Art of the Lived Experiment
Hugh O'Donnell and Sinéad O'Donnell.
Art of the Lived Experiment addresses the idea that both art and life are in a state of continual change and uncertainty. Both are subject to flux and transformation.
In contrast to the objectivity of modern science, the ancient practice of alchemy – turning base metals into gold - believed that the presence of the experimenter was integral to the experiment itself. In contemporary art, can the artist’s own subjectivity be incorporated, like the alchemist’s, into their work in new, experimental and challenging ways?
The artists in this exhibition address this question, not through the fixed certainties of autobiography or illustration, but by acknowledging that the unfixed, mutable nature of existence demands constant adjustment and experiment.
The Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, Michigan , U.S.A.
Curated by Aaron Williamson.
