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photographs of the dances. The resulting one-night event [in 2011] at the Trinity River Audubon Center under a full November moon required participation on the part of the audience to complete the work. The event was free and open to all, with a vegetarian chili bar, beer, a live band (the Quebe Sisters Band, all either Texas, National or World Champion — five times! — fiddle players) playing tunes in the 1940s and '50s square-dance tradition, licensed squaredance caller Mr. Wayne Shoemaker and the audience. You could not just dance with the person you came with, but rather you were forced to interact with others and touch strangers. There was a humility and beauty created by this type of forced interaction amongst the audience. People still talk about that night and how transforming it was. In like manner, Seventeen Hundred Seeds was a form of artistic intervention, or farming as street theater, and it also forced a response from the surrounding residents passing daily — bus drivers, curious passersby, paleta cart operators and area business owners. There was an almost transcendental aspect for those who really took the time to enjoy the life cycle of the field through its many stages of growth over the three-and-a-half-month duration of the project: from the sprouting of 1,700 seeds to the peak of blooms turning to giant seed heads and finally their death in the field. On either end of the field were two large sets of stadium seating made of hay bales for viewing. With both Square Dance: A Community Project and Seventeen Hundred Seeds, I admit I enjoy irritating those whose definitions of art are limited to object making and commercial success. For me, art is about ideas, period. The exhibition, which ran March 28 through May 4 at Gasser & Grunert gallery in Chelsea in NYC, included the work of 11 artists who vary from conceptual researchbased practice artists Lisa Barnard and David Cotterrell to documentary photographers Eugene Richards and Anthony Suau to war photographer Benjamin Lowy to the street photography of Jamel Shabazz. Visitors to the exhibition were able to play the U.S. Army-designed war video game America's Army, the military's most effective recruiting tool since WWII, as well as the U.S. Army-designed comics for iPad and Android tablets. Latest curatorial endeavor. "Engines of War" is an exhibition co-curated by myself and Charles Dee Mitchell that examines how the United States of America conducts war in the 21st century, from the soldiers who fight our wars and their recruitment to the high-tech use of drones to the American people and the media's reaction to a decade of war. The exhibition is undoubtedly as much about the seduction of war as it is the consequences of war, from stunningly beautiful portraits of soldiers to work that addresses the physical and psychological damage caused by war (wounded veterans, post-traumatic stress disorder and military suicides). We are now in our longest war in U.S. history (Afghanistan). Also, my dad is more specifically a nuclear weapons engineer and an aerospace engineer, now retired. This has given me added insight into the subject of war. Last art acquisition. Lisa Barnard's Head Gear portrait of soldier. Portal + horns. Cast deer head by Cody Foster, a find from one of their fave Dallas retailers, Grange Hall. The deer is bedecked with Bahian religious ribbons brought back from their sabbatical "check out" trips to Rio de Janeiro every August. Next art acquisition. Hugh Holland's 1975-1978 documentary photography of the California skateboarding scene. Patina of the past. The bungalow's original 1918 door displays a folk art Day of the Dead skull necklace — a find from Mulcahy's time living in Mexico City in the '90s. Preferred restaurant for a power art lunch. Bolsa and Bolsa Mercado are both three blocks from my house. Fave spot for dinner with fellow creatives. Cedar Social. What do you never leave the house without. Curiosity. Wardrobe staple. Cowboy boots and flip-flops. Define your aesthetic. Since I don't have a space anymore, I am more interested in originating projects outside of a gallery. The last two have been literally in a field. Qualities shared by all your artists. I prefer the authentic loner vision to the fabulous, cool or popular. Down the road: rumors of art at Mulcahy Farm. Yes, Robert and I are restoring an 1890s building, Spring Tavern, in the heart of farm and ranch country based on a found farm diary, turning it into a "tavern" to which we will invite artists to do projects and ply them with beer. This has been postponed while we do a project for MAP [Make Art with Purpose] this October. THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM MIDDLE RIGHT: Whale tales. A work on paper by Jonathan Marshall, acquired from the artist's 2007 Mulcahy Modern exhibition, has pride of place over the fireplace; Marshall is currently represented by Art Palace, Houston. In dialogue with the drawing is a carved whale figure by Dallas woodworker/rocker Dan Phillips. Piñatas-r-us: Osama Bin Laden and jam box piñatas reflect the homeowners' collecting obsession. The antique Spanish dish cabinet, circa 1900s, was bought at a Fort Worth antiques store sidewalk fire sale in the early '90s. Director's cut. The duo of Hamilton and Mulcahy — the couple met when he was shown at her gallery — posing with work by Houston artist Charlie Morris, whom the curator praises for "his incredible and complex exhibition, 'Operations,' that looked at war, biotechnology, surveillance at Mulcahy Modern in 2005." For more with Mulcahy, tap papercitymag.com. We can't wait to be served! You betcha. I promise a farm-grown beet margarita in your future. "I prefer the authentic loner vision to the fabulous, cool or popular." — Cynthia Mulcahy JULY | PAGE 21 | 2013