Finishing School is an interdisciplinary artist collective that explores contemporary social, political, and environmental issues. Their projects conflate praxis, play, and activism and seek to engage audiences through various participatory models. Finishing School was established in 2001 and is based in Los Angeles.

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Exhibitions/Festivals/Actions/Residencies/Workshops

2010
Participation Nation, Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, Maryland
Actions, Conversations, and Intersections, curated by Edith Abeyta and Michael Lewis Miller, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, LA, CA
POSTWAR ART Workshop, Museum of Contemporary Art, LA, CA
Performing Public Space, curated Janet Owen-Driggs and Matthew Driggs, La Casa del Tunel: Art Center, Tijuana, Mexico
DFLUX Residency, Detroit, MI
California Biennial, OCMA, Newport Beach, CA (upcoming)

2009
Art Forum: Contemporary Issues in Art and Architecture, Santa Ana College Art Gallery, Santa Ana, CA
Artist in Residence - Summer 2009, Angels Gate, San Pedro, CA*
M.O.L.D. Bioindicator Workshop, Farmlab, Los Angeles, CA*
Summertime, Bunny Gunner, Pomona, CA
M.O.L.D. Angel's Gate, San Pedro, CA*
Late Night Art Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LA, CA
After Dark Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LA, CA
Doin’ it Kruglak Gallery, Miracosta College, Oceanside, CA
All You Can Eat Bunny Gunner, Pomona, CA

2008
Engagement Party, Museum of Contemporary Art, LA, CA*
Little Pharma - Physic Garden , Fringe Exhibitions, LA, CA*
Soundwalk 2008, Long Beach, CA. 
Conflux 2008, Center for Architecture, NY, NY
One Minute Film & Video Festival Aarau, Aarau, Switzerland
De Zone, Stichting Nutuur, Arnhem, The Netherlands
The Triangle Project, ABC No Rio, New York, NY
Emergence 2008 , Governors Island, New York, NY
1st Birthday, Bunny Gunner, Pomona, CA
Improvised Explosive Data! Huntington Beach Art Center, HB, CA*
See and Be Seen, Street - Action, New York, NY, Boulder, CO, Los Angeles, CA

2007
wwfsd?, Polvo, Chicago, IL*
Web Biennial 2007, Istanbul Contemporary Art Museum, Istanbul, Turkey, webbiennial.org
Touring Show, Curated by Marisa Olson, Rhizome and co-presented by the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY
Kapital For Kids, Me & You Variety Candy LA, Los Angeles, CA*
Site Specific, Irvine Fine Art Center, Irvine, CA,
Echelon: Who Is Watching You?, Polvo, Chicago, IL
One Minute Film Festival, Aarau, Switzerland, August 17 - 19, 2007
Digital Fringe Festival, Melbourne, Australia, September 26 - October 14, 2007
Grounded, Curated by Jacob Fuglsang
In(ter)ventions Festival, Curated by Kati London, Location and date TBA, New York, NY
HHTV, Fringe Exhibitions - Media Project, Los Angeles, CA

2006
PIO, enView Gallery, Long Beach, CA*
On the Move, Smithsonian Week, Long Beach, CA
People For A Better Tomorrow, Curated by Meg Cranston, Sweeney Art Gallery, University of California at Riverside, Riverside, CA
Urban Networks, Curated by Susan Joyce, Art Interactive, Cambridge, MA
CAR:turally Advanced Realizations:actions, works, situations as formative vehicles for ..., Arden2, Costa Mesa, CA
Street Signs and Solar Ovens, Socialcraft in Los Angeles, Curated by Robbie and Marc Herbst,Craft and Folk Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Google Earth & Google Maps Hacks, Curated by Régine Debatty, Sonar Multimedia Festival, Barcelona, Spain
Something New, Curated by Nicolas Roope & Nikola Tosic, Royal Mail Museum & Archive, London, UK
Photo Miami Art Fair, Fringe Exhibitions, Miami, FL
TRANSMISSION.06/Mimesis, Tactics of Mimetic Intervention in Everyday Life,  Curated by ProgettoZero, in collaboration with lab.mimesis, progettozeropiu.com/mimesis

2005
Open House, Home of Mr. and Mrs. Hoff, Huntington Beach, CA*
Invincible Desire, Version Fest > 05, Chicago, IL
Soundtoys, http://www.soundtoys.net
Prog:ME Festival, curated by Carlo Sansolo and Érika Fraenkelt, Centro Cultural Telemar, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
delocator.net, Walter and McBean Galleries, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA*
Memefest, International Festival of Radical Communication
Detours, Huntington Beach Art Center, Huntington Beach, CA
Because We Forget, Metcalf Gallery, Calfornia Baptist University, Riverside, CA *

