Kaunakes: Ghosts of Mesopotamia is an artist collaboration including gallery installation and site specific performances created for the gallery environment.

Artist Glen Kaufman (UGA Lamar Dodd School of Art Fabric Design Professor Emeritus) has previously exhibited the "Kaunakes" in both Japan and Poland. His original concept for the sculptures is inspired by the traditional kaunake garments which have historic roots in Mesopotamian culture made alive through historic/contemporary associations with Iraq today from Saddam Hussein to the present. The ever increasing loss of civilian lives is made manifest by the gallery space filled with empty garment forms floating in space and enhanced by an interpretative dance performance.

Andrea Trombetta (2005 MFA UGA graduate) will choreograph within Kaufman's installation, producing live performances for the opening and closing of the exhibition. Through contemporary dance and improvisational performative action, Andrea as "living sculpture" will wear an original costume from her "Chime Dress Series" possessing a very ancient, yet sculptural tone with a potent audio sound to respond to the concepts of the installation.

The closing performance will be August 6 at 6:30 p.m.

The exhibition takes place June 22 – August 6 during regular gallery hours of Tuesday and Thursday: Noon – 9:00 p.m.; Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. The exhibit is open to all ages, however, children must be accompanied by an adult.

Lyndon House Arts Center, located at 293 Hoyt Street in Athens, is a facility of Athens-Clarke County Leisure Services Department and is supported in part by the Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA) through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. GCA also receives support from its partner agency, the National Endowment for the Arts. Phone: 706-613-3623