Works in Progress
July 6 – October 3, 2019

 CO-OPt Research + Projects is an artist-run studio space and gallery.

The CO-OPt name and logo are derived from the Farmers COOP signs ubiquitous to the area, and now signaling a now defunct, collapsed system of collective engagement and cooperation among farms. In effect, we have “co-opted” the sign, as well as this space, in an underutilized neighborhood strip mall in Lubbock, TX, diverting its function from a commercial one—in previous incarnations a barbershop or garage—to one devoted to research and artistic production and practice.

Our first exhibition serves as an introduction to the artist-members of CO-OPt and the function of the space as a working artist studio, featuring works in progress by J. Eric Simpson, Aaron Hegert, Cody Arnall, Heather Warren-Crow and Seth Warren-Crow. At our closing party, on October 3rd, you are invited to see the continuation of these works in progress, as well as new works, as a glimpse into our working process and research.

A theme, or a shared thread, emerged in the installation of the artists’ works in our inaugural exhibition: territories, boundaries, borders, lines. At the opening, Heather Warren-Crow, donning a wearable loudspeaker system by Seth Warren-Crow, literally lay down lines throughout the gallery and studio space and out into the parking lot—delineating boundaries and investigating possible pathways—with a spoken word meditation on “personhood” emanating from the speaker as she walked. Cody Arnall’s video Trinity questions the landmark status of the Trinity Site, a territory irradiated by the explosion of the first atomic bomb, now a twice-yearly tourist site, while his sculpture, yet to be titled, mimics the physical structure of an awning, but visually points to the sky. Aaron Hegert’s work investigates the language and systems of Visual Resource Management, a system of classification used by the Bureau of Land Management to determine the value of landscape and scenery in rationalizing land use. J. Eric Simpson’s sculpture utilizes careless weed seed spelling the words “Enemy of Rational Asceticism” on paper over dirt taken from the Bayer greenhouse in Lubbock, transposing an unwanted seed onto soil from a facility that propagates proprietary seeds sold for profit.

On October 3rd, we will be showing new “in progress” works, including a new performance by Heather Warren-Crow, Seth Warren-Crow, and composer Jennifer Jolley at 9pm.