2004         
InterFACES, Raffles LaSalle International Design School, Bangkok, Thailand
Memefest, International Festival of Radical Communication
PSA: IMAGES/OBJECTS/ACTIONS, The Office, Huntington Beach, CA*
re_image, Curated by Susan Joyce, Remote Lounge, New York, NY
 
2003         
Acquired Taste, Wattis Institute, California College of the Arts,
San Francisco, CA
Talent Show, Southern California Artist Center, Pomona, CA*
The Patriot Library, with Christy Thomas, Lucky Tackle, Oakland, CA*
Saturday School, with Jason Brown, Yucef Merhi, and Claire Pentecost, New York University New York, NY
Ready for War, Illinois State University, Normal, IL
TEXT, Raid Projects, Los Angeles, CA
Zine Scene, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
 
2002  
First Issue, Come Unpaused, ICU Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Sculptural Engineering, Huntington Beach Art Center, Huntington Beach, CA
 
2001         
Saturday School with Critical Art Ensemble and Beatriz da Costa, Derek Rees, Khan Tran, and xtine, Raid Projects, Los Angeles, CA*

* indicates solo action, exhibition, project, or workshop

Press/Publications 

Richmond, Susan. Participation Nation: Artists Invite Input, Art Papers, 3/10
Amoss, Marianne K. All Together Now, Urbanite Magazine, 2/10/10
Evitts Dickinson, Elizabeth. POV - Letter from Baltimore: A New (Art) Hybrid, Metropolis Magazine, 1/27/10
Sheridan, Molly. If *Anyone* Can Make Art..., Arts Journal,1/18/10
Gullard, Marie. Consider a Visionary and ContemporaryTrip to Baltimore, Washington Examiner, 1/18/10
Jaffray, Sarah with Gleason, Mat. Cover Story: Finishing School, Coagula, 6/15/09
Egan, Kathleen. Now Viewing | L.A. Art Weekend, New York Times, 4/06/09
Orozco, deMonica.LACMA, LA Steps Out, ARTINFO, 4/10/09
Morris Buckley, Patricia. MiraCosta exhibit looks at the art of making a living, North County Times, 3/11/09
Davies, Stacy. All You Can Eat, Inland Empire Weekly, 2/23/09
Muchnic, Suzanne. Art meets sports at MOCA, Los Angeles Times, 2/23/09
Visiting...With Huell Howser #1612 - SOUNDWALK, KCET, 1/7/09
McBride, Shasta. MOCA Board of Trustees meets today, Los Angeles Art Scene Examiner, 12/16/08
Ward, Alie. Finding Joy at MOCA, Metromix Los Angeles, 12/4/08
NBC Staff. What are you doing tonight?, NBC Los Angeles, 12/4/08
LAT Staff. 'Joy' to the radio builders, Los Angeles Times,12/4/08
Whitely, Jordan. Savant Guide: Play with Razors at MOCA, LA2DAY.COM,12/3/08
Moss, Ceci. Radio Activity, Rhizome,12/2/08
Laden, Tanja. MoCA Engagement Party:Finding Joy, Flavorpill, 12/1/08
Price, Jenny. Art To Match Our Environmental Messes, KCET,10/28/08
Molyneaux, Libby. Wake Up, Little Pharmacuetical, LA Weekly, 10/26/08
Ferguson, Kevin. A Long Beach SoundWalk, KCET, 10/7/08
McBride, Shasta.  Finishing School's Executive Order Karaoke at MOCA, Los Angeles Art Scene Examiner, 10/3/08
Emergence, Exhibition Catalog, 10/08
Gleason, Mat. Finishing School Improves L.A. MOCA, Coagula Art Journal, 10/3/08
Chang, Richard. Finishing School to perform at MOCA, The Orange County Register-The Arts Blog, 9/30/08
Bastien, Jennifer.  Celebrate a new engagement, MOCA’s new program ‘Engagement Party’ mixes audience interaction and activism, The Daily Bruin, 9/29/08
Babayan, Siran. Politics of Engagement, LA Weekly, 9/25/08
Nys Dambrot, Shana. MoCA presents Engagement Party feat. Executive Order Karaoke, Flavorpill, 9/25/08
van der Velden, Rob . Ook in De Zone is niets wat het lijkt. de Gelderlander, 8/18/08
Radio 2 - NCRV - Cappuccino, Interview with Stichting Nutuur, NL, 8/08
Radio Gelderland, Interview with Stichting Nutuur, NL, 8/08
Radio Arhem, Interview with Stichting Nutuur, NL, 8/08
One Minute Film Festival Catalog, Aarau, Switzerland, 8/08
Brucker-Cohen, Jonah. Robot Greets People in Public Spaces in Six Languages, Make Magazine: Blog, 7/2/08
Staple News - Adopt A Mom & Pop, Vegetarian Times, 7/08
Hoff, Chris. Artist Interview - Finishing School, The OC Art Blog, 2/15/08
Finishing School. wwfsd?, Fringe Publishing, Los Angeles, 2/08
One Minute Film Festival Catalog, Aarau, Switzerland, 7/07
Monteverdi, Anna Maria. Tactical Media Practitioners: art & science hybridization An interview with Critical Art Ensemble, Ateatro, 3/13/07
