For the months of September and October, Locust Projects is partnering with the roving curatorial initiative Site95, who will present the first installment of their multi-city series City Limits in the Project Room. The exhibition consists of three projects by the Washington, DC based artist John James Anderson. Organized by curator and site95 founder Meaghan Kent, the series focuses on the influence of the urban environment on contemporary practices. Considering and questioning site-specifity, artists in each exhibition present ideas that are progressive, reactionary, and often poetic with regards to their own urban environment. 

Anderson’s projects engage current cultural and political issues that are endemic to, but resonate far beyond, Washington, DC. For Maintenance Required, the artist mapped broken fire hydrants throughout the city, spurred into action by hydrant failures during the 2007 Eastern Market and Georgetown Library Fires. For Hours of Labor, the artist investigates the current politics of economics and immigration by hiring day laborers to create objects with him. The installation juxtaposes these objects with documentation the conversations Anderson and the laborers engaged in during the process. For the performative action JOB Creation Process, Anderson takes on a role of a pamphleteer, disseminating historical literature on the role of money and commerce. 

In conjunction with the Project Room exhibition, Anderson’s work will be featured on over 30 bus shelters around Miami in September 2012 for the Bus Shelter Project, part of Locust Projects’ public art initiative Out of the Box, which commissions artists to create new work for public spaces in Miami.  

About the artist
Originally from Iowa, John James Anderson has lived in Washington DC for the last eight years, completing an MFA in painting at American University in 2005. His work has been exhibited at Corcoran Gallery of Art and Washington Project for the Arts in Washington D.C.; Arlington Arts Center in Virginia; and Adah Rose Gallery in Maryland. Anderson was a fellow for the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington DC, in 2010.

About site95
site95 is an alternative nonprofit organization established to present exhibitions of emerging and established artists in temporary urban locations. Drawing upon available space in major cities, site95 will present over five projects per year, creating a platform for artists and curators to present innovative ideas in different contexts and allow viewers to experience new work not native to their location. Exhibitions will offer openings, educational talks and tours, screenings, and performances. site95 also features the online monthly Journal with contributions by writers, curators, and artists.