ELANA MANN: Driven by What’s Inside
Inspired by 10-day-long traffic jams in China, devastating oil spills in the gulf, the “end” of the Iraq war, and fatal off-road races in the Mojave desert, Driven by What’s Inside was an outdoor performance and cinema event that reconsidered the role of the automobile in contemporary society. The evening bridged together performance and video work by Vera Brunner-Sung, Ecstatic Energy Consultants Inc. in collaboration with Elana Mann, Diana-Sofia Estrada, Alexa Gerrity, Joseph Imhauser, Noah Klersfeld, Julie Lequin, Benjamin Love, Susan Mogul, and Carlin Wing. These artworks undermine the banality and brutality of the automobile by any means possible whether through psychedelic road-tripping, FM radio talk-shows, or love songs. Artist Elana Mann presented Driven by What’s Inside as a way to deepen explorations in her own work related to cars, driving, and war. This event was the second in a new series for Mann, in which she attempted to redress her grandfather’s involvement in the Manhattan Project by creating a “peace bomb” with other artists.
Public Events:
Exhibition Opening: October 2, 2010
Participating artists:
Vera Brunner-Sung, Ecstatic Energy Consultants Inc. in collaboration with Elana Mann, Diana-Sofia Estrada, Alexa Gerrity, Joseph Imhauser, Noah Klersfeld, Julie Lequin, Benjamin Love, Susan Mogul, and Carlin Wing.
This project is made possible through a grant from The Pasadena Department of Cultural Affairs Arts and Culture Commission and an ARC grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation as well as Guest Hause Residency.
BIO
Elana Mann (b. 1980, Boston, MA) creates artwork that brings a greater consciousness to the listening and speaking we practice in everyday life.
Recently, Mann has been creating a series of sculptural instruments for protest and performance. She co-edited, with John Burtle, the 2018 performance score anthology "Propositional Attitudes: What do we do now?", published by Golden Spike Press. She was named a 2017-2018 Cultural Trailblazer by the City of Los Angeles and was the 2017-18 ceramic artist-in-residence at Pitzer College.
Mann has presented her work in museums, galleries, city parks and buses in the U.S, China, Europe and Brazil. In addition, Mann curates, collaborates, organizes, and writes. Since 2005 she has collaborated with artist Audrey Chan as Chan & Mann. Mann has produced six publications, and her writing has been published in the book In the Canyon, Revise the Canon, as well as periodicals including Afterall Journal, Art21, and The Journal of Aesthetics and Protest. She has received numerous awards, including the California Community Foundation Artist Fellowship, and grants from the Rema Hort Mann Foundation and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.
Mann received her B.F.A. with honors from Washington University in St. Louis, and her M.F.A from California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA. She lives in South Pasadena with her husband, designer Jean-Paul Leonard, and their son.