FREESTATE

Artist Cole Sternberg will conceive and enact an agitprop public movement via exhibition, dedicated website and propaganda factory that conjures into conceptual existence The Free Republic of California. Taking place both inside and outside ESMoA, as well as an online digital revolution, FREESTATE prolifically details and addresses concepts of human rights, the environment, democracy and freedom through a multi-media and publicly activated artistic journey, one that recalls Joseph Beuys’ 7000 Oaks (which precipitated the founding of Germany’s Green Party in 1980). Cole Sternberg employs sculpture in its 3-dimensional totality: physical, performative, and social to turn a mirror onto American society’s past moral choices and previously unconsidered future.

Official Campaign Website: www.thefreerepublicofcalifornia.com
 
The first LAB Resident artist (October 2020 to May 2021) for FREESTATE was Álvaro D. Márquez. Alvaro is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher who works primarily around issues of historical and contemporary forms of displacement, using print-based installation, sculpture and fiber art.

The current LAB Resident artist (June 2021 to September 2021) is Krystal Chang. In response to FREESTATE, Krystal Chang has created an installation that includes foraged natural materials, photographs, collectible trading cards, and an online catalog of California flora – native, naturalized, invasive, adopted. The online catalog will be updated and added to during the course of the project. You can view the catalog by clicking here: “The Flora of the Free Republic of California“. 

ESMoA’s Experience 47: FREESTATE is curated by Dr. Bernhard ZuenkelerESMoA’s Experience 47: FREESTATE is curated by Dr. Bernhard Zuenkeler.

Image: Cole Sternberg | owls stirred the silence here and there |thermal transfer, paper and acrylic on finished wood panels | 2020