Sarah Sze at The Fabric Workshop and Museum
December 13, 2013–April 6, 2014
Opening: Friday, December 13, 6–8pm
Press preview and exhibition walkthrough with the artist, Sarah Sze:
December 13, 10:30am–noon
Public opening reception: Friday, December 13, 6–8pm
Members-only exhibition tour with the artist: at 4:30pm
Artist lecture: at 5:30pm (open to the public)
The Fabric Workshop and Museum
1214 Arch Street
The New Temporary Contemporary
1222 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
T +1 215 561 8888
F +1 215 561 8887
www.fabricworkshopandmuseum.org
The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) presents new work by Artist-in-Residence Sarah Sze in her first solo exhibition in the Philadelphia area, titled Sarah Sze at The Fabric Workshop and Museum. “…Sze creates exuberant installations that provide the viewer with a sense of wonder, visual pleasure, and a novel way to look at familiar space” (MacArthur Foundation, Meet the 2003 MacArthur Fellows, October 5, 2003).
The participation of artist Sarah Sze in FWM’s renowned Artist-in-Residence Program is due to the generous support of The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. FWM, as one of the nine visual arts practitioners and organizations that received 874,000 USD in funding in 2011, was awarded a prestigious Exhibition Grant by The Pew Center.
“We are delighted to support this ambitious exhibition for Sarah Sze, whose brilliant artistry is internationally recognized,” says Paula Marincola, Executive Director of The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. “This project highlights the unique place of The Fabric Workshop and Museum as a commissioner of major works by important artists, and demonstrates the dynamism and vibrancy of Philadelphia’s art scene. The Pew Center is proud to have made this show possible.”
Additional support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, and the Board of Directors and Members of The Fabric Workshop and Museum.
Sarah Sze, who represented the United States at the 2013 Venice Biennale, is known for her site-specific sculptures and installations that combine mundane objects, ranging from hardware store items to household plants, into elaborate, architectural presentations imbuing the everyday with surprising significance. Her work incorporates her ranging interests in visual art, architecture, science and philosophy. Sarah Sze’s exhibition in collaboration with and made specifically for FWM explores the construction and measurement of space, mass, time, and volume through the use of materials. Three museum floors contain different experiments. Each one turns the viewer’s sense of scale, gravity and information on its head. Common objects like rocks, newspapers, and furniture mutate from something known, to something foreign, fragile, newly composed and entirely transformed.
This exhibition will culminate with a catalogue, with a foreword by Marion Boulton Stroud, Founder and Artistic Director of The Fabric Workshop and Museum; and essays by Arthur C. Danto (January 1, 1924–October 25, 2013), philosopher and art critic; Jonathan Gilmore, philosopher of art and aesthetics and art critic; and Jeffrey Kastner, New York-based writer and Senior Editor of Cabinet magazine.
About The Fabric Workshop and Museum
The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) is the only museum of its kind, offering internationally renowned artists the resources to create new work in experimental materials. Artists come from all media—including sculpture, installation, video, painting, ceramics, and architecture—and use FWM’s facilities and technical expertise to create works of art that they could not create on their own. Research, construction, and fabrication occur on-site in studios that are open to the public, providing visitors with the opportunity to see works of art from conception to completion. FWM’s permanent collections include not only complete works of art, but also material research, samples, prototypes, and photography and video of artists making and speaking about their work. Access to the creative process provides visitors with a point of entry into understanding challenging works of contemporary art. FWM offers an unparalleled experience to those young and old, including the most significant artists of our time, students, and the general public.
For more information, or to request images, please contact Michele Bregande, Assistant to the Directors, at michele [at] fabricworkshopandmuseum.org, or T +1 215 561 8888.
Parking is provided for the press preview. For parking reservation and details, please email michele [at] fabricworkshopandmuseum.org.
