Institute of Cultural Inquiry

The Institute of Cultural Inquiry (ICI) is a non-profit organization located in Los Angeles, California. The ICI states that its mission is "to educate the public about the visual methods used in society to describe and discuss cultural phenomena." The ICI sponsors art projects, performances, exhibitions, symposia, and publications related to its major areas of interest, which include the AIDS pandemic, obsolete technologies, and marginal cultural figures.

1 Overview
2 Publications
3 Personnel
4 External links
5 References

Overview

The Institute of Cultural Inquiry has two long-running projects that address the global AIDS/HIV pandemic.^[1] For the AIDS Bottle Project, which began in the 1980s, the ICI creates unique glass bottles memorializing Americans in the arts and art-related fields who have died from complications due to HIV/AIDS. Each bottle has an individual's name and year of death etched on the glass and a short biography printed under the lid; the interior may be left empty or serve as a receptacle for personal memorabilia. The bottles have been publicly displayed at or outside such venues as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the New Museum (New York), and the New York Public Library. Afterwards, the bottles are given away free to members of the public.^[2]^[3]^[4]

The ICI's second long-running AIDS-related project is the AIDS Chronicles. For this project, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2003, the front pages of the New York Times are collected. Then these pages are painted over in dark red, leaving visible only information pertaining to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. On World AIDS Day, the ICI displays the prior year's pages, creating a visual record of the ebb and flow of attention to the subject on the part of one of the most influential newspapers in the United States.^[5]^[6]

In addition to sponsoring such projects, the ICI houses some permanent exhibits as well as an archive and a library that are open to the public by appointment. Among the permanent exhibits are:

the Earth Cabinet: a collection of earth from locations around the world
the Ephemera Kabinett: a collection of ephemeral printed matter from around the world
bound volumes of the AIDS Chronicles, with bindings commissioned from visual and book artists.

Publications

Through its publishing arm, ICI Press, the institute has published three books and a number of smaller publications. The books are all anthologies combining scholarly essays with artwork and other visual material:

Bataille's Eye & ICI Field Notes 4 (1995): an examination of philosopher Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye, focusing on the publication and translation history of Bataille's text. Edited by Deborah Cullen, this book is currently out of print.
Benjamin's Blind Spot: Walter Benjamin and the Premature Death of Aura (2001): an application of cultural critic Walter Benjamin's ideas to contemporary life, with marginal material from a found manuscript known as The Manual of Lost Ideas. Edited by Lise Patt.^[7]^[8]
Searching for Sebald: Photography After W.G. Sebald (2007): a survey of German novelist W.G. Sebald's use of images, together with artist's projects that were inspired by Sebald. Edited by Lise Patt with Christel Dillbohner.^[9]^[10]^[11]

Each of these books was published in multiple editions, including a trade edition and at least one special or artist's edition.

Personnel

The ICI is directed by Los Angeles-based artist and curator Lise Patt, who works with a group of Associates that assist in the planning, implementation, and archiving of ICI projects. ICI Associates have included Robert Allen, Melinda Smith Altshuler, Anna Ayeroff, Deborah Cullen, Christel Dillbohner, Axel Forrester, Martin Gantman, Antoinette LaFarge, Gero Leson, Yolande Macias McKay, Arnaldo Morales, Deborah Paulson, Danny Redfern, Lothar Schmitz, and Sande Sisneros.

External links

Institute of Cultural Inquiry website

References

^ Kalmann, Frederick. "Day Without Art: Reflection on AIDS' Cultural Impact." The Birmingham News 29 November 1992. Print.
^ Clifton, Leigh A. "The Bottle Project." ArtWeek (28 November 1991). Print.
^ "Bottled-Up Emotions." The Advocate (29 January 1991). Print.
^ Moreton, Bethany. "Glass Jars Represent Lights Gone Out." The Advocate (8 December 1993). Print.
^ Cohen, Danielle. "Victims Remembered on World AIDS Day." Our Times (Santa Monica) 29 November 1998. Print.
^ "The AIDS Chronicles at the Institute of Cultural Inquiry." New Times Los Angeles (3 December 1997). Print.
^ LaFarge, Antoinette. "Manual of Lost Ideas." Other Voices. May 2007. Web. <http://www.othervoices.org/3.1/mli/index.php>.
^ Glass, Angela. "Benjamin's Blindspot." Afterimage (2002). Print.
^ Blatt, Ari J. "Phototextuality: Photograph, Fiction, and Criticism." Visual Studies (2009). Print.
^ Sheppard, Richard. "Woods, Trees and the Spaces In Between." Journal of European Studies (2009). Print.
^ Dillon, Brian. "Brian Dillon on Searching for Sebald: Photography After W.G. Sebald." Rev. of Searching for Sebald: Photography After W.G. Sebald. Aperture Summer 2008. Print.