The Posture of Place

The Posture of Place

Contemporary Art Museum, Saint Louis | 2004

The project began with a question: How can the physicality of the gallery space mirror an understanding of architecture as an extension of the human body and mind? Biomorphic disruptions inside the museum walls and along the cracks in the concrete floor endow the building with human characteristics. In one corner, tendon-like sinews imply flexibility. Expansion, contraction, stress and gravity were the forces used to activate the space and reframe the building as a kind of body that settled into its physical location and social identity.

The Posture of Place was part of the first Great Rivers Biennial, a grant and exhibition program for artists sponsored by the Gateway Foundation and Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and selected in 2004 by Lisa Corrin, Hamza Walker and Debra Singer.

Jill Downen and The Posture of Place

Written by Jeffrey Hughes, a professor of art history and criticism at Webster University

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error: © 2003-2020 Jill Downen