About

In the participatory work The Interview (2016), visitors are invited to pick up the handset of a hotline telephone, which initiates a call to the artist; during their intimate conversations, MPA and visitors will speak about life on Mars. For the artist, this exchange functions as an analogue for both astronaut debriefings and the interviews required of civilian applicants to space exploration programs such as Mars One or SpaceX. MPA states: “Interviews have the weight of fact, but don’t have to rely on fact. A testament has its own agency. The Interview is a testament.” The Interview’s one-on-one exchange is an opportunity for mutual imagining that creates the possibility of a subjective counter-narrative. Who is interviewing whom? The artist? The visitor? In this open exchange, two beings come together to imagine with one another.

Join us for the opening reception of "THE INTERVIEW: Red, Red Future" a solo exhibition featuring the work of California-based artist MPA.

Join artist MPA and Curator Dean Daderko for a discussion focusing on MPA’s three-year investigation of the future of Mars, possibilities of current life on the red planet, and the prospect of human colonization in years to come. The program will feature an in-depth conversation on MPA’s commissioned installation, THE INTERVIEW: Red, Red Future, exposing concepts and processes that led to the materialization of a completely new body of work by the artist, which includes a dynamic installation that combines sculpture, light, and photography; a participatory work; and an artist’s publication. Following their discussion, the audience will be invited to participate in a brief Q&A.

In collaboration with the FotoFest 2016 Biennial, CHANGING CIRCUMSTANCES: Looking at the Future of the Planet, CAMH is pleased to announce the participation of MPA in a panel discussion as part of the three-day Marfa Dialogues/Houston (MD/HOU) symposium. MD/HOU is organized by FotoFest International, Ballroom Marfa, and the Public Concern Foundation to consider the scale of climate change from the perspective of artistic practice, public policy, critical theory, and environmental science. Additional events take place at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) and the Menil Collection, March 24-26. Additional details to follow.