Station to Station: A Nomadic Happening

LOS ANGELES and SAN FRANCISCO, June 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Artist Doug Aitken today announced his newest project, Station to Station: A Nomadic Happening that will connect artists, musicians and creative pioneers with diverse communities, pushing art and culture outside of institutional constraints. A public art project made possible by the Levi's® brand, Station to Station will raise funds through ticket sales and donations to support non-traditional programming at seven partner museums around the country.

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130620/NY35863 )

Over the course of three weeks this September, a train will travel from New York City to San Francisco making ten stops along the way.  At each stop, Station to Station will curate leading figures from the art, music, culinary, literary, and film worlds for a series of cultural interventions and site-specific happenings.  The Aitken designed train turned kinetic sculpture will act as a cultural studio— globally broadcasting unique content and experiences from the stops as well as on the moving train.  Long after departing the last station, Station to Station will leave an indelible creative mark on its local and global audience—opening eyes and shifting perceptions.

Artists scheduled to collaborate to bring Station to Station to life include Kenneth Anger, Olaf Breuning,  Peter Coffin,  Urs Fischer, Meschac Gaba, Liz Glynn, Carsten Holler, Christian Jankowski, Aaron Koblin, Ernesto Neto, Jack Pierson, Stephen Shore, Rirkrit Tiravanija, and Lawrence Weiner; musicians Ariel Pink, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Connan Mockasin, Dan Deacon, David Longstreth of Dirty Projectors, Eleanor Friedberger, Nite Jewel, No Age, Savages, and Twin Shadow; writers Dave Hickey, Barney Hoskyns, and Rick Moody; and chefs Alice Waters and Leif Hedendal, and the Edible Schoolyard Project. More participants will be announced throughout the summer.

With funding for cultural programs and the arts increasingly compromised, Station to Station will establish a revolutionary endowment model to address this need. Station to Station will distribute funds from ticket sales and donations among its partner institutions to support programs and exhibitions in 2014 that embrace Station to Station's pursuit of new artistic models and creative collisions.

Station to Station is being made possible by the support and collaboration of the Levi's® brand.  For more than 140 years, the Levi's® brand has been equipping pioneers with the clothing they need to "Go Forth" and change the world.  Yesterday's pioneers explored on a journey from east to west, laying the tracks across the original frontier.  Today's journeys are measured in ideas, not miles. History has shown that through collaboration of a few we can inspire action among many. Station to Station brings this spirit of collaboration to life and invites Levi's fans around the globe to take part in a new exploration of the modern frontier.

Station to Station has the support of a wide range of institutions including MoMA PS1, Carnegie Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Walker Art Center, SITE Santa Fe, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).

Through a series of soon to be announced media and digital partnerships, Station to Station will resonate through the broader culture. These partners will bring the artists and their work to the widest possible audience and erase the boundary between viewer and art work.

Doug Aitken, widely known for his innovative fine art installations, is at the forefront of 21st century communication. Utilizing a wide array of media and artistic approaches, his eye leads viewers into a world where time, space, and memory are malleable concepts.

"This is a fast moving cultural journey, a constant search over the new horizons of our changing culture.  Grounded in some basic questions—Who are we? Where are we going? And, at this moment, how can we express ourselves?—our intention is to create a modern cultural manifesto," said Aitken.  "For a short time, the most interesting place in the country will be a moving target."

"We are so proud to collaborate with Doug Aitken on his latest groundbreaking exploration of art and culture," said Len Peltier, Global Creative Director of the Levi's® brand.  "From our iconic 501® jeans to our trucker jacket and western shirts, the Levi's® brand equips pioneers for their exploration of the modern frontier.  Station to Station provides an incredible platform for pioneers around the world to explore and empowers them to discover, connect, share, innovate and ultimately collaborate." 

According to Molly Logan, the project's Executive Producer, "Station to Station hopes that this liquid platform will empower the artists to make work that could not be realized elsewhere; the public to discover new artists and cultural expressions; and the museums to reach a global audience and continue to produce pioneering cultural programming."

Following the cross-country experience, the project will continue to evolve through the museum program, the release of a Station to Station documentary, and a published book.

Station to Station stops include:
September 6, 2013      New York, New York  
September 8, 2013      Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania   
September 12, 2013    Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota  
September 14, 2013    Chicago, Illinois              
September 16, 2013    Kansas City, Missouri     
September 20, 2013    Lamy/Santa Fe, New Mexico
September 22, 2013    Winslow, Arizona          
September 24, 2013    Barstow, California    
September 26, 2013    Los Angeles, California      
September 28, 2013    Oakland/San Francisco, California    

Details about each happening—including ticket on-sale dates—will be announced at a later date.

Find Station to Station (#TrackSTS) on:

Online:          StationToStation.com 
Twitter:          twitter.com/StnToStn 
Facebook:      facebook.com/StnToStn 
Tumblr:          stn-to-stn.tumblr.com 
Vine:              @StnToStn
Instagram:      instagram.com/StnToStn 
Vimeo:           vimeo.com/StnToStn

SOURCE Levi's