demo DEMO (Installation View), DEMO Project, 2018. 

demo DEMO (Installation View), DEMO Project. 2018. 

Artist Edward Kelley casting small versions of the house that held DEMO Project, 2018. 

BY DULCEE BOEHM
FEBRUARY 6, 2018
RESPONSE > SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS

Talking with Allison Lacher and Jeff Robinson about DEMO Project in Springfield, Illinois is a little bitter sweet. I've known of the project for the last couple years, been involved with shows there through Say Uncle, and introduced other people to the project. Admittedly, I arrived late to DEMO after it had already been underway for two years and now it is ending with its final show demo DEMO. For this finale, artists have made work on and for the outside of the small white house turned contemporary art space. A farewell party was held  in January of 2018, and before the end of February, the space is scheduled to be demolished.

From the beginning of DEMO Project, everyone involved knew the time would come for the project to end. The Springfield Art Association generously donated the building to use until it needed the space to expand upon its mission and facilities. So, DEMO was begun with full knowledge of its temporary nature. Allison and Jeff, both founding members of the space, claim that demolition date has been a source of strength to both the artists and art works that have visited Springfield through DEMO. The impending demolition added a certain urgency to the project, and Jeff claims that urgency sets it apart from other art spaces or institutions that may crave longevity.

 The work in the final exhibition seems to be more of a celebration of DEMO's temporary quality more than anything else. Personal tendencies led me to think about the final show in almost a longing way, wishing the space could somehow continue- but that's not the story. Much of the work, including the faux Hooters sign adorning the peak of the small house by Mike Rea, and the wrecking ball on the side with a red and white target painted on the brick chimney by Travis Janssen, indeed have a sense of humor. Overall, the work seems well behaved and sits neatly affixed to or directly on the house itself as it awaits demolition. Jeff said to me that some of the remaining work in this final show is also intended to be demolished with the house when the time comes.

Setting my affection aside, I wonder about how well behaved the final show is for something that's ending. I wonder if the work is loud enough, or a big enough celebration of the impact that the project has had on Springfield and on the Central Illinois art community. I wonder if the demolition crew hired for the final demolition should also be on the list of artists at the final show.  Simultaneously, I wonder why I have the expectation that the final show needs to be loud or decadent, and I think part of the answer is that the show isn't about fulfilling a desire for a grand final stand. 

Upon reflection, demo DEMO brings up more questions for me than it does provide any sort of grand finale through some extreme humor or criticality or lament. Instead, the show makes me question what sort of things will still be left when the physical building is gone, it makes me wonder who will miss it, it makes me wonder why it was there.  All these questions of course are framed for me by the positive impact the project has had on my time in Central Illinois. I talked with Allison and Jeff about some of these lingering questions and they had similar answers.

Allison wrote to me, “Here in Central Illinois, along with our friends in Chicago and St. Louis and beyond– we have found each other. And demolition won’t undo that.” Jeff shared a similar sentiment, knowing and embracing the remains of DEMO as intentionally immaterial. He wrote, “I hope we have energized the community. I hope we have inspired people, and that as a result new projects will supplant DEMO.” So, it seems in one simple sense the project was a place to meet others invested in contemporary art. The founders also say due to their choice to live outside of a large city, beginning DEMO was also for them. It allowed them (and many others), to remain connected and excited about contemporary art despite being outside of a large city containing an immediate and buzzing art scene. This recalls the most poetic work for me at demo DEMO by Edward Kelley. Kelley melted down the iron radiators from inside, and cast small versions of the house for people to keep. This work stands out since it mimics the way that DEMO is both specific to its place and extends outward.

 While the impact of DEMO moves beyond Springfield, up to Chicago and over to St. Louis, and even to further places through social media, it has also always remained very local. “This isn’t an operation that we could just uproot and place down in a new site, and that is why the end is hard – it’s has to end because DEMO couldn’t be anywhere else or anything else,” Allison said in response to my question on who the project is for, how it was significant to them. Her response leaves me with an important thought. I wonder if DEMO is something that I can't ever understand entirely because I don't live on the house’s block. If I did, I'm sure I would be writing something different. Instead, I lived away from it, and my experience of the project is necessarily framed by that distance. I believe there is a richness to something that cannot be duplicated, something that requires people to show up on the front porch and sit for a while. I was always a visitor, so that's the perspective I write from. I always enjoyed sitting on the porch of a house in Springfield, Illinois with people I didn't know who were also excited about art.

DEMO Project is a contemporary art gallery in Springfield, Illinois. Exhibiting artists interpret the non-traditional exhibition space as they self-direct, and are offered considerable latitude to experiment and present without risk. DEMO Project supports contemporary art projects, champions artists, and offers the Capital City of Illinois a venue to see and consider contemporary art practices. The DEMO Project facility, a space donated for use by the Springfield Art Association and directed by artists affiliated with the University of Illinois Springfield, is slated for demolition in the February, 2018.

demo DEMO features former DEMO artists Adam Farcus, Aimée Beaubien, Alberto Aguilar, Andy Roche, Buzz Spector, Edward Kelley, Erin Hayden, Frances Lightbound, Gina Hunt, Guen Montgomery, Industry of the Ordinary, Jessica Caponigro, Mark Joshua Epstein and Will Hutnick, Mark Rospenda, Mike Rea, Sage Dawson, Tom Burtonwood, and Travis Janssen.

demoprojectspace.com

Dulcee Boehm is an artist and writer based in the Midwest. In performative and object-based works particular attention is paid to country culture, bodies, farm work and food. Boehm has exhibited in a variety of contexts from the former Mess Hall (2012) in Chicago, Illinois to an old cattle barn at Grin City (2014) in Grinnell, Iowa. She co-founded a nomadic residency & exhibition program called Say Uncle in 2015 and is currently a co-director with Cory Imig of the Beyond Alternatives symposium focusing on artist-led projects outside large metropolitan areas.  Boehm also continues to be part of Ox-Bow School of Art & Artist Residency as a staff member since 2010.  

dulceeboehm.com

All images courtesy DEMO Project.

RESPONSE
A feature of project reviews experienced in person. Response will provide artists with much needed critical response to their work. Response is opinion-based but is not an op-ed.