Shift
2023
178” x 132” x 132”
Steel, drains, vents, labor
Site-specific
"Shift" is a site-specific installation that explores the porous nature of institutions and social forms. From a distance, it appears to be composed of identical, repeated steel cuboids, referencing the efficient use of modular forms in economic systems and the prevalence of metal in urban infrastructure. However, upon closer inspection, the units reveal varied configurations of relational emergence. Some units lack legs, others intersect or transcend the floor. The metal extends up the gallery walls, emerging from the ceiling and intruding into the 'almost-white-cube' space. The sculpture aims to capture the essence of social norms and behaviors, which, under institutional frameworks, seem rigid but are in fact in a state of constant, albeit slow, metamorphosis.
The metaphor of relational emergence in “Shift” is reinforced by elements of porous architecture, such as drains and vents, embedded into the composition. Additionally, phrases typically found in public spaces that dictate social movement, like “please shower before entering” and “mind the gap,” are sandblasted onto the units. The blue color of the metal results from a heat treatment requiring high levels of intuition. I couldn't see well while trying to find the perfect balance between too hot and hot enough, a metaphor for the pressure required in collective action. To acknowledge the often-hidden labor needed to realize artworks, labor is listed as a material alongside a didactic that names the people who supported me, including physical therapists, professors, friends, and exhibition staff.
For this particular project, I consider the following people contributors:Ashleigh Abbott, Yasi Alipour, Bel Andrade, Chong Chin, Elizabeth Walz Chin, Daniel Chou, Ben Dimock, Andrea Geyer, Ben Gould, Kris Grey, Fiel Guhit, Terike Haapoja, Jesse Harding, Remi Hirschtick, Caroline Kindelt, Arden Kraatz, Lan Thao Lam, Ting Lau, Myles Lawrence Briggs, Le’Andrea LeSeur, Chris Lin, Jill Magid, Summer McCroskey, Ash Moniz, Ramon Mussenden, Kat Nash, Hali Nelson, Evelina Nolin, Henrik Nordahl, Victoria Norton, Tony Petrillo, Eriola Pira, Rit Premnath, Chad Repp, Gino Romero, Rollo Romig, Amina Ross, Pauline Rossignol, Shay Salehi, Sej Sanghvi, Michelle Silva, Becky Song, Kaegan Sparks, Clipber Tran, Catherine Telford Keogh, Sabrina Thompson, Stefanos Tsivopoulos, Richard Valentin, Damien Vera, Daisy Wong, Valaria or oscar, Boya Ye, Noah Zhou, all those who participated in the part-time faculty strike at The New School, employees of Rapid Steel, and my physical therapists Craig Feuerman, Ari Neulander, and Matthew Procopio.
With this project and the ones that will follow, I promise to make art at the nexus of intuition and the social forms I participate in and find perplexing. I am also committed to giving credit to those who illuminate my path towards art making and collaborate towards collective intuitions*.
*Collective intuition is a term I am using to describe the porous nature of social forms. It points to how deviations from norms—in relating to others—push against the boundaries of communal knowledge. Collective intuition lingers in the possibility of a multitude of commons. Here the boundary and logic of social forms is ever-mutable.
Exhibition website
