Weekend Arts Agenda: ‘COSMS’ February 07 2014

“A world unto itself.”

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What is COSMS? I don’t know. Well that’s not quite true. I do know it’s being put on by Dashboard Co-op and that it includes Andre Keichian, Paper Frank, Zopi Kristjanson, Martha Whittington, Lindsey Wolkowicz, Elizabeth Riley, and more. They’re 12 new artists “that are killing it in their respective fields or media,” according to Dashboard’s Executive Director Beth Malone. The challenge is specific to the exhibitionary space. “We have an annual exhibition to give these artists an opportunity to create a body of work that best depicts their current practice while (somehow) responding to a vacant property we place them in,” Malone says. “Bodies of work can be many pieces or something singular and immersive. For COSMS, we’ve tried to provoke artists to create the latter.”

Each piece can stand on its own. But since they’re exhibited together, each piece doesn’t have to. “Of course, once in a raw space the art begins to morph in response to structural idiosyncrasies, momentary boldnesses, and the work of others. COSMS is very much becoming a world unto itself.” Opening Saturday at the Midtown Plaza from 7-10 p.m., with music from Warehouse and more. Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door; parking is $5.

The rest of the weekend, below.

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FRIDAY

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Colin Meloy - lead singer of neu folk-rockers the Decemberists - will read from and then sign copies of Wildwood Imperium (the latest in an ongoing series) along with artist/collaborator/wife Carson Ellis at Kavarna Coffee at 7 p.m. The couple has done the Decatur thing before. Tickets start at $10. The reading is hosted by Decatur’s Poverty is Real to benefit the Decatur Education Foundation. Even better: Their series is good!

SATURDAY

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Susan Robert’s Sketchwork is ending its nearly month-long exhibition at the Sandler Hudson Gallery. The title is almost a misnomer - Robert’s pieces have the spontaneity of “conventional” sketches but little indecision. Consider the above, whose palette and image economy seem perfectly thought-upon. The exhibit also closes with an artist talk and reception from 2-5 p.m.

PSA: Have you ever wanted to be in a flash mob?

FRIDAY-SUNDAY

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Between Paul Rand: Defining Design and Hidden Heroes: The Genius of Everyday Objects, MODA is “offering three days of MODA-approved design films,” including Design is One, Design & Thinking, From Nothing, Something, and Herb & Dorothy 50x50 (about the twilight of the careers of the wildly influential art collectors). Here for more on all of that.