On November 6th at 7:30 at Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh artists Bob Qualters, Vanessa German and Vicky Clark come to a special American Shorts “Reading on Mars”, to discuss Life on Mars, the 2008 Carnegie International, and read their personal selections of fiction and poetry inspired by the exhibition.

When American Shorts and Carnegie Museum decided to collaborate on a reading for Life on Mars, we weren’t immediately sure what direction we wanted to take the program.  American Shorts Reading Series has always built its readings around certain themes; pranks, sex, baseball.  Certainly “art” as a topic was too broad and vague.  It seemed almost impossible to try and to narrow down readings that in some way pertained to the multitude of visions and ideas explored in the entire Life on Mars.  

Why not ask our readers?  

We decided to choose artists to talk about art, local Pittsburgh artists.  We picked Bob Qualters and Vanessa German not only because of their talent as visual artists but also for their connection to words and poetry (Vanessa being a poet herself, Bob incorporating words into his paintings and murals).  We asked them to pick a piece of poetry or a passage in a book they felt related to a specific piece in the show.  Immediately, they both knew what they wanted to read.

Vicky Clark, renowned curator and educator, will be on hand to open the evening and lead the artists in a conversation about their readings, the works of art, Life on Mars and whatever other topics come up.
And to top the evening off we will screen the Pittsburgh premiere of Life on Mars artist Ryan Gander’s film As it presents itself—Somewhere vague.  Ryan worked with WONKY Films of Bristol to create Plasticine character which were then animated using traditional stop motion animation.  WONKY Films gives us this explanation of 25 minute film, describing it “as an investigation into the notion of entertainment, the work is an attempt to look at the relationship between performer and spectator and to rigorously discuss the stereotypes of performing art”.

Tickets for the event are $15 which includes admission to the museum prior to the event as well as one drink to the American Shorts Season Finale After Party.  Join us in the museum café for hot cider, pumpkin bars and plenty of beer and wine.
Call 412-622-8866 for tickets.