Exhibition

And, Apollo: A Laboratory, a work in progress by artist and Vera List Center Fellow Dean Erdmann, combines experimental documentary, video, and sculptures to connect autobiography to historical pasts that have produced current moments of social and political crisis. The narrative of And, Apollo is anchored in the Mojave Desert, the place where the artist grew up and the background for their exploration of Americana, the body, and queerness.

Using artifacts and storytelling Erdmann turns the Californian desert into a landscape reverberating with connections between the Cold War space race, militarization, technological acceleration, All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) culture, class, and meth addiction. What might seem to be unrelated histories and cultural expressions, rituals or diseases are distilled into a complex narrative that crystallizes intersections between the deeply personal and geopolitical.

Together the works on view become a multifaceted reflection of the artist’s intimate knowledge of the desert’s physical force, its potential for radical openings and different forms of being, as well as its geopolitical complexities. In the desert landscapes of And, Apollo Dean Erdmann discovers materialities and their transformation, queer fragmentation, and cosmic exploration.

And, Apollo: A Laboratory is organized by Christiane Paul, Director/Chief Curator, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, and Eriola Pira, Curator, Vera List Center for Art and Politics.

Dean Erdmann’s And, Apollo: A Laboratory is a 2018-2020 Vera List Center Fellowship project and has been supported by funds, research assistance, and residencies in New York and Berlin provided by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics. Additional support has been provided by Urban Glass and the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center.