Pirnia, Garin. Finishing School, New City Chicago, 3/1/07
Culture News. Hobocmu Kyrbmypbl, TV Kulture Russia, 2/25/07
Wu, Suzanne. Culture Shock, UR Chicago, 2/15/07
Smith, David. The Man Who Knows Why Your So Hooked On Coffee, Guardian Unlimited, 1/28/07
Epstein, Rebecca. For Your Social Consideration, LA City Beat, 12/07/06
Debatty, Regine. Resistant Maps, we-make-money-not-art.com, 11/28/06
Harvey, Doug . Streetsignism - the new, weird counterculture, LA Weekly, 11/15/06
Cornell, Lauren. Streets As Stages, Rhizome, 6/28/06
Hainer, Ray. Urban Networks At Art Interactive, The Weekly Dig, 6/22/06
Tomlinson, Sarah. Top Picks Of The Week, Boston Globe, 6/21/06
Coulter, Jane. Art For The MTV Generation, WBUR Boston, 6/20/06
Big Red. Big Red On-The-Town: Art Interactive, Issue #44, Big Red & Shiny Magazine, 6/18/06
Hopkins, Randi. Buoys And Boats, The Phoenix, 6/7/2006
Hallett, Debbie. People for a Better Tomorrow: Finishing School, Sweeny Gallery, University California Riverside, People for a Better Tomorrow Online Exhibition Catalog, 5/06
Continuing and Recommended Exhibitions. People for a Better Tomorrow ArtScene, 5/06
Caires, April Leslie. Art with Bite Inland Empire Weekly, 4/27/06
Scarborough, James. Raw, Sophisticated Exhibit Worth enView LB Gazette Newspaper, 3/9/06
Lobel, Hannah. Finishing School Projects Utne Magazine, 12/05
From the Front. Why Delocate? Adbusters.com, 7/26/05
Collinson, Stephen. Latte lovers left frothing over coffee wars AFP, Mail&Guardian, 6/20/05.
Glenn, Joshua. Delocate me Boston Globe, 06/19/05.
Bond, Mindy. Carrie Mclaren, Editor, Stay Free The Gothamist, 6/7/05
Manners, Tim. Cool of the Day, Starbucks Delocator" Reveries Magazine, 5/20/05
Schwartz, Karen. Let's have another cup of coffee Minneapolis Star Tribune, 05/08/05
Leo, Peter. May I not call? Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 5/06/05
Severson, Kim. The Little Coffee Shop Around the Corner New York Times, 5/4/05
Macarena-Avila, Jesus; Cortez, Miguel, ed. Delocator.Net Polvo Magazine, Spring, 2005
Schwartz, Karen. Breaking Free of the Big Chain Coffee O. C. Register, 5/2/05
Staff Hot Sites USA Today, 4/27/05
Zorn, Eric. Land of Linkin' Chicago Tribune, 4/22/05
Brown, Peter. What's on the Web San Francisco Examiner, 4/19/05
Schwartz, Karen. Want to Avoid Starbucks? Check out the Web Columbia News Service, 4/19/05
Allen, Jules. Site Seeing St. Petersburg Times, 4/18/05
Grobaty, Tim. Coffe and the Bear Claw Long Beach Press Telegram, 4/12/05
Dibbell, Julian. Big Joe Goes Down, Tactical media collective's counter-marketing device fights Starbucks with decent panini The Village Voice, 4/8/05
Serwer, Andy. The Dow Enjoys a Four-Day Rally" Street Life, Fortune Magazine, 4/7/05
Andrews, Catherine. Coffee for the Independent-Minded, dcist.com, 4/6/05
Chin, Brian. Indie cafe finder Local Section, Buzzworthy, Seattle Post Intelligencer, 4/6/05
Carfi, Christopher. Customers Use Social Technology to Route Around Corporate Monoculture Social Customer Manifesto, www.socialcustomer.typepad.com, 4/5/05
Attack of the Show, Must....Have....Caffiene Episode #5054, G4 TV, 4/5/05
Rhizome, "delocator.net" ArtBase, Rhizome.org, 4/3/05
Life Feed Delocator Launches grassroots anti-Starbucks movement Agenda Inc. 4/3/05
Mclaren, Carrie. Google campaign for the Starbucks Delocator Stay Free Magazine Blog, 4/4/05
Koppman, Debra. Previews - Detours Artweek, 3/05
Matus, Mandy. Because We Forget Exhibit Promotes Rememberance of Homeless Veterans The Banner Newspaper, 2/11/05
Rushkoff, Douglas; Vodeb, Oliver; Liacas, Tom; Dechene, Paul; "Memefest, 2004, International Festival of Radical Communication, Jury Reviews www.memefest.org, 6/04
Shoenkopf, Rebecca. Wage Gap O.C. Weekly, 6/11/04
San Francisco Weekly, Night and Day San Francisco Weekly, 4/23/03
Finishing School. Saturday School, New York University (pamphlet) Finishing School, 2/03
Walsh, Daniella. This Exhibition is Watching You O. C. Register, 6/23/02
Shoenkopf, Rebecca. Diminishing Returns O.C. Weekly, 6/21/02
Finishing School. FS Basic Search Procedures Training Manual Finishing School, 6/02
Shoenkopf, Rebecca. The Art of Summer O.C. Weekly, 5/24/02
Beltz, Eric & Aghajanian, Arthur, ed. Saturday School Raid Projects Journal,
Los Angeles, 12/01

