Colliding at RISD

Collision Installation View

Last week Dina and I had a full day of visits in Rhode Island, one of the highlights being a stop at the RISD museum to see Collision, organized by curator Judith Tannenbaum and artist Jackie Saccoccio. The installation is an expansive, phantasmagoric cornucopia of visual delights, a result of an experimental exhibition-making concept. The seventeen invited visual artists submitted their work to an improvisational process in order to “break down physical limitations, encourage pairings and layering” and to explore ideas of “open-endedness.” This is a great example of new, smart collaborative projects and is a must-see if you’re in Rhode Island.

Collision Installation View

Collision Installation View

Collision Installation View

Collision Installation View

Abigail Ross Goodman

Co-Curator, 2012 Biennial

HYPERSLEEP

The Montserrat College of Art Galleries’ alternative display space, Frame 301, is currently exhibiting Corey Corcoran’s installation HYPERSLEEP, which reveals a mysterious human figure stratified with turf, peat, and moss. Corcoran’s blooming structure calls attention to the awe of nature’s uncertainty while investigating its constant regeneration. Corcoran’s first 3D site-specific installation, HYPERSLEEP, engulfs  Frame 301 with heaps of biomass, growth, and decay as a terrarium through creation. The window holds a cocooning figure saturated with earth, root systems, and endless unidentifiable matter. This obscure creation spans the entire length and depth of the window, enhancing every viewer’s looking experience. 

 Completely sculptural in nature, HYPERSLEEP refers to a science fiction term similar to hibernation when life processes are halted completely for some duration. It addresses the artist’s continuous ideas concerning the persistence of life, fluidity of time, and the simple strangeness of nature. Corey is a lending artist to deCordova’s Corporate Program where several of his 2D works have been installed at Corporate Member sites throughout Boston. HYPERSLEEP can be seen from February 7, 2011 through March 11, 2011 at 301 Cabot Street, Beverly, Massachusetts. Frame 301 is accesible to its viewers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  

- Lydia Gordon

Corporate Program Assistant