Surfaceworks "Out There" In Here

Surface Tension and Spatial Apparatus

Abstract

Black Contemporary is an experiential archive whereby ongoing investigations are conducted in an effort to expand knowledge specific to the study of atmospheric logics and the Midwestern agricultural landscape. The archive is located two miles south of Ames, Iowa. Using experiential perceptions as spatial conditioners, current studio projects focus on the act of making and curating a series of Surface Works within a dormant seed-drying facility constructed in 1979. Based on a series of modulated experimental actions, the foundational body of work provides a material/ visual reflection on the contemporary social configuration of the post-industrial landscape of Iowa. This work might best be understood as a peculiar deposit of site-adjusted installations and experimental drawings that indicate the presence of, and makes clearly recognizable, its context as referent, rather than as a source or setting. Each work is driven by the nascent possibility of a persistent desire to intercourse with existing material surroundings pursuant to a philosophical position that leverages perceptual notions of chiaroscuro in the practice of understanding and generating a set of spatial valence within the material culture of a post-industrial site. Surface Works addresses the aesthetic experience generated by a set of spatial apparatus (installation and experimental drawing) with a relative capacity to draw out, unite, react or interact with the latent dimensions of our inherited landscape.

Read the full article online at: https://drawingon.org/Issue-02-03-Surfaceworks