January 2007 Page 2

> "TEMPTATIONS OF THE [ART] FAIR"

Peter Schjeldahl wrote (NEW YORKER magazine, Dec 25 - Jan 1, 2007 issue, page 148):

"In contemporary art, this is the decade of the fair, as the nineties were the decade of the biennial. Collectors, with piles of money, have displaced curators, with institutional clout, as arbiters of how new art becomes known and rated, and therefore of what it can mean: less and less, after qualifying as the platonic consumer good."

The entire two-page article is well worth reading, and archving, for any aspiring working artist.

I might add to his comment that "Educators" are ALSO well along in the process of displacing curators in museums; some of which have either eliminated curatorial positions entirely (as at the Norman Rockwell), or have subjugated curators to the whims and fads of socially engineered so-called "Education" in selection and presentation of exhibitions (as at the Brooklyn Museum.)

If what the author says is true, and I believe it is largely true, then artists need to aim their marketing approaches at Collectors with "piles of money" and at the dealers who service them.

> AUTOMATION '07

Exhibition runs January 6 through January 20, 2007

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 6, 2007 6PM - 10PM

From the birthplace of the automobile, and in concurrence with the 2007 North America International Auto Show, the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID) presents Automation '07, the show that takes a look at the big idea that really got the Motor City rolling.

"Our material environment, aesthetics, and culture are dominated by the output of automation", says Exhibition Coordinator, Sambuddha Saha. "For the last century, systems of economic production and consumption have been underpinned by the ability to manufacture repeatable products in marketable volumes to predictable standards of quality. Abstraction, repetition, aggregation, encapsulation, order, and mass are some of the underlying principles on which modern work, leisure, society, and environment are organized and managed".

As the dominant modes of economic production and industrial organization mutate, adapt, and evolve, we search for our place in the new order of things. CAID has challenged the artistic community to pause, reflect on, recast, and reinvent the technologies that were once taken for granted. CAID invites the people of Detroit and its vast motor hinterland to join them in a skeptical celebration of the automated life.

Automation opens to the public on January 6 and runs through January 20 and will feature the work of Andrew Thompson, Oak Park, Michigan; Brandon Vickerd, Toronto, Ontario; Charles Fairbanks & Adrienne Vetter, Ann Arbor, Michigan; David Bowen, Deluth, Minnesota; Deva Eveland, Chicago, Illinois; Erin Swanson, Indianapolis, Indiana; Frank Pahl, Wyandotte, Michigan; Katharine Liesen, Detroit, Michigan; Melissa Machnee, Canton, Michigan; Mike Richison, Oak Park, Michigan; Moshe Quinn, San Francisco, California; Ryan Buyssens, Tawas City, Michigan; Tectonic Industries, St Paul, Minnesota; Teresa Petersen, Detroit, Michigan; and Tyler Bohm, Columbus, Ohio.

An opening reception to meet the artists will be held on January 6 from 6PM to 10PM. The reception is free and open to the public.

The Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit is open Saturdays from 12pm to 6pm or by appointment. Groups and classes are welcome. CAID is located in the Woodbridge Historic District at 5141 Rosa Parks Blvd, (two blocks north of Warren Avenue, two blocks south of the I-94 expressway, three blocks west of Trumbull Blvd.) Admission to the exhibition is free and free on street parking is available.

For further details, contact the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit:
5141 Rosa Parks Boulevard
Detroit, Michigan 48208
313.899.CAID
info@thecaid.org
www.thecaid.org