User:Dinoiam/sandbox

Themes and inspiration

Though Hamilton studied textile design throughout her undergraduate career, she pointedly decided to focus on sculpture as a concentration in graduate school, as opposed to weaving. She claims that, when making that decision, she was “interested in the relationships between things in space. And more important than the things themselves is the way they come into relation.” [simon] However, the relationship she creates between sculpture and textiles is evident in her work, which often weaves different elements together into one image or includes textiles like pressed shirts or work uniforms. (mneme pg. 10) In addition to her educational background, her personal identity and interests directly inform her artistic creation. She identifies herself as a reader: of space, of objects, of people, of poetry, and even of dictionaries; thus, the act of reading, words, and books often make their way into her installations, videos, and created objects.[simon, pg 3] Her work also explores themes of humanity, from gender and the body to violence and power. {CITATION?} As a conceptual artist working with video, sound, and interactive installation, the elements of time, change, and decay also play roles in her work. {CITATION?} Hamilton's installations often respond to the spaces and cities in which they are created, using objects that reflect the history and identity of the culture. (mneme pg 10)

Select works: 1984-1990

suitably positioned- In 1984, one of Hamilton’s first installations, suitably positioned, set the tone for her later works, encompassing many of her artistic methods: installation, object-making, photography, and performance. (simon pg. 9) For this piece, she constructed a suit made of a thrift-store men’s suit and toothpicks. She then stood, wearing the suit, for the duration of the installation within the studio with viewers walking around the artist without interacting with her. The suit was originally made as a part of room in search of a position, which, after exhibition, Hamilton believed didn't reach pictorial success and decided to rethink her use of these made objects. (simon pg 9) However, she then incorporated the toothpick suit into her suitably positioned installation, which finally created a connection between the object, in this case, a suit, and the figure, herself within the suit. This installation directly lead into her body object series. [simon pg 10]

body object series- While working on suitably positioned, Hamilton began asking herself, "How can I make something that demonstrates the thinking of demonstrates a relation instead of making a picture of a relation." (simon pg. 9)

privation and excesses-

linings-

Select works: 1991-2000

aleph-

mneme-

myein-

indigo blue-

Select works: 2001-2010

(the picture is still)-

face to face-

script-

human carriage-

Select works: 2011-2018

VERSE-

the event of a thread- In 2012, Hamilton exhibited her installation entitled the event of a thread at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City.[cite NYT article] The title of the exhibition references the The installation featured a white curtain that spanned the 55,000 square feet of the space, punctuated by large swings. Much of Hamilton’s installations are interactive and involve the audience’s experience.{CITATION} For this installation, specifically, the artist involved the use of radios in paper bags that were available for viewers to carry around; the audio on these radios was broadcasted by two actors from the theater company SITI (link?) who read selections of text by various authors at one end of the room. [cite NYT article] On the other end, a writer sat at a desk, writing sentences. The artwork changed day to day; the murmurs, cell phone rings, and laughs of the viewers, as well as the sounds of reading, writing, and cooing pigeons filled the space with sound, while the viewers’ swinging swayed the curtain. The audience was able to experience the space in different ways: swinging, looking in through a window, lying on the ground, or simply walking through the exhibition. [cite NYT article]

Cortlandt Street station project- The New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts and Design Program commissioned Hamilton to create an art project as a part of the reconstruction of the Cortlandt Street subway station that was destroyed on September 11, 2001. This project, to be completed by 2018, is similar to her previous work, VERSE, in that it weaves together words, in this specific case, from notable historical documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The text will be white and will appear upon or within the surface of the white walls of the hub, covering up to 70 percent of the walls' surface. Like much of her work, this project is intended to be experienced, as opposed to simply viewed. Each person travelling through the station, whether tourist, regular commuter, or 9/11 survivor will have a different relationship to these words. NY Times Cortlandt article}