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Christopher Trembley

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the world -part 2, 2009 - mixed media, ca. 139 x 200 cm

Arbitrary Statement

I believe the arbitrary mind to be the saving grace of the project of our culture - the capacity to organize ourselves into community. The possibilities of this project seem to have become very limited lately.

The advent of global urbanity did not evolve our understanding of the richness and diversity that is possible between us, of what it means to be human. On the contrary, the minds of human beings are increasingly recoiling from each other. They are swallowed by a tidal wave of post-historic, supra-capitalistic unilateralism, contaminated by the literalism of regressive mythology. Paranoia and control famish our minds - isolating us from each other, from our conversations, our humour and compassion. With the single-mindedness of fearful people we submit to the structuring of our days, the delegation of our viewing habits; we accede to the extinction of many species of meaning.

The arbitrary mind is an act of resistance. It insists on useless time. It walks when others take the car; it is slow but quick on its feet. It is a stroll to school that never arrives. It will stop on every corner and investigate the debris and look at those who pick up the trash. The arbitrary mind radiates possibility. It sings with "what ifs".

The arbitrary mind is always engaged; it stutters with pleasure, it repeats with joy. The arbitrary mind is not redundant. Its scans any surface; it reads between the cracks. It is promiscuous and can not be convenient, a body in touch with every other body. It does not accept discreet objects. It knows only strange things, things that resonate - it dances to rhythms layered over other rhythms.

The arbitrary mind is simple because most pleasure is simple. It is not simple-minded. It is a deliberate act, because my survival as an identity of many dimensions, as a human being, is at stake. It is a moment, my moment, when I refuse desperation and loneliness, when I engage the minuscule as the main event. I step into the community I yearn for - the exchange of individuals, of arbitrary minds - with my fists clenched dreamingly, with my laughter, my love.

Christopher Trembley

1966 born in San Francisco, United States

Lives and works in Berlin - Los Angeles, Germany

Education

1992-1994 École Supérieure d'Art Visuel, Geneva
1996 BFA New Genres, San Francisco Art Institute.
2002 MFA, UCLA, Los Angeles

Solo Exhibitions

2004 “Measures, Records, Connotations”, N 52 Exhibition Space, Berlin
1993 “S’Habiller”, Au Pere et Fils, Geneva, Switzerland

Group Exhibitions

2007 "paper works", Gallerie Kai Hilgemann, Berlin
2006 "Psychic Disobedience and Esoteric Acts", ev+a, Limerick
2003 “Stuff From LA and other Places”, Gallerie Christine König, Vienna
2002 “Song Poems“, Cohan, Leslie and Browne Gallery, New York
2000 “Good Bye”, 757 Villa, Pasadena
1999 “Hello” , The Living Room, Los Angeles
1999 “L.A. Edge Festival”, Performance festival, Bergamot Station, Los Angeles
1998 “The Next”, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York
1997 “Council Dinner”, Performance show, 2451 Harrison Gallery, San Francisco
1996 “Nihonn Kogakuinn Sennmonngakko”, Video Festival, Ota-ku, Tokyo

Projects

1999 “Calling Myself”, Performance, Mojave Desert phone booth, California
1999 “Passive Wrestling”, Performance-installation with J. Nelson, “L.A. Edge Festival” ,Los Angeles
1999 “Retentive Room”, Performance, “L.A. Edge Festival ,Los Angeles
1997 “Suit For Standing”, Performance-sculptures, California Plaza, Los Angeles
1997 “Chair For Standing”, Performance; Los Angeles

Collections

2000 “Passive Wrestling –Promotion”, Migro Collection, Switzerland
1996 “Boy”, Jane and John Andrich, Chicago
1994 “Dejeuner sur la Herbe”, Au Pere et Fils, Geneva, Switzerland

Bibliography

2003 Jennifer Nelson, “Reality Needs Changing”, Memory/Cage Editions, Zurich 2003
2003 Alexandra Mir, “Corporate Identity”, Lucas and Steinberg, New York 2003
2001 Anne Wehr, “Video Gaga”, Time Out New York, #300, June 21-28 2000,pg. 59.
1999 S. Stone, ”First L.A. Edge festival all over Town…”, Santa Monica Mirror, Vol.1, Issue 14, Sept.1999

Links

http://www.c-trembley.com
http://songpoems.org/index.htm
http://aleksandramir.info/projects/corporatementality/corporate.htm l

Christopher Trembley

Berlin
Berlin

me@c-trembley.com