if you kill a spider, it’s going to rain
The Second in a Series of Exhibitions on Arbitrary Systems
Joey Cannizzaro
Mariah Csepanyi Cool
Matthew Hotaling
Kari Reardon
Martabel Wasserman
Curators: Kellie Lanham-Friedman and Isabel Theselius
March 21, 2021 – May 15, 2021
Zoom Opening Reception: March 21, 2021, 2PM – 3:30PM
Special Event: Zoom I-Ching Reading/Artist Talk, April 25, 2021, 4PM – 5pm
I-Ching Reader: David Roden
“Om du dödar en spindel kommer det regna” is a Swedish superstition that translates to “If you kill a spider, it’s going to rain.” Unfounded beliefs like this one are common across all cultures and time periods. Although not based in fact, superstitions still shape the way we interact with the world around us. In America, even otherwise logical, educated adults find themselves avoiding stepping on cracks in the sidewalk in order to not injure their mothers. It is these kinds of irrational and whimsical yet often mundane practices that this exhibition seeks to explore.
Ultimately, at times superstition allows us to relinquish control and at other times makes us feel like we have some control over an otherwise unpredictable situation. If there is something magical or otherworldly at play, it allows us to believe that whatever happens is actually meant to be or that we are able to control the outcome. This exhibition will display works that are created from the artists’ superstitious beliefs, as well as relinquish some curatorial control to the Fates. This is the second exhibition in a series of curatorial experiments that attempts to break down the artist/curator power struggle - the first, Written in the Stars, being an exhibition curated with the aid of an astrologer. In, if you kill a spider, it’s going to rain, the artists have been chosen, but the work they are producing is still unknown. Each artist was given the prompt “Create an artwork based on a personal superstition or superstitious ritual”. The results are this exhibition.
The five artists who took on this curatorial prompt, Joey Cannizzaro, Mariah Csepanyi Cool, Matthew Hotaling, Kari Reardon, and Martabel Wasserman, were chosen for their artistic and/or personal interest in the subject of superstition. Their mediums, cultural backgrounds, and relationship to the topic are vastly dissimilar. Since the curators did not select the works these artists are submitting, the conversation these works will create promises to be an eclectic, diverse, and ultimately well-rounded statement on our cultures' relationship to superstition. Please join us in experiencing the outcome!