NASHVILLE, TN.- Cheekwood will hold a dual opening of contemporary art on October 10 for Michael Oliveri’s exhibition, Innerspace, Permaculture and UFOs, in the Temporary Contemporary gallery and Reverse Angle: Emerging Video Artists in the Video Installation galleries. The reception opening the two shows will be from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Cheekwood’s Frist Learning Center. Michael Oliveri and Greg Pond will give a gallery talk at 7:00 that evening.

In Innerspace, Permaculture and UFOs, Michael Oliveri continues his journey into the oddly everyday nature of human experiment. In several sculptures and photographs he dives into the material world that lies at the heart of scientific progress. His work playfully explores the inner spaces of molecular science, nanotechnology, biological engineering, in short, the small- and large-size matter that is loaded with scientific possibilities but almost invisible to the human eye.

“I am conceptually driven, and intrigued by independent scientific discoveries, and theories that reveal coincidental relationships”, said Oliveri. “Once I have absorbed the scope of my research I trust my intuition to weave these observations into a conceptually motivated aesthetic.”

Oliveri is currently collaborating with a team of nano scientists at the University of Georgia to create imagery from the structures produced in the lab. Although the scientists are observing the nano structures as objects, he is approaching them as subjects and discovering new micro and macro relationships.

Michael Oliveri is Chair of Digital Media at The University of Georgia. He has an M.F.A. in New Genre from the University of California Los Angeles. He has had numerous solo exhibitions in California and Georgia combining his interest in science and sculpture.

During Oliveri’s exhibition at Cheekwood, school children will also have the opportunity to conduct hydroponic experiments in a greenhouse lab. Innerspace, Permaculture and UFOs will be on display October 11, 2008 through January 4, 2009.

For the exhibition, Reverse Angle: Emerging Video Artists, video artists from around the world submitted over 50 works to be selected and curated by Greg Pond, an artist and Professor of Art at the University of the South. This exhibition presents a selection of current work in the field of new media. Reverse Angle will be on view from October 11, 2008 through April 4, 2009 and will feature the work of:

Keith Sullivan - On a sparse, theatrical stage Keith Sullivan reenacts famous iconic events in American culture: from the fast in your-face-sounds of musician Ian MacKaye’s band, Minor Threat, to the early video work of the artist Bruce Nauman tramping around in his studio. Sullivan titles the piece Dasein, a German word meaning “existence” or “presence.” He suggests that his own existence is made up of an endless array of overlapping cultural icons that refuse to cohere and settle.

Keith Sullivan received his MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He has worked as the Program Manager of the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Alexander Reyna - Alexander Reyna’s Star is a collage of bright, sugary patterns and overlapping images that produce an endless collusion of ever-changing eye candy. Reyna creates a protean space in which imagery from advertising, TV shows, and even pornography are thrown together in a seductive explosion.

Alexander Reyna was born in N’Djemana, Chad in Africa. He received his MFA at Pratt University and has worked as a studio assistant to Sean Scully. He has had solo exhibitions in New York and exhibits throughout the United States and overseas. Currently, he teaches at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Natalie Frigo - In 1963 Natalie Frigo has taken the famous amateur film of John F. Kennedy’s assassination and given her own twist to the controversy surrounding his death. Blurring fact and fiction, Frigo edits the president out of the footage. After the truth of history recedes into the haze of memory only representations are left.

Natalie Frigo lives in Brooklyn New York. She has a MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. Beside showing in the United States, Frigo has shown her video work in France, South Korea, Mexico, and England.

Timothy Hutchings - The Arsenal at Danzig and Other Views appears to be an old tourist film from a time before the world wars. The non-descript tourist who waves at the camera is actually Tim Hutchings who has digitally inserted himself into the old footage. The artist has become a time traveler wondering through a lost time and place, admiring the wonderful monuments before destruction by war.

Timothy Hutchings has an MFA in sculpture from Yale University. He has had numerous solo shows. He has shown in Australia, Austria, Spain, and New York. He currently lives and works in Long Island City, NY.

Bjorn Erik Haugen - In Interface, technology is an alienating, abstracting force. The video takes its images from the military. Resembling a computer game, Interface depicts four videos seen through telescopic lenses, night vision, and a computer screen. People and buildings are reduced to targets, and the soldiers adopt the technical and sterile language of war as business.

Bjorn Erik Haugen has an MA from the National Academy in Oslo, Norway. He has also shown in Austria, Spain, Germany, Greece, and in the United States.

Bang Geul Han - Connected to the Internet, Blogreader takes the online writing of teenagers and feeds them into a database of prerecorded words. A woman sitting in a barren, snow-covered landscape recites the teenager’s confessions in staccato, fragmented speech.

Bang-Geul Han was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea. She has an MFA from Alfred University in New York. She recently had a solo exhibition in New York. She now lives and works in Detroit, Michigan.