August 21st, 2010 from 7-9pm at the Old Post Office Plaza

The Luminary | Center for the Arts, in conjunction with the Partnership for Downtown, is pleased to present a free monthly performance series entitled Post to be held once per month in the summer of 2010 at the Old Post Office Plaza. The Post Performances will pair some of the best local visual artists and musical performers to create site-specific, one-time performances with the goal of creating a platform encouraging collaboration among the local visual and performing art cultures, highlighting emerging talent in the region and promoting the artistic environment of the Plaza. The final installment will take place on Saturday, August 21st from 7-9pm pairing Jon Hardy and the Public with installation artists Dave Lang and Andy van der Truin.

The performance is free, all ages and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to bring seating and are welcome to bring food and drinks to the event (no glass please).

On Friday, July 30th, The Luminary and 88.1 KDHX welcome Cults and Light Pollution to the Elevator Music Series. The show brings together two of the most exciting acts to have emerged this year, each garnering near-universal acclaim. Both exude the energy of the recent beach-vibe in indie rock without succumbing to any seasonal fad.

Doors at 7. Show at 8. All ages.

Buy tickets.

ANSWER FACTORY

September 10, 2010 – October 16, 2010

Open Wed-Sat from 12-6

The Luminary Center for the Arts is pleased to present the international group exhibition Answer Factory. This high-profile exhibition brings together six innovative text-based installation artists in a serio-comic presentation of facts, figures, mute megaphones, vision statements, decontextualized statements of support, and a mechanical bird questioning a mechanical rabbit about the nature of reality.

Fernando Orellana’s new mechanized piece, Beta, forms a dialogue between a mechanical bird and an unanswering audience, posing questions about the body, about the infinite, about itself. Posed against this piece is the video projection, plain text, which cycles through every possible ending to the phrase “You Want ____,” indefinitely answering every question it posits.

Chicago-based Bad at Sports podcaster Duncan MacKenzie and collaborator Christian Kuras fill the exhibition with Values Values Values, which lines out an imaginary organization’s eerily familiar vision statement that is both nondescript and dead on. Kuras’s piece Drone circles a set of megaphones one after the other, forming a sphere of possibility and ineptitude, while Diagram of Itself is exactly what it says: a self-referential, utterly enclosed image.

Runo Lagomarsino’s We Support numbly projects its burned-out images suggesting war or commerce or both with the simple text announcing to us that we support…something. Bruce Campbell’s etched pieces embed their text in objects. In A Warm Breath, the viewer has to breathe on etched glass in order to see it and Light: Head: Horn: Mind offers its thoughts in the form of a gilded lightbulb.

On Saturday, July 31st, The Luminary and 88.1 KDHX welcome Bear in Heaven and Twin Sister as a part of the monthly Elevator Music Series at The Luminary Center for the Arts. Incorporating elements of electronic music and krautrock, Bear in Heaven has seen near-universal acclaim for its album Beast Rest Forth Mouth, including the elusive “Best New Music” title from Pitchfork. Twin Sister is a young rising band reminiscent of bands such as Beach House and Cocteau Twins.

Doors 7pm. Show 8pm.

Buy tickets.

For the second year in a row, The Luminary has been awarded St. Louis Magazine’s A-List. This year, we won for Best Music Series for the Elevator Music Series. Pick up a copy of the magazine throughout July to read about the award and to check out all of the other incredible award winners.

Here is a sample of what they had to say about us:

“How do you get folks to get out and support local bands? Find a venue with one of the best sound systems in the city…make it feel more like a happening and less like a gig.”

Thank you to St. Louis Magazine and to all of the bands, fans, and artists that make it all possible!

FORM 2010 is the first installment of an annual contemporary furniture, functional object and architectural design show in Saint Louis, MO.  FORM is presented by The Luminary Center for the Arts as a forum for exceptional designers to showcase their work, connect with a community of other designers and sell directly to supporters. The event will take place over two days on August 13-14, bringing together some of the best designers and firms from around the country.

FORM is a fundraiser for The Luminary Center for the Arts, a nonprofit artist resourcing organization that that seeks to provide meaningful support to emerging artists, audiences and appreciators in the St. Louis area. Proceeds from FORM will benefit an innovative new artist equipment library at The Luminary, which will provide area artists and creative professionals with access to specialized equipment such as a woodshop, media lab, film and video equipment, and large format printers.

