Open Spaces: An Intro

Posted on March 1, 2017

This book series was inspired by the show Open Spaces, a visual-artistic interpretation of the theme of openness. With the recent xenophobic expressions concerning erections of borders, the show holds a particular significance as a counterweight to those. Various ideas about openness, suggested by the artwork in the show, are further explored in the following essay.

Social Spaces

One concept of open space is social space that is not owned or controlled by profit-driven organizations or businesses. In an ecological sense, open spaces describe areas in which the ecosystems and natural worlds are protected against development by laws or agreements to preserve them. One is able to feel at peace in undeveloped places because they are not parceled out in unnatural ways: rivers, lakes, oceans, forests, mountains, woods, deserts, all seem open to the sky, vast and expansive. Here we feel part of something greater than ourselves. This touches on a psychological interpretation of openness. Artists often try to convey the sense of peace they feel in such spaces, either through representative art or through the emotional effects of color in abstraction.

In my 3D works for Open Spaces, I refer to an art-political challenge to keep an open mind. In one of the most famous essays on modern art from 1967, “Art and Objecthood,” Michael Fried maintains that adding a third dimension, as modern art does with its protrusions out of the two-dimensional frame, necessarily implicates the beholder in the work, creating a theatrical situation. He describes it as “literalist art” and believes that this sets a dangerous precedent in which categories break down and something is lost in the change. Regardless of how correct his assessment might have been, the direction society has gone in general has favored participation in exhibitions.

Philo-Play-Sophy

Without interaction there is a loss of interest in the arts. This phenomenon is easily observed in the struggle for museums to stay open (that is, financially sustaining) and appealing to their communities. Therefore they offer courses and programs in which visitors can learn art techniques or imitate the aesthetic that they feel drawn to.

Philosophically, my approach is postmodernist, the movement that dominated in the highly pluralistic climate of southern California where I grew up. While postmodernism was not a favorite methodology for writing (because its advocates tended to relativize every term and utterance, often becoming incomprehensible in the process), nor for architecture for the way it served corporate interests, in the visual arts I believe that the postmodern approach succeeded in opening minds and re-introducing the “total artist” concept of seemingly limitless possibilities. Seen in this sense, postmodernism did not so much break down objectivism and dominant discourses, but rather connected more liberally with a return to the notion of pleasure and play.

Unconscious Obsession

When I was in college, I heard a teacher once refer to a storytelling technique as similar to arranging beads on a chain; in art history the Dadaists (see: Tristan Tzara) cut up and rearranged words into poems and the Surrealists made the technique of collage famous. Collage is what happens when we dream when we allow the unconscious mind to do its work. It is no wonder that the twentieth century, which began with the publication of Sigmund Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams, was obsessed with the psychology of the unconscious. On the centennial of Freud’s groundbreaking work, in 1999, I co-founded Dream Coordination Office with Lisa Rosenblatt and we have continued our work with dreams ever since. Our Dream Projects are listed here: http://www.dreamcoordinationoffice.net/portfolio-2-2/) Furthermore, our work in German to English translations and copyediting of artists books has given us the means to realize our dreams, which are influenced by our professional work.

Open to Overcome

Open Spaces is an invitation to share space, which has also become a metaphor for acceptance and trust, but also for managing fears in order to feel safe. Currently, public spaces are subject to heavy surveillance, which has become the primary tool to assuage fears. The adherence to a set of shared values also inspires trust in their spaces, as reflected, for example, in the word “sanctuary” of a church. Unfortunately, private interests take advantage of our trust in public spaces by controlling what is expressed. Their advertising throws unwanted images at us, perpetuating a reflexive retreat and isolation from banality and while we are not looking, even more public space is lost. Non-traditional exhibition spaces provide a forum to communicate messages and aesthetics that may not be realized otherwise.

Open Views

Open Spaces is taking place with friends who in my estimation have been especially devoted to this idea or have found their safe havens of solitude. Through a diversity of expressions and genres, we hope to inspire an atmosphere of inclusion and openness to the possibility of visual, emotional, and conceptual connection.

In her photography, Tasha Halpert captures openings in everyday situations, which give pause and encourage reflection. Her “harmonious combinations of shapes, interesting lighting effects” and “a long history of capturing a poetic moment” leave the viewer with a feeling of pleasant surprise to have shared such a moment. Much of her long history in art has been spent with her companion Stephen Halpert, whose collages have been arranged complementary to Tasha’s photos.

Stephen’s collages (his “early works”) tend to spring forth from the frame to grab the viewer’s attention and pull them into the image. It is an adventure worth taking, and because of the meticulous arrangements, one could even get lost. There, you might discover quotes of art movements and iconic paintings, cut up and put into new contexts. He sees his work as following in the tradition of anthology, quoting cubism and abstraction, making social commentary and even satire. “His unique images challenge traditional perspective” to be sure, and they are even enhanced when seen with one eye.

A classical approach to open space, and a celebration of her natural environment, is presented in the serene painting and prints by Karen Sanford. Her preferred technique of drawing and painting on site and from life lends directness to her work and conveys an openness to her world that is enhanced by her technique. She also effectively translates her drawing and painting in printmaking techniques. Stated with a simplicity that is also deeply reflective, she describes her work as representing “a time when I lived in Worcester and found inspiration in the open spaces of Cook’s Pond.”

Like open-ended book-ends to the show, the assembled structures by Charlotte Eckler were each created in the last two years in response to social art themes. Formally, these are walk-in structures that contain “open spaces” for the viewer to enter and even to leave a message behind. On an aesthetic level, they recall movements in art (such as arte povera) that made socially inclusive statements and broke out of the traditional spaces reserved for art. Aesthetically they act as 3D collages, a technique that mimics dreaming.

Realizable Utopias

The structural forms of the 3D collages Wound Around and Aura were created as dynamic, free-standing screens onto which changing images and messages could be hung. The idea of modularity has been a principle in postmodern architecture for decades. An artist of the 1960s who believed that audiences should influence their spaces was the London architect Cedric Price, who began work on his Fun Palace as an adaptable space. (See Park Books: Tanja Herdt, The City and the Architecture of Change: The Work and Radical Visions of Cedric Price, 2017).

The Fun Palace was never realized for the same reason that spaces today are in danger: fear arose around the issue of the building’s open concept. In the debate over possible mechanisms for visitors’ protection, the idea arose to have users “sign on” to a specific code of behavior, something that in theory would inspire trust. The debate broke down, however, when surveillance was suggested; unlike today, security cameras were not the norm for deterring crimes in 1970s London and “Big Brother” was not trusted.

The ubiquitous presence of surveillance nowadays and the apparent desire for it, at the expense of privacy and the risk of civil liberties, suggests that we desire our own oppression, and when there is no longer a perceived need for a revolution, even utopian visions have to become practical.* Our challenge as a society is to continue to search for open spaces and, hopefully, to provide them.

* See Deleuze / Guattari, Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (1972)