between two things
between our intentions, and our actions
between an idea, and a person
between you and me was inspired by a snowballing inquiry:
who are we (you, me, us together) ?
where do we come from, and how do we get here (from meaning before, here as in now) ?
what is between us when we sit next to one another (physical space, emotional tension, silence )?
what is between us when we fight?
what happens when we can’t go home?
what happens when home disappears?
All of these questions sought to provoke an intimate consideration of what makes each of us exactly who we are, and if there is a science to our spiritual selves. between you and me weighed how we are connected to the self, the other, the place, and the universe at large, and the many overlaps and intersections within those parameters. Materially, as curators we sought to blend sight, sound, light, and darkness in order to create a meditative experience. The low rumbling of Chase Buckley’s Contact set the tone for a deeper look into ourselves. The large scale, sculptural video projection, glowing, and slow moving asked the viewer to consider their body in relation to landscape, and to another. Aubrey Doherty-Costa’s This Distance Between Us, suspended and starkly lit, imagined two entities seemingly forced apart, reaching towards each other. The rela- tionship between these two works built the ground for reflecting on the physical and emotional ways we are near, and distanced from one another.
Kelli Fox and Alexander Sebastianus Hartanto’s works spoke to absence from, and solitude. Fox’s Explanation that will never come, a seemingly endless video performance in which a singular figure continuously pulls black cloth over their face considered presence even in absence, and an inability to reach an end point or resolution. Hartanto’s untitled takes a look at a meditation over sunrise, a moment of isolation from.
Judith Leemann and Corinne Perreault’s wandering audio works created spaces where the viewer could connect with the artist through narrative, while also connecting with the environ- ments and resources that the artist’s worked in. Leemann reads from various texts in reading aloud season VIII: relations, and relations of relations, weaving seemingly unrelated information together, overlapping and blending words. Perreault’s Rummaging, Jan 2016-Sept 2017 acts as a walking score made from field recordings, asking the viewer throughout to notice their surroundings more acutely. Her observations of her own surroundings cause us to consider our environments deeply, even by simply noticing more.
Each of these works contributed to a deep reflection of what it means to exist. between you and me considered what we may owe to ourselves, to others, and to our universe, as well as what we may still have yet to find. As one exhibition among many, between you and me stands out to me as one of our most successful, emotionally charged projects from the 2017/2018 year. The exhibition filled the space with light, sound and color, and immersed viewers in an environment meant for stillness, and time- a reminder to take a moment to breathe, to remember your body, and to consider our place in the world.