– The cinematic landscape is one that allows its spectator to feel illuminated by the image. Its dependency on natural light transfixes a sense of authenticity in deep space and solitude. Our eyes accept the light as it transforms the landscape into a companion.

Using a variety of media gathered from a recent journey by train to the west coast, Condo presents a sequence of rolling American landscapes, vast and monotonous. Within a personal search for Utopic freedom and a solitary challenge to the stereotypes and difficulties faced by the lone female traveler, Condo offers a series of contemplative observations. The procession of spaces; external and internal, virtual and actual, consider the artist’s active engagement with the gendered space of travel and her pursuit of self-actualization. The nuanced and beautiful yet withheld vistas echo the melancholic tenor of Neil Young’s iconic song of loss and maturation.

– “It’s the woman in you that makes you want to play this game”

The maker is dreaming of the ideal place in society but Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. The ideal projects itself upon a space aiming to create its non-existent, unsustainable self. If Utopia translates to “non place” is it possible for one to conquer this elusive condition?

SARA CONDO (b. 1987) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Chicago, IL. Born and raised in Cicero, IL she is a third-generation Lithuanian-American who uses personal narratives as a living site for exploration into the complexities of socio-economic class, psychology and gender. Using photography, video, sound and programming, her work depicts the meditative moments present in our everyday lives that illuminate truths of the human condition. Condo studied Media Arts at DePaul University and received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute in 2009. She is a current MFA candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

More information about Sara Condo can be found at saracondo.com

THE HILLS ESTHETIC CENTER is both a conventional and organic exhibition space located within a complex of artist’s studios and audio recording facilities on Chicago’s west side. Focusing on emerging artists and local arts initiatives, the space aims to promote a breadth of cultural production and invention in the service of independent artistic expression. We value a relaxed artist-controlled environment with the potential for the interaction of critical and social dialogues.

More information about The Hills Esthetic Center can be found at thehillsestheticcenter.com

ACRE (Artists’ Cooperative Residency and Exhibition) was founded in 2010 with the ambition to provide the arts community with an affordable, cooperative, and dialogue-oriented residency program. The residency itself takes place each summer in rural southwest Wisconsin and brings together artists from across disciplines and levels of experience to create a regenerative community of cultural producers. Over the course of the following year ACRE endeavors to further support its residents by providing venues for exhibitions, idea exchange, interdisciplinary collaboration, and experimental projects.

More information about ACRE can be found at www.acreresidency.org

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Tags: ACRE Projects, SaraCondo, Thehillsestheticcenter