The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art presented works from Colombian American artist Nancy Friedemann-Sánchez’s Casta Paintings series. Friedemann-Sánchez’s paintings reference casta painting, a genre popularized in eighteenth-century Spanish Colonial Central and South America that purported to depict a racial and social taxonomy of children born of racially mixed couplings. Friedemann-Sánchez’s contemporary casta paintings take inspiration from this problematic genre to reflect on the legacy of colonialism that lingers in the racial and social discrimination and marginalization present in her home country of Colombia and here in the United States.

The paintings feature life-size tracings of female bodies adorned with floral imagery lifted from both the indigenous resin technique of mopa mopa and Spanish colonial iconography. Masks from across Latin America and the Caribbean are included to represent stereotypes born of colonial-era mixed-race classifications that continue to perpetuate today.

Nancy Friedemann-Sánchez: Pinturas de Casta and the Construction of American Identity was on view from May 13 – July 16, 2022.

MiniMuseum – Richard McMahan – Spring 2008

View the Exhibition page for Richard McMahan’s MiniMuseum.

Executive Producer – Mark Sloan
Produced, Shot, and Edited by – Kendall Messick & Lida Burris Gibson
Special Assistance From – Susan Pearlstine, Leilani De Muth, Brian Rutenberg, Ray and Leah Greenberg, LeGrand and Allison Elebash, Robben Richards, Alisa Whit, Lynn Letson, and Diane Straney 

Richard McMahan’s minimusuem is co-sponsored by The Clemson Architecture Center in Charleston, The Friends of Addlestone Library, City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs, and The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston.

Memory Speaks – Tiebena Dagnogo –  Fall 1998

PATERNAL SUIT from Shirin Bazleh on Vimeo.

This film, by Susan Carney and Shirin Bazleh, accompanies the exhibition The Paternal Suit: Heirlooms from the F. Scott Hess Family Foundation. The film includes interviews with F. Scott Hess at his home in Los Angeles, California, insight into his creative process, still images of works in the exhibition, and an overview of the fascinating history of his paternal side.

This video accompanies the exhibition Patricia Boinest Potter: Patterns of Place.

Produced and Directed by John Reynolds
Executive Producer: Mark Sloan

Patricia Boinest Potter creates enigmatic artworks in the form of three-dimensional maps that she refers to as Isomorphic Map Tables and 1:1 Map Insets. Ostensibly representing a one-hundred-mile stretch of northern Alabama, these works also expand outward to the cosmos, then inward again into the dark energy of particle physics. The exhibition will include a series of six Map Tables and one hundred 1:1 Map Insets. The show offers a tantalizing mix of technical experimentation, metaphoric expansiveness, and curiosity in every square inch. Curated by Mark Sloan, director and chief curator of the Halsey Institute, the exhibition also features a 120-page color catalogue. The exhibition will travel for several years throughout the United States after it debuts in Charleston.

Pentagram of Loss – Pinky/MM Bass & Renee’ Cheveallier – 2008

Performers – Pinky/MM Bass, Barry Butler, Renee’ Cheveallier, Cara Derrick, Schuyler Halsey, Rachel Wright
Cellist – Wade Davis
Filmed and Edited by – Jesse Berger
Sponsored in part by – Leilani DeMuth 

Performed during the opening reception of MEND: love, life, & loss. Curated by Mark Sloan, October 24, 2008.

Paper, Wood, Rope etc. – E.H. Sorrells-Adewale – Fall 2001

Executive Producer – Mark Sloan
Produced By – John Reynolds
Interview – Jonathan Gaynor
Imagery Consultant – Buff Ross

Produced in conjunction with the exhibition Roberto Diago: La historia recordada at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art

This film was produced in conjunction with the exhibition Riccarda de Eccher: Montagna at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, August 25 – October 7, 2017.

Executive Producer: Mark Sloan
Director and Editor: Dave Stewart Brown
Producer: Tim McManus
Director of Photography: Cory Fallows
Original Score: Nick Goldston
Assistant Editor: R. Winkeller
Associate Producer: Brittni Bennett

Director & Producer: Dave Brown
Original Score: Bill Carson

This video documents Yamamoto’s salt installation at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art for Spoleto Festival USA 2012 and the construction of a viewing platform designed and built by students in Clemson Architecture Center in Charleston. It also includes an interview with the artist.

This video accompanies the exhibition Return to the Sea: Saltworks by Motoi Yamamoto.

Director & Producer: John Reynolds
Executive Producer: Mark Sloan
Original Score: Bill Carson

This video accompanies the exhibition Something to Take My Place: The Art of Lonnie Holley. The Halsey Institute commissioned acclaimed videographer John David Reynolds to create a mini- documentary about Lonnie Holley. In the video, the artist talks about his creative process, his artistic inspirations, and his hopes for the future.

Produced and Directed by John Reynolds
Executive Producer: Mark Sloan

The Halsey Institute has organized a multi-faceted showcase of American artist and musician Lonnie Holley. This comprehensive project features a exhibition, video, live concert, and monographic catalogue. This is Holley’s first solo museum show since 1994 and will feature a selection of his assemblage works since the early 1990s, with an emphasis on recent work. Holley incorporates natural and man-made objects imbued with cultural and artistic associations into narrative sculptures commemorating places, people, and events.

