups
Hello everyone!
My name is Donato Loia, and I am the 2020-2021 Curatorial Fellow at the Visual Arts Center (VAC) and a PhD candidate in Art History at The University of Texas at Austin.
I am seeking your support for an ambitious, trans-disciplinary project I am organizing, which consists of an exhibition that will be mounted at the Visual Arts Center, a live performance, a film screening series, and community-based workshops that will take place in Spring 2022. The project, Bill Morrison: Cycles & Loops, focuses on the work of Bill Morrison, who is one of the most important filmmakers working today. Your contribution will help make the project’s many components possible and bring Morrison’s important work to communities on and off UT’s campus!
Why is this project important?
Bill Morrison is one of the most talented American artists and filmmakers working today. His films typically source rare archival footage, sometimes in various states of decomposition. Rescuing long-forgotten histories, his work has a strong poetic sensibility and raises deeply existential questions. The use of archival images, often in various states of decay, speaks directly to very basic human concerns: the passage of time, the finite nature of life, and the desire to preserve what cannot be preserved. These themes are deeply evocative, important, and universal to the human experience. Morrison’s work explores the fragile world of archival film and the possibility of rebirth out of the chaos of decay.
Cycles & Loops will be Bill Morrison’s first solo exhibition in Texas, and will introduce his work to audiences on campus, in Austin, and throughout the state. As an Art History student and a curatorial fellow at the VAC, I am especially excited about the opportunity to showcase the work of one of American experimental film’s most talented and dynamic artists in a gallery setting.
Bill Morrison, Still from Dawson City: Frozen Time, 2016. 2K video, black and white, color, sound. 120 min. Courtesy of the artist.
What impacts will this project have?
Bridging the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Fine Arts at The University of Texas at Austin, this project will connect the cultural life on UT’s campus to communities in Austin and beyond. The project will introduce audiences across Texas to the important work of Bill Morrison and will provide a platform for conversations around interdisciplinarity in contemporary art, the history of film and media, and a host of other meaningful topics.
This ambitious and transdisciplinary project will provide hands-on experiences for students and foster an inclusive learning environment. It will also allow the work of Bill Morrison to reach not only the many impassioned film fans throughout Austin and Texas, but a new generation of students and scholars.
What will your contribution do?
My goal is to raise $5,000 to realize this ambitious project. Your contribution will directly support the following expenses:
Your donation will help materialize a terrific occasion for transdisciplinary collaboration on UT’s campus, and will help new audiences in Texas discover Morrison’s important contributions to cinema and culture.
About the artist
Bill Morrison has premiered films at the New York, Rotterdam, Sundance, and Venice film festivals, and multimedia work at major performance venues around the globe such as Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York), the Barbican (London), and the Carnegie Hall (New York). The Great Flood (2013), a collaboration with composer and guitarist Bill Frisell, won the Smithsonian Ingenuity Award of 2014 for historical scholarship. Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016), with music by Alex Somers, was named the best documentary of the year by the Boston Society of Film Critics, was included on over 100 critics’ lists of the best films of 2017, and numerous lists of the best films of the decade. His work has been recognized with the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, Creative Capital, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship, and a mid-career retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in 2014.
Bill Morrison, Still from Decasia, 2002. black and white 35mm film transferred to digital video, sound. 67 min. Courtesy of the artist.
About the Visual Arts Center
The Visual Arts Center (VAC) is a 13,000 square-foot gallery situated in the College of Fine Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. Our mission is to provide a platform for artists, curators, and educators to experiment, test ideas, and take risks. Through our exhibitions and public programs, we aim to spark generative conversations about art and contemporary society. We believe art has the potential to unite, inform, and inspire us to take action toward creating a more just world. The VAC is always free and open to the public.
A $25 donation would contribute to the printing of educational materials for the exhibition, including wall labels.
A donation of $50 would cover one hour of museum-grade art installation for the exhibition.
A donation of $75 will support an hour of graphic design work toward the production of our beautiful exhibition catalogue.
Your $100 donation will help cover the costs of art materials. We're excited to have some brand new works by Bill Morrison in the exhibition. Thank you for supporting his work!
A donation of $300 will help cover the costs of printed catalogues for the exhibition. You will receive a personalized thank you signed by the exhibition’s curator.
Your donation of $500 will help put a roof over one artist’s head during their four-day visit to Austin.
With this generous donation you will be considered a committed patron and contribute to the organization of public programs for this project. You will receive a personalized thank you note signed by the exhibition’s curator.
Your donation of $2,000 will contribute greatly to the costs of artist travel, accommodations, and expenses related to fabrication and installation. This level also includes a hi-res PDF of our exhibition catalogue, a VIP preview and tour of the exhibition, and the inclusion of your name/organization as an official show sponsor.
