Feb 25
-
Mar 25
Annie Albagli,

Annie Albagli, "Stone Soup: Santa Rosa, [Basaltic] Andesite"

Presented by Labor is a Medium at Labor is a Medium

Opening Reception: February 25 2023 3–6pm
Open to all. Soup for free. Masks required.

On view February 25–March 25
1183 DeMeo St, Santa Rosa, CA
Open most Saturdays 10am–2pm, or by appointment.

laborisamedium.org | @laborisamedium

As part of the opening celebration for Stone Soup: Santa Rosa, everyone is encouraged to bring a vegan ingredient for a Stone Soup, which will be made and served. Weather permitting, Vadim will host Firebar Vadim, a story-telling performance around Labor is a Medium's very small fire pit. Visitors are invited to bring a piece of wood-with-a-story to burn.

The roadways from Santa Rosa to San Francisco were once lined with basalt pavers and blocks. Mined from local quarries around the Sonoma Mountains and Annadel State Park—primarily relying on the labor of Chinese and, later, Italian immigrants—this basalt was also used in construction of historic Santa Rosa structures such as the St. Rose Catholic Church, the Western Hotel, the La Rose Hotel, the Carnegie Library, and the Railway Express Office. This stone geologists classify as the "Sonoma Volcanics" laid a template for modern infrastructure and trade. Lichen and mosses have since reclaimed these mines, and the andesite that used to line streets and buildings from Santa Rosa to San Francisco has been replaced by concrete and asphalt.

Stone Soup: Santa Rosa, [Basaltic] Andesite conjures the ghosts of this volcanic landscape, reconstructing Labor is a Medium's exhibition wall out of images of basalt extracted from local mines. The project extends a line of questioning Annie began with the first iteration of Stone Soup in Chisinau, (aka "The White City"), Moldova, prodding the links between human labor, landscape, and urban environments; the ways in which natural histories resurface in the materials of commerce and capital; and how we might begin to reach into Deep Time from the present.

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Annie Albagli's work pays particular attention to our entanglements with landscapes molded by power—be it government, military, or industry. Through archival and field research, play, and community-engaged projects, she offers new ways to witness landscapes and their relationship to human and nonhuman worlds, examining the cultural contexts from which they are born and the layers of manipulation that shape them.

Her work has been shown nationally at such venues including the Headlands Center for the Arts, YBCA, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the Art Museum of the Americas, and internationally at Muzeul Zemstvei in Chisinau, Moldova; Art Prospect in St. Petersburg, Russia; The Trash 3 Festival in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; and Beita Gallery in Jerusalem. Her videos have been screened as part of the Imagined Biennials Project at the Tate Modern in London, UK; the Bavarian Film Festival, ZWICKL in Schwandorf, Germany; and Artist Television Access in San Francisco, CA. She has participated in residencies throughout the U.S. and internationally including Fondazione Antonio Ratti in Como, Italy; Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus in Schwandorf, Germany; Art East in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; and The Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, CA. She has contributed to various artists’ land projects such as AZ West, Mildred’s Lane, and Salmon Creek Farm. Between 2017-18, Albagli was a YBCA Truth Fellow. She is a co-founder and editor of the publication, WHIZ WORLD, and former Co-Director of the Royal Nonesuch Gallery. She teaches at the University of Nevada MFA-IA program.

Dates & Times

2023/02/25 - 2023/03/25

Additional time info:

Opening Reception: February 25 2023 3–6pm

Open to all. Soup for free. Masks required.

Location Info

Labor is a Medium

1183 De Meo St, Santa Rosa, CA 95407