Amazement Park

Issued in connection with an exhibition held June 6, 2009-May 2, 2010, Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York. A few years before his death in 1984, the conceptual artist Stan VanDerBeek recalled a dream he had of the ideal exhibition space: a dark room with "projected images, movies, and stills everywhere," which he playfully referred to as "Amazement Park." Taking inspiration from that dream, this project combines artwork by the influential filmmaker and artist with work by his daughter, Sarah, and son, Johannes, both contemporary artists. This unique book captures the ensuing exhibition: a studio-like space that changed every month for one year and featured works by all three artists. The drawings, photographs, video and sculpture that revolved in and out of the exhibition reflect the artists' common interest in re-combination and collage, ephemeral materials and architectural forms. The experience afforded son and daughter the chance for a working dialog with each other and their father, who died when they were still children. Editor Ian Berry interviews Sara and Johannes VanDerBeek about their work and that of their father, and essays explore each artist's oeuvre in detail.