Julianne Swartz: Terrain
February 8-April 20, 2008
Julianne Swartz is known for her sculptural installations that subvert traditional social conceptions of space. Her sculptures often embody metaphors for tender communication, the fragility of the body and the vulnerability and potency of the human heart. Swartz's piece, Terrain, features a colorful web of 12 channels of sound. Utilizing hundreds of speakers to emit hushed whispers, the piece emanates sounds reminiscent of blowing leaves or a gentle wind. Swartz asked multiple subjects to think of someone that he or she felt tenderness for, and to say what he or she would whisper in that person's ear. Swartz has woven these comments so that visitors will hear abstract, yet discernable moments of conversation, but will not be able to follow each comment in its entirety.