He creates spontaneous and improvisational work by editing and repurposing materials and objects. He presents concepts poetically by utilizing memory and storytelling to catalyze thought. The power of Holley’s work derives from the multiple associations brought forth by new juxtapositions and innovative combinations of familiar objects. These collisions excite the faculties of memory and meaning in the viewer, as his works trace the artist’s raw and honest attempt to turn a thought into a thing.

Directed, Filmed and Edited by Brett Novak
Interview Camera B: Max Flick
Executive Producer: Mark Sloan
Music By: Fields of Ohio, C. Scott, Jahzzar, and Chris Zabriskie

This video was produced to accompany the exhibition
THE INSISTENT IMAGE: RECURRENT MOTIFS IN THE ART OF SHEPARD FAIREY AND JASPER JOHNS
MAY 22 – JULY 12, 2014

Organized by the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston School of the Arts

The exhibition and video have been made possible by generous support from:
Hennessy, Obey, Sapporo, Francis Marion Hotel, Garden & Gun, Charleston Magazine, Charleston City Paper, City of Charleston, College of Charleston, School of the Arts.

Baker and Cortney Bishop, Garey and Diane DeAngelis, Edith Howle and Rick Throckmorton, Janyce McMenamin, Kate and Lindsay Nevin, Michael and Lisa Roy, Sandi Turner and Chris Wyrick, John and Karen Vournakis

Special Thanks to
Shepard Fairey, Dan Flores, Amanda Fairey, Nicholas Bowers, Zarathustra James, Rob Zagula, Jon Furlong, Angela Chvarak, Lorrie Boula, Victoria Yarnish, Kathryn Zenowitz, Scott Watson, Tim Keane, Steven Dopp, Scott Blackwell, Ann Marshall, Frank Haygood, Michael Shemtov, Michael Miller, Brett Novak, John Cordray, Kathryn Norton, Dean Valerie Morris, Andrew Steever, Jordan Fowler, Tatjana Beylotte, Karen Ann Myers, Lizz Biswell, Maggie David, Emily Rigsby, Colin Johnson, Nicole Hamblet, Katie Nocella, Caitlin Murphy, Heather Thornton, Haley Pierce, Tomoko Watarikawa, Paige Kline, Kevin Koozer, Jonathan Stout, Nic Roberts, Chad Reynolds.

Set in Stone:
Zen Garden Installation by Long-Bin Chen

Directed by Dave Brown
Original Soundtrack: Nathan Koci
Producer: Karen Ann Myers

The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art commissioned Rebound artist, Long-Bin Chen, to create a site-specific sculptural work concurrent with the exhibition Rebound: Dissections and Excavations in Book Art. Chen created the work during a residency (May 1 – 23, 2013), using books from the Charleston community. College of Charleston students Tommy Fox and Jordan Fowler, and sculpture studio technician Michael Morrison were Chen’s studio assistants during the residency.

Long-Bin Chen explores different cultural meanings, and seeks to combine ideas and concepts from the East with those of the West. He works with local printed material from the communities in which he is an artist-in-residence, including telephone books, magazines, and other cultural remnants of our information society. At first glance, the sculptures appear to be stonework, and most viewers are surprised to learn that Chen’s sculptures are soft and made from paper.

LONG-BIN CHEN
Born: Taipei, Taiwan. Lives/works: Bronx, New York

Long-Bin Chen received a MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York, and a BFA from Tung-Hai University, Taiwan. He was the recipient of a Joan Mitchell Foundation Award in 1996, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in both 1997 and 1998. He has exhibited widely in the United States, Germany, Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong. Recent solo exhibitions include Continental Express, Frederieke Taylor Gallery, New York; Burning Book, 798 Gallery, Beijing, China; icon & idea, Plum Blossom Gallery, Hong Kong; and Long-Bin Chen Book Art, Nou Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan. His most recent group exhibitions include Buddha Spur, Bochum Museum, Germany, and Do A Book, at White Space, Beijing. He is represented by Now Contemporary Art Gallery, Miami, and the Frederieke Taylor Gallery, New York.

This video accompanies the exhibition entitled, Rebound: Dissections and Excavations in Book Art.

State of the Arts – 2004 – in conjunction with SCETV

Produced by – Mark Sloan & Virginia Tormey Friedman
Directed by – Tim Fennell
Set Design – Buff Ross
Set Furniture – David Puls
Graphic Design – Michael Heagerty
Live Performance Music – Quentin Baxter & Marc Regnier
Set Lighting Design – Russ Schaaf & Trident Technical College
Engineer-In-Charge – Joel J. Corbett
Audio – Bruce Roberts
Stage Manager – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Camera Operators – Todd Shaffer, Chris Simmons, & Steve Wakeham
Camera Dolly – John D. Reynolds
Production Assistants – Geoff Miller, Chris Dooghe, Brian Higdon, & Loren Bridges
Special Thanks – Lee Higdon, Nikki G. Setzler, Marty Bluford, Catherine Christman, Charleston City Gallery, Vidonne Colston, Tom Fowler, Joan Mack, Meredith English, Sarvin Ghaemian, Mike Robertson, J. Standfield Gray, Roy Snipe, Amy Parker