FINISHING SCHOOL - Little Pharma Physic Garden (Main Gallery) JON BRUMIT - Monsanto's Workshop (Kernel Square Wave) (Lower Level) WAYNE SHIMABUKURO - Portraits of LA Artists (Fringe FIles) Exhibition Dates: October 11 - November 8, 2008 Opening Reception: Saturday, October 11, from 6-9 PM The Little Pharma Physic Garden by Finishing School is a participatory installation that promotes education, community involvement, natural beauty, relaxation and renewal. The garden model is based on several specific European gardens established by monks in the 16th and 17th centuries. Their calling was to encourage and empower the public to be directly involved in their own health and well-being and to promote the study of herbal medicine, known then as the "physic" or healing arts. The monks involved the public in community gardening and demonstrated the many uses of plants and the tradition of the plant world as the most common medicine source. These gardens also provided a place of natural rest, meditation, and spiritual renewal for many weary urban dwellers. The Little Pharma Physic Garden includes a research library, seed bank, a publicly maintained herbal medicine garden, meditation vistas, and a workshop area. Additionally, the public is invited to participate in several events hosted by Finishing School and collaborators throughout the run of the exhibition. There will be an herbal medicine course, meditation events, and a gardening workshop as well as a pharma-themed costume workshop and bicycle tour sponsored by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. The bicycle tour and related workshop will be presented during a three-month residency by Finishing-School at MOCA titled Engagement Party. Little Pharma is an umbrella inter-disciplinary investigation that explores and promotes various alternative medicines and lifestyles as viable antidotes to some of the Big Pharma pathologies. Projects include web and printed matter, exhibitions, workshops, roundtable meetings, lectures, and interventions. Little Pharma is included in the Rhizome Artbase collection. FS SPECIAL EVENTS Saturday, October 18 Herbal Medicine Garden Workshop 12-2pm Fringe Exhibitions Saturday, November 1 Meditation Workshop 12-2pm Fringe Exhibitions Thursday, November 6 Little Pharma Drug Run and Film Screening 7-11pm Begins at MOCA on Grand Ave and finishes @ Fringe Finishing School is a collective identity that explores art, design, and technology that intersects praxis, play, and activism. Their work can be viewed online at www.finishing-school.net Jon Brumit presents Monsanto's Workshop (Kernel Square Wave). The installation is created with made / modified objects, sound, photo and video within a lab like environment. This recreation-al installment is premised and built upon a fictional re-telling and re-making of secret early Monsanto Labs documents. A natural history exhibit of sorts, based on plant fossils, extracts from carbon-dating examinations, and skilled artistry. Jon Brumit works creatively with social design, structured improvisation and obtuse interventions. By design, his objects and public performance demonstrations often produce unpredictable results - occasionally humorous, often sonorous, and always highly interpretable. He has presented solo and collaborative works widely in the US and abroad at venues including 21 Grand, Lisa Dent Gallery, Southern Exposure, MOCA Detroit, Novi Sad Contemporary Museum, SFMOMA, YBCA and the 2008 Whitney Biennial as a member of Neighborhood Public Radio. His projects have been supported by the Creative Work Fund, Oakland Arts Council, CEC ArtsLink, ISEA / Zero One Festival, Meet the Composer and the San Jose Public Arts Commission. Features and reviews of his work have appeared in the NY Times, SF Chronicle, Artforum, and Punk Planet as well as on the AP, the Today Show, Canal Plus and Discovery Channel. www.jonbrumit.com www.neighborhoodpublicradio.org www.goldrecordstudio.com www.slivanddulet.com www.edgetonerecords.com