Untitled (Open Space) plays with space, its contradiction, and the walls from which it attempts to break. Defining openness requires a container from which to rebel, a thing contrary to the idea of space itself, something that both lives and contradicts its own definition. For EAST 2019, I have gathered work by 14 artists following an open call format. From over 300 submissions the 14 participating artists were selected based on work that formally and playfully challenged the notion of space and how to interact with it.

Participating Artists:

Sono Osato (Austin, TX)
Othiana Roffiel (Mexico City, MEX)
Yuliya Lanina (Austin, TX)
Aja Segapeli (El Paso, TX)
Alexandra Robinson (Austin, TX)
Alison Starr (Dallas, TX)
Catherine Allen (Midland, TX)
Hannah Dean (Artesia, NM)
Hazel Batrez Chavez (Albuquerque, NM)
Jiaqi Zhang (Evanston, IL)
Jon Whitfill (Slaton, TX)
Justin Korver (San Antonio, TX)
Kelley O’Brien (Cleveland, OH)
Matthew Cronin (Austin, TX)

About the Curator:
Leslie Moody Castro is an independent curator and writer whose practice is based on itinerancy and collaboration. She has produced, organized, and collaborated on projects in Mexico and the United States for more than a decade, and her repertoire of critical writing is also reflective of her commitment to place. She is committed to creating moments of artistic exchange and dialogue and as such is a co-founder of Unlisted Projects, an artist residency program in Austin, Texas. In 2017, she was selected as Curator and Artistic Director of the sixth edition of the Texas Biennial, and was recently the first invited curator in residence at the Galveston Artist Residency. Moody Castro earned a Master’s degree at The University of Texas at Austin in Museum Education with a portfolio supplement in Museum Studies in 2010, and a Bachelor’s degree in Art History at DePaul University in Chicago in 2004, and has been awarded two grants from the National Endowment of the Arts for her curatorial projects (2016, 2017). In addition to her firm belief that the visual arts creates moments of empathy, Moody Castro also believes that Mariachis make everything better.