Monday a.m. Artist Post 8/31

Sarah Oppenheimer, mixed media artist, received her BFA in 1995 from Brown and her MFA from Yale in 1999. She has been a part of shows at places like the Bronx Museum of Arts, Yale Art Gallery, the Sculpture Center in New Jersey, Ostrobothnian Museum in Finland, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Massachusetts. She has received grants from The Space Program, The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation and the Schoelcoff Travel Grant to China from MacDowell Colony Inc. Oppenheimer currently lives and works in New York City.
Often described as an artist who creates interactive sculptural installations. A very popular current installation is one titled VP-41 and was shown at the Art Unlimited at Art Basel in June of this year. This is a “periscope embedded within a particular architecture. The periscope itself is constructed out of bent plywood and two mirrors” (Vernissage TV). Also included in this article about the VP-41 piece is a short video interview with Oppenheimer at Art Basel giving a brief overview and conceptual background information on this piece. The project took four months of detailed planning and a great portion of that work was done in Ohio and New York, and then shipped to London in pieces to prepare for the show. Also, her pieces were the only interactive sculpture at the art unlimited. “The importance of his focus lies in the fact that whereas most contemporary installation artists talk about their concern for the viewer Oppenheimer is demonstrating it. The viewer’s movements in her installations observed-directly or via video- become the input for her sculptural sensibility and the output is expressed via her alterations to the sculptural-architectural environment” (Hidrazone.com).
One of her pieces that I felt I could identify with was the performance titled “Lecture Hall.” This performance involved a group of people in a lecture hall and they were instructed to give a talk about Oppenheimer’s work. “Placing casting calls in StagePool, Oppenheimer auditioned Swedish performers to present a single lecture on her work. Four selected lecturers present an identical power point presentation” (artist website). “The audience became increasingly bored, and then aggressive…leaving the lecture. One later returned to remove her clothes while the lecturer diligently continued their presentation…This piece was ultimately exhibited as a two-channel video projection in which video documentation of the audience was projected on the side of the room and the lecturer the opposite side. The work, accordingly, positioned the viewer in a virtual space in between audience and lecturer” (artist website). Because I am now playing the part as the director and not the performer, I enjoyed how Oppenheimer did the same but still maintained her presence in the piece by prompting the performer to make a lecture about her work. Also, since I am considering changing my methods of presentation, I enjoyed the idea of projecting both the lecturer on one wall and the audience on another. I feel that that presentation utilizes space well and keeps the viewer’s eyes moving and entertained.

Artist Website
Artist Statement
Link to Interview with Oppenheimer
Lecture Hall Article by Graham Coulter-Smith