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Opening at deCordova: Fall 2012
SMoCA Installation: 2013

Sculptor Julianne Swartz will be the subject of a mid-career survey organized by deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum and Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. Curated by Rachael Arauz with the full participation of the artist, Julianne Swartz: How deep is your will present the work of a rising international art star whose work engages viewer participation with elegance, humor, and intelligence.

The exhibition will survey the past decade of Swartz’s career in all media, and gather together for the first time a significant group of her large-scale installations—reconceived for the unique interior, exterior, and interstitial spaces of deCordova, SMoCA, and each participating tour venue—that invite viewer participation in both subtle and overt ways. The artist will collaborate with each participating venue to tailor the installation and visitor experience for their institution, making each presentation both site-specific and unique.

Acclaimed for her unique blend of high and low-tech materials, the artist has made the ephemeral presence of the viewer fundamental to her work, employing lenses that transform mundane objects and hidden locations into magical moving pictures, mirrors that disorient a viewer’s spatial perception and self-awareness, vinyl wall drawings that guide viewers to secret architectural spaces, and PVC tubing and speakers that allow buildings to communicate with their inhabitants. Swartz has exhibited widely, including site-specific commissions for the New Museum, Tate Liverpool, and theTang Museum, and group shows at P.S. 1/MoMA, the Aldrich Museum, and Ballroom Marfa. She was included in the 2004 Whitney Biennial, and has had recent solo exhibitions at the Jewish Museum, the Colby College Museum and the Indianapolis Museum of Art. She is represented by Mixed Greens and Josee Bienvenu Gallery in New York and the Lisa Sette Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ.

Supported in part by a generous grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Exhibition Information

  • Exhibition size: approximately 3-4,000 sq. ft., variable on museum architecture.
  • Includes a fully illustrated catalogue with essays by exhibition curator Rachael Arauz and SMoCA Associate Curator, Cassandra Coblentz.
  • Participation fee: $20,000 + pro-rated shipping.

Download Exhibition Information with articles from Art Forum and Sculpture magazines. (PDF)