Selections from Object Lessons
BiolunarL / Robin Hill and Ulla Warchol
ArtYard is pleased to announce the second installation of the Very Small Gallery, consisting of three miniature installations hidden in the walls of the new building and visible by means of small apertures or peepholes.
This installation showcases selections from Object Lessons, a collaborative work by artists Robin Hill and Ulla Warchol (BiolunarL), co-curators of Going to the Meadow, a living exhibition currently on view in ArtYard’s main gallery. In the spirit of the improvisational nature of Going to the Meadow, Hill and Warchol will be enacting dialogues in the Very Small Galleries throughout the duration of the exhibition.
Initially conceived as a way of getting ‘unstuck’ by providing rules of play, obliquely inspired by the work of John Cage, the exercise of looking at things together through making and altering, rather than through spoken dialogue, provided a curious and profound insight into how collaboration questions authorship, creates a shared provenance, allows one to see things in a new way, and expands the landscape of one’s work and play habits.
Structure of the collaboration:
-two artists share, over Skype, twelve objects each, objects that hold potential but have not been used by them for anything beyond contemplation.
-at the count of three, allowing for chance pairings, artists position one object each in the full frame of their computer screens. Capture screen shots for reference purposes.
-artists share only the physical properties of their objects with one another (weight, texture, color, structure, and site of finding) being careful not to include any commentary as to why the objects are interesting to them.
-each artist proceeds to work independently over the course of the year, in response to the chance-assigned pairings, to alter/transform her object to integrate an aspect, quality, or attribute of the other’s object.
-after a year, objects are revealed to each other and live on as pairs.
Soapstone Marking Sticks (RH) and Kodak Slide Compartment File (UW), 2012
RH Object: soapstone, paint sample chips, and cardboard
UW Object: metal, wood, gesso, paint, and cardboard
Cast Rubber Cup (RH) and Braille Number Punch (UW), 2012
RH Object: cast rubber and plaster
UW Object: aluminum, waxed paper, and wood
Plaster Light Bulb (RH) and Kraft Paper Cut-Offs (UW), 2012
RH Object: plaster and kraft paper
UW Object: kraft paper, cardboard, glue, and string
