“The Man Who Waits and Sleeps While I Dream”

www.dreamlab.org

I became interested in exploring dreams as the primary material of all narrative structures — the first awkward stories we tell our own selves before our conscious selves can censor them.  Drawing on observation techniques from a 19th century sleep disorders clinic the work poses a charged but unexpressed intimacy between a professional observer and her sleeping charge.

A large video projection of an impossibly deep drain is surrounded by images, text, and sound. These elements tumble together in random sequences of narrative structure, and become source material for a kind of “conversation.” A voice-over soundtrack that can be heard through headphones accompanies the video excerpt.

Physically, the images are projected in different scales on all sides of the room. Psychologically, the projections are contained within the voice over as the observer projects her own thoughts and neuroses onto the sleeping subject. These projections can also be seen as metaphors for the exchange between artist and viewer; between separation and longing; between lovers; between the conscious and sub-conscious within ourselves. The viewer walks between the elements of the work, putting together a particular understanding based on the randomness of his own physical placement in the room. –– One has to be somewhere to be at all involved and so we bring to any story our own personal and cultural assumptions, interpreting not only the language of the narrative, but images and sensations as well. -Joey Morgan

“Vapor”

www.annelindberg.com

Water as space.

Surface to volume.

Mass of chroma.

Suspended from many thousands of points in the ceiling, fine delicate thread lines create a floating volume of color. Subject to gravity, the internal structure of this form is difficult to comprehend and collect at any given moment or vantage point. I am interested in that mystery and intangibility. What results is a fleeting, ethereal collection of particles, dissolution – vapor.  In this work, my curiosity gravitated toward conditions of architecture, optics, visual phenomena, drawing in space and an expression of water as light.  I have challenged myself with questions of scale, color, process, density and proportion in the making of this installation. Optically, Vapor responds to light and sculpturally it answers to air movement.  Tender, liquid, abstract, manic.

I frequently return to the subtle distinction between drawing as noun and verb as a long held focus in my studio practice. This blurred distinction drives my fascination with an expanded definition of drawing languages and the resurgence of drawing in contemporary art. My collective body of work is an iteration of this language – a reassertion of the age-old desire to understand self in place. -Anne Lindberg

“Waterfall”

www.cuifei.net

As a Chinese artist active in the United States, witnessing radical social changes in China and experiencing cultural differences in the United States, I find that my thinking has been permanently altered.  In response to a continually changing outside world, I seek the underlying essence of our lives, something that is real and permanent, which cannot be altered by social, political, cultural, or geographic conditions.  I see nature as consistent and ordered, thus providing a therapeutic agent for healing and harmony in an otherwise chaotic world. I utilize materials found in nature, such as tendrils, leaves and thorns composing a manuscript symbolizing the voiceless messages in nature that are waiting to be discovered and to be heard.

Both the concept of nature in my Chinese heritage, which emphasizes the interconnectedness of all beings, and the Western theory of Transculture, which stresses living beyond the limitations of any particular culture, offer me a unique vision to view the relationships between cultural differences; between culture and nature; and between nature and human beings. -Cui Fei

“BigWater” 

www.avyclaire.com

BigWater is a project I started after reading Maude Barlow’s the Blue Covenant.  It occurred to me that I could further empower the words in this book by incorporating them into an image of water.  Maude Barlow generously allowed me to use her text. This permission began a journey to find out more about water and the project evolved to the scale you see before you.

In the process of working on BigWater I have experienced the enormity of what has been written about water as a precious resource in need of protecting to ensure it’s availability to all.  I have found and read a volume of work written by individuals, scientists, journalists, researchers, policy makers, politicians, lawyers to politicians; the list and amounts of words are vast.

The 16 panels on view hold approximately 600,000 words. The book that inspired this project has about 58,000 words. And, 600,000 words is a tiny fraction of what has been written on the topic.

When I get involved in a project, I find that the process leads me into unexpected places. This project led me to the plethora of policies and laws, written by countries and world organizations — many of which are represented in this piece.  I can’t help but wonder how many more words need to be written in order to affect change. -Avy Claire

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Sponsorship for the printing and fabrication of this project has been generously provided by Moss, Inc., “The Leader in Tension Fabric Displays”.

“In Depth”

www.juneahrens.com

You can describe a wave as no beginning and no end, birth and death…Looking deeply, we can see that the waves are at the same time water…seeking there own true nature…the nature of nondiscrimination, of no birth, of no death, of no being and of no non-being.

Thich Nhat Hanh   

June Ahrens creates sculpture and site-dependent installations that incorporate everyday materials.  Loss, pain, fragility and danger are major inspirations for her work. She isolates these materials to refocus the viewer’s attention toward exploring and examining their own thoughts and feelings.   

Selected solo and group shows include the Meade Museum, Amherst, MA, Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY. Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, Scotland, In-Site, Sculpture Guild, Governors Island, NY. Grants include, NEA, CT Commission on the Arts, Polaroid and Duracell Companies among others.