A.K. Burns: Of space we are…
A.K. Burns: Of space we are…
Feb 11, 2023 – Jul 09, 2023
Wexner Center for the Arts
1871 North High Street Columbus, Ohio 43210
A.K. Burns’s largest solo exhibition to date considers the intersection between the human, the more than human, and the environment—and the value systems that guide our perceptions of each.
The press release reads,
‘The centerpiece of the exhibition is the science-fiction epic Negative Space, comprising four multichannel video installations that explore the relationship of marginalized bodies to resources, space, and technology. Rethinking how we might approach queer world-building, Negative Space is a poetic work where the environment is the protagonist and performers act as concepts. Drawing on threads of current events, art history, and allegory, the project takes place in what the artist refers to as the “speculative present,” an imagined moment where boundaries are permeable, and hierarchies are thrown into question.
For the first time, viewers will be able to experience the complete Negative Space tetralogy. Each installation investigates a physical system: A Smeary Spot (2015), the void; Living Room (2017), the body; Leave No Trace (2019, making its US premiere), land; and a new Wex-commissioned work that completes the series, What is Perverse is Liquid (2023), which focuses on water. The videos include performers from Burns’s community of artists, choreographers, and musicians, as well as soundtracks scored by Geo Wyex.’
About A.K. Burns
A.K. Burns is an interdisciplinary artist, sculptor and associate professor in the Department of Art at Hunter College, CUNY. Working at the nexus of language and materiality, Burns troubles systems that assign value and explores their sociopolitical embodiment. She has exhibited internationally, including solo shows at the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Julia Stoschek Foundation, Düsseldorf, Germany; and New Museum, New York. Burns is a 2023 Berlin Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin and a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow. Many of her art projects have a queer dimension to them.
Related Links
Video: A.K. Burns – Negative Space (2017)
Video: Art Historian Ksenia M. Soboleva in Conservation with A.K. Burns (2023)