Global / Local

2012 - Degree Show piece

(Full work and documentation can be viewed at: global-local-blog.tumblr.com)

A collaborative piece inviting artists and the public to transport flat-pack sculpture

Call to collaborate:

We live in an ever-expanding digital world, even though artworks are still being shipped around the globe from studio to gallery space and beyond. Does the ‘real’ experience of an artwork justify the time and money involved with shipping, packing, handling and instillation?

Is there something that a physical object offers that a virtual object cannot?

I am interested in how an art object can communicate in an era where global has become local, and digital dialogue is now commonplace. I aimed to discover how different contexts affect the artwork while bringing the relevance of the sculptural object into question.

Flat-pack sculptural artworks were couriered to various destinations around the world. These objects had optional possibilities for construction; there was no right or wrong configuration of the components. It was the job of the participants to document the object, context and the social interaction.

The documentation was in various forms (for example: photographs, film, audio, live feed etc…) it was sent back to the University of Brighton band featured in the final degree show.

The participants became part of an international conversation that draws on the first hand experience of an art object in different settings The transformation from a package into something that communicates through a sculptural language is the challenge of those involved.

The sculpture travelled to 5 artists before returning to the gallery for endless re-compostions by the public attending the exhibition.

Initiator: Carrie Phoenix

Participating artists:

Lisa Turner-Wray, Brighton, UK - wix.com/lisaturnerwray/art-and-meat

Christian Benefiel, WV, USA - blackscrewstudios.com

Maximillian Schneider, Friedburg, Germany - filmkunstkommune.tumblr.com

Fionn Duffy, Kitanagoya, Japan - squaremelons.tumblr.com

James Graham, London, UK - jamesgraham.biz