Illuminating Language a 911 windows installation by Dick Averns art installation: Exhibition dates: February 10 - March 19, 2000 Opening Night Reception: Thursday, February 10, 7:00 - 9:00 pm (Artist’s Presentation: Thursday, February 10, at 8:00 pm) 911 Media Arts Center, 117 Yale Ave North, Seattle 911 Media Arts Center is pleased to present Illuminating Language, a new neon installation by British artist Dick Averns. The exhibition can be viewed February 10 through March 26 in 911’s five storefront windows. An opening reception for the artist will be held Thursday, February 10, 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Beginning at 8:00 pm that night, the artist will give a brief slide presentation and discuss his work with the audience. The reception is free to the general public. Illuminating Language, commissioned by 911 Media Arts Center for its ongoing Windows exhibition program, probes the vitality of language using a mix of neon and backlit texts. The content of the artwork poses questions about the structure of relationships - between artwork and audience, linguistic thought and visual communication. The installation serves as a succinct parenthesis or subtext to the way in which a text based language has been incorporated within a broader visual idiom. The work, installed in a public display space, will engage passing pedestrians and the thousands of drivers who pass by daily. Neon, as an artistic medium, has a strong history in the Pacific Northwest and is currently undergoing a resurgence in installation-based exhibitions. Dick Averns was born in London, England and is currently a resident of Vancouver, Canada. He was recently artist-in-residence at The Banff Centre for the Arts and his photo-conceptual exhibit Luxury Avenue (a forensic exploration of residential housing developments) is now touring British Columbia. Averns trained as a fine artist in New York and London and adopts an interdisciplinary approach to his practice, working in sculpture, performance, contemporary dance and public art projects. Ongoing since 1984, 911 Media Arts Center’s Windows exhibition program continues to offer area artists a unique installation opportunity in five large storefront windows facing a major intersection at 117 Yale Avenue North (one block south of the flagship REI building). 911’s Windows program is supported in part through a grant from PONCHO. Artists interested in applying to the 911 Windows program should contact Brad Thompson at 911 Media Arts Center (206) 682-6552, or e-mail brad@911media.org.