Sarah Robson
An Open Proposition
12.02.20 – 29.02.20

The works within this exhibition have been propelled by my desire to understand more fully how a nonrepresentational, non-objective artwork is transformed from a collection of parts into a meaningful system, capable of eliciting an energetic exchange when encountered. The underlying motivation behind this desire was a questioning of the validity of an art practice in the face of pressing environmental problems, and the utility of the singular art object in a world plagued by overconsumption.

The exhibition sits between an installation and a collection of individual, provisional works created and re-created as their contextual relationships unfold. The works are intended to question the very notion of absolutes through the proposition of an open artwork. An ‘open work,’ facilitates through its physical form, degree of participation or conceptual intent, a multiplicity of meanings, it is ambiguous by nature and replaces beginnings and ends with a field of possibilities.

I believe, that there is a type of artwork that is intrinsically connected to the phenomenological experience of the immersive installation and the unpredictable potential of participation and yet distinctly separate and different—a singular artwork that defies fixity, is temporal, relational and open. Through the proposition of provisional artworks and an artwork’s intrinsic, relational capacity this exhibition aims to vivify the act of contemplation and position the artwork and the viewer in a resonant
space of encounter.