life of things


RO/LU continues to explore “art history as a material” by starting with very literal information from existing works and reinventing through intuitive connections to others. A collage of the past and the present—Superstudio’s Quaderna line, environmental installations by Ettore Sottsass, Scott Burton and James Lee Byars’ utilization of man as a symbol object—along with intangible new ideas that emerge through action, then evolved. The objects, made from welded wire mesh, seem to change when one moves in their presence, in some way becoming different with each step taken around them. 
Extending ideas embraced and explored by the Mono-ha movement in late sixties Japan, as well as current philosophers like Bruno Latour, RO/LU and Various explore the “life of things”—the belief that objects, images, and ideas included—have their own agency and won’t simply sit still under someone’s watch, on someone else’s terms. In fact, what makes them compelling is precisely what animates them, what they want, and how they behave when they are set loose into the world. In other words, objects, images, and ideas have lives to live. Suddenly we are interested in getting closer to these objects, establishing a poetic proximity that will allow these things to teach us in ways no person could.
More here. On view at Patrick Parrish from 9/4 to 10/4.

Can't wait to check it out.

Also on the to-see list: In Waves at Jack Hanley Gallery, opening Sunday. Always on the must-read list: rolublog.com.