‘JOY SANDWICH’ WORLD TOUR COMES TO ELLENSBURG
115 W 3RD AVE. ELLENSBURG, WA | JULY 27TH AT 5PM
British contemporary artist Stuart Semple has announced a series of spontaneous art Happenings which will take place in over 30 locations around the globe this July including Ellensburg, WA.
Nuwave Gallery is delighted to be part of the worldwide happenings and together with a group of local Ellensburg participants will bring the event to life on July 27th at 5pm.
Taking place at Nuwave Gallery (115 W 3rd Ave, Ellensburg, WA), visitors will be able to participate in this one-of-a-kind art moment.
“We are excited to be part of this movement across the globe that will bring joy to all!” – Erin Oostra, Nuwave Gallery Owner
After kicking off the project at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, Semple is collaborating with global communities like ours in over 30 places, including Mexico City, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo and Montreal to realize a series of Happenings – ‘JOY SANDWICH.’
The project is taking place across galleries and museums, hackspaces, coffee shops, public spaces, tattoo parlors and university campuses. ‘JOY SANDWICH’ will happen throughout the world following an open call out to participate, in locations including London, Los Angeles, Texas, Montreal, Brussels, Vancouver, Las Vegas, Sao Paulo, Missouri, Cincinnati, San Juan, Cabanatan City, Glasgow, and Mexico City, among others. See the full list here: stuartsemple.com/happenings
“The line between art and life should be kept as fluid, and perhaps indistinct, as possible.“ — Allan Kaprow
These new ‘Joy Sandwich’ Happenings will wrestle once again with recurring themes in Semple’s work – ideas of technological isolation, physical community, connection and the impact of art on societal mental health. And in the spirit of the golden age of happenings, these spontaneous works will erupt and be led entirely by the participants.
Semple’s theme is one of coming together, union and imagining a possible future built for communities where art and joy coalesce to form new physical bonds.
With several communities around the world still failing to reconnect after Covid, the artist hopes that these Happenings might be a small way to bridge the gap between our connected digital lives and the real world.
The artist used his online community to meet a diverse global group of participants, and so far has orchestrated the organization of these Happenings entirely via email and video chat. Each group that wished to host a happening was included. From people wanting to host one in their house or back garden, to major museums and cities. At this moment in time, the specific nature of the happenings is top secret to allow for spontaneity. The groups themselves don’t even know what the action will be, with the artist set to send them a set of instructions shortly before their performance.
Anyone can participate in the happening at Nuwave Gallery, it’s totally free and you can find out more here: www.StuartSemple.com/Happenings
EDITORS NOTES:
Nuwave Gallery is a contemporary art gallery featuring the work of Erin Oostra, as well as a diverse portfolio of rotating artists. In collaboration with Fortuity Cellars, we are a space for people to enjoy art, get creative, and be inspired. We do this by curating artists along with highlighting all creatives in our community through our permanent installation: the community wall. Our mission is to showcase artists, create a space for people to gather, and support those who help make our communities better.
Stuart Semple is a multi-disciplinary British artist who over the last 25 years has presented several performances and Happenings, including his famous HappyCloud work, where artificially generated eco clouds in the shape of smileys are released into the sky. Initially released from outside Tate Modern in London at the time of the 2009 recession, the work has been presented by institutions including the Hong Kong Arts Center, Denver Art Museum and The Whitworth, and cities including Dublin, Toronto and Moscow have hosted the work.
Pre-Pandemic, Semple’s ‘Hug Huddle’, took place at London’s Tower Bridge, where strangers embraced one another. His ‘Emotional Baggage Drop’ took residence at Denver’s iconic Union Station - where passers-by could confide an emotional burden in a stranger, in a structure akin to a catholic confessional. Semple’s ‘Jump’ for Federation Square in Melbourne gave the simple instruction to the public to play on a giant inflatable white platform. The multi
layered and highly ambitious artwork ‘Something Else’ took in the entirety of London’s Dulwich Picture Gallery last Summer, with a series of participatory happenings woven through a complex set of installations and performances.
He is perhaps best known for his online performance project around the Blackest Black and Pinkest Pink paints, where he famously banned fellow artist Anish Kapoor from using them, before disseminating multiples of them to hundreds of thousands of artists on the condition that they confirmed they “were not Anish Kapoor, or associated with him.”