FORM Details

Venue

The Luminary Center for the Arts
4900 Reber Place, Saint Louis MO 63139

_____________________________________________________________________________________

VIP Preview Night

August 13th 7p-10p

The event will include a silent auction for exclusive items from the designers, complimentary food and drinks, DJ and a special speaker.

Tickets $25 in advance, $30 at the door

BUY TICKETS

Food provided by Eleven Eleven Mississippi, Vin de Set, Moulin. Beer provided by New Belgium.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

General Admission

August 14th 11a-4p

Experience cutting-edge contemporary designs and take part in DIY workshops and raffles throughout the day.

Tickets $7 in advance, $10 at the door

BUY TICKETS

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Contact

For more information regarding the event, contact us at info@theluminaryarts.com.

OPEN CALL FOR 2011 INSTALLATION PROPOSALS

The Luminary Center for the Arts is a nonprofit contemporary arts organization based in St. Louis, MO. The Luminary seeks to provide meaningful support to emerging artists, audiences and appreciators in the St. Louis area. As a combined studio, education, and exhibition space, we bring together a conversation from all areas of the art world, encouraging creative engagement with contemporary art production and processes.

The Luminary invites artists and curators to submit proposals for site-specific installations to be realized in our dedicated Installation Space throughout 2011. The 500 sq. ft. space is a renovated former chapel with 20 ft vaulted ceilings, natural light, and a one-of-a-kind environment for the presentation of new work. Each artist accepted will have up to two weeks for installation and each project will remain up for six weeks from the date of the opening. The Luminary serves as an incubator of new ideas and proposals with an innovative, interactive and experimental approach will be given priority.

GUIDELINES

•    Proposals must be emailed to info@theluminaryarts.com no later than October 1, 2010. Emailed submissions should use ‘Installation Proposal 2011’ as the subject line. Physical submissions will also be considered and may be mailed to 4900 Reber Place, St. Louis, MO 63139.
•    Proposals must include a short (no more than 500 words) summary of the project, at least 5 examples of past work, timeline, contact information and a CV.
•    Applicants will receive a confirmation email within 2 weeks that your materials have been received.
•    Successful proposals will be notified within one month of the deadline.

On Saturday, July 24th from 10-4pm The Luminary will open its studios and gallery as a part of the Contemporary Art Musuem’s Open Studios event. The Luminary will be one of the official satellite locations, hosting artists from around the area in our gallery space in addition to the artists in our Residency Program.

During the Open Studios, we will have a few special events including Kimberly Wardenburg’s participatory installation, Negotiate/Collaborate and a project by designer Jordan Hicks who will be consulting with attendees on how to build specially designed furniture in conjunction with our annual FORM Contemporary Design Show.

The Luminary Installation Space (IS):

Kimberly Wardenburg: Negotiate/Collaborate

On view July 24-September 4, 2010

Opening reception to be held during the Contemporary Open Studios Tour on July 24th from 10am-4pm Kimberly Wardenburg’s treatise on the Middle East peace process, Negotiate/Collaborate, poetically engages the tangled personal and historical factors at play in the decades-long tension over the land of Israel. Community is most often though of in positive terms, but borders, parameters and common characteristics that define a community can also create divisions within or around it. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a participatory act in which the audience is invited to share Middle-Eastern flatbread with the artist. The bread is silkscreened with a patchwork of promises, pacts, treatises and agreements made throughout the process. The act simulataneously brings commonality and community to bear just before you are asked to tear and ‘break’ the bread and share it with the artist. This tension is at the center of the exhibit, which grows through print, video and handmade books dwelling on correlative metaphors of natural disaster and the long-frustrated peace talks.

At our first installment, BJ Vogt and Theodore, along with Spelling Bee, brought out over 250 people, from families to retirees, artists to residents of area lofts. We are getting ready to host the second event on Saturday, June 19th from 7-9pm with producers Phaseone and Parisian pairing with video artists Daniel Shown and Matt Strom. Check out the video of the first Performance below.

The Luminary presents POST PERFORMANCES: Theodore & BJ Vogt from Ryan Powell on Vimeo.