Collaborating with San Francisco Camerawork (Camerawork), the artist team of Margaret Crane/Jon Winet launched a year-long national inter-media project focusing on the 2000 elections. The project incorporated an exhibition installation, public programs, an Internet salon, and a printed catalogue. National in scope, “Democracy: The Last Campaign” also was featured in an exhibition at Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center in Buffalo, New York as well as an interactive electronic project on the Walter Art Center’s Website, and in public programs and an exhibition at Camerawork.
Crane/Winet were long-time collaborators and the 2000 presidential elections marked the fifth time that they had explored the spectacle and phenomenon of the national election process. They traveled to both national political conventions and to Washington D.C., and they attended mainstream and grassroots political events in the San Francisco Bay Area. They also worked closely on technology development for the project with Dale MacDonald and Scott Minneman, researchers at Xerox PARC in Palo Alto. In addition to collaborating with Camerawork, they participated in an internet salon with other artists and writers across the country.
Founded in 1974, Camerawork is a nonprofit artist organization that works to stimulate dialogue, encourage inquiry, and communicate ideas about contemporary photography and related technologies through exhibitions, publications, and innovative artistic and educational programs. Among its programs, Camerawork publishes a journal of photographic arts and it dedicated the fall 2000 issue to “Democracy: The Last Campaign.”
The collaborative team Margaret Crane/Jon Winet has produced work that revolves around the language and images of the information age, focusing on the psychology and sociology of contemporary urban life.