An Interview with Marie Evelyn, CoDirector of Devotion Gallery

You're one of the Directors of Devotion Gallery, which recently opened in Williamsburg. What's your background? What lead you to open a gallery?

My background is a hodgepodge: I have an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and an impending Ph.D. in Computational Biology; I am a sound- and conceptual-artist; and I serve as the founder and Executive Director of Analogous Projects, a not-for-profit committed to Interaction Art.

I codirect Devotion Gallery with Phoenix Perry, a designer, artist, and digital-media curator I met through a prior collaboration. Phoenix had initially asked me to serve on Devotion's founding Board of Directors, which currently consists of Brian Jackson, David Last, Jeffers Egan, and Meg Schedel. From that point, my involvement in the gallery increased and she asked if I would, instead, oversee the Board with her as Artistic CoDirector and Gallery CoDirector.

What is your vision for the gallery and/or how is it unique relative to a traditional art gallery?

Like any gallery space, Devotion serves as a venue for discourse. Because of this, we take an integrated approach to curation: Each exhibition, in addition to tangible artworks, incorporates sound and video performances, lectures and workshops, and handmade and limited-edition wares by local artists. We are especially interested in works that incorporate other disciplines -- such as fashion, biology, architecture -- or utilize new media.

The current show is called "Aire:The Second Fourfold Root" and is the second of four exhibitions. What was the first one and what are the ones following?

"Aire: The Second Fourfold Root" is part of a larger six-week exhibition titled "The Fourfold Roots of Everything", which references the four classical elements and Plato's recasting of Persephone as Pherepaphe "for seeing that all things in the world are in motion". In order to celebrate this in-motion quality, we decided to incorporate a series of events as part of the exhibition.

The first event, "Pherepaphe: The Fourfold Roots of Everything", took place on Halloween and focused on Pherepaphe as the primordial of the four elements. "Aire: The Second Fourfold Root" will highlight "Atmospheric/Pressures", the Cyberoptix collection constructed almost entirely of vintage military weather balloons. This second event will be one part immersive art installation, one part performative exhibition and will feature hand-crafted and upcycled fashion works with a romantic aesthetic. The third and fourth events will focus on fire and earth, and will manifest as modest private functions for Devotion members and other friends of the gallery.

This show has a strong focus on clothing as the material of artmaking. How do you see fashion intersecting with art?
It always confused me that fashion and interior-design are sometimes regarded as narcissistic (rather than creative) practices. It seems most natural that visual creativity would express itself through the decoration of self, loved ones, and the immediate environment. Fashion, design, the arts-and-crafts movement, and the practice of graffiti are all very human: They reference everyday life, the art of living, and our own mortality.

Do you view dressing day-to-day as a performative event?
Definitely. Children grasp this innately: Shy and outgoing children alike express themselves through their choice of color, fabric, pattern, and combination. Architecture, fashion, crowd dynamics, and the natural environment all contribute to the living installations that take place each day in our public spaces.

I am told time and again that NYC is no longer the creative hub it once was. It's too expensive, it's a bunch of capitalists etc etc. What's your take on the creative scene in New York and how do you refute the naysayers?
There is a wealth of creative dialogue in New York. New York is well-suited to the exploration of contemporary art forms -- such as social sculpture, microeconomies, psychogeography, performative ecologies -- and there is an overwhelming amount of current examples to point to. A favorite of mine for a few years has been Natalie Jeremijenko's ongoing "Amphibious Architecture" project, which was recently commissioned by the Architectural League of New York for the "Toward the Sentient City" exhibition.