Lectures/Panels

Artist Talk: Salon Series, Farmlab Los Angeles, CA Friday 7/31/09 at 12 noon.
Artist Talk, University of Colorado at Boulder, Department of Art and Art History, Boulder, CO
Sousveillance Culture, ITP, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, New York, NY
Tactical Media: History and Theory, ITP, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, New York, NY
What We Do and Why We Do It, Huntington Beach Art Center, Huntington Beach, CA
Art Forum, Santa Ana College, Santa Ana, CA
Artist Talk, Fine Art Department, MiraCosta College, Oceanside, CA

Awards/Grants/Commissions

2008 James Irvine Foundation
2008 The Hoff Foundation
2005 Public Art Commission, Art Institute of California-Orange County 
2005 Beyond Category, 3rd Place, Memefest, International Festival of Radical Communication
2005 Nimoy Foundation Artist Residency
2004 Beyond Category, 6th Place, Memefest, International Festival of Radical Communication
2002 Public Art Project of the Year, Allied Arts Board, City of Huntington Beach, CA

Collections

Rhizome Artbase – delocator.net, Hegemonic Hybrids, wwfsd?, Kapital For Kids,Little Pharma
Chris and Michele Hoff
Susan and John Joyce
Autumn Beck
Chloe Flores
Joanna Klaas/Arden2
Adam Rompe
Darlene DeAngelo
David Ross
Grace Sandlin
Robert Jacka

(Updated 9/09)

Projects

dSatellite, 2010
IHDJ, 2010
Postwar Art, 2010
M.O.L.D. 2009
Go, 2009
WETLAB, 2009
Faking Franz West, 2009
Finding Joy, 2008
Executive Order Karaoke, 2008
Little Pharma, 2008
Bio-Tag, 2008
See And Be Seen, 2008
Improvised Explosive Data, 2008
Kapital For Kids, 2007
WWFSD?, 2007
Hegemonic Hybrids, 2007
202-456-1414, 2007
Tactical Media Cookbook, 2006
PIO, 2006
Open House, 2005
Delocator.net, 2005
Because We Forget, 2005
The New Green, 2004
Gap, 2004
Walker, 2004
Re-image, 2003
The Patriot Library, 2003
Talent Show, 2003
Side By Side, 2003
Measure FS, 2002
This Red Kerosene Lantern, 2002
Today It's Voluntary, 2002
Saturday School, 2001