Dream Factory

Date: August 1, 2002, at 8 p.m.

Artists: Milutin Gubash and Althea Thauberger

Artists' Talk: August 3 at noon

Dream Factory was a collaboration between Milutin Gubash and Althea Thauberger that transformed part of the gallery into a reconfigured television studio that hosted a performance night consisting of a number of amateur acts. A standard 3-camera studio mode before a live studio audience was used. The stage consisted of a generic backdrop, and a live feed was seen on two TV monitors. Inspired by the format of a variety show, the performers were solicited from a casting call put out in local newspapers under the classified section. The collaboration allowed the two artists to stage and produce a show in which the performers were given the freedom to participate without being inhibited or having a direction imposed on them. The people who replied to the advertisement determined the tone and direction of the event. What made this project interesting was its ability to access a community who otherwise would not exhibit in a contemporary gallery setting. It thus provided a space in which notions of art and entertainment were expanded and reconsidered.