Hauswerk, an exhibition I am missing

I just learned about this show yesterday from an Inquirer story. I don’t see how I’m going to find a way to get out there with all my weekends burnt from now through the New Year and a day job. It stinks. This sounds very fun.

Basically, an art class at Tyler’s School of Art, here in Philadelphia, managed to get hold of a whole house in the suburbs and turn it into one big installation called Hauswerk. The art all reflects on the nature of work in the home in a snarky way.

These students are so lucky to find such a unique space to make their own. I really wish I could have shared in the experience with them. I bet they had a lot of fun.

Artists have become very interested in the issue of where they art they create “sits,” for want of a better term. The whole notion of site-specific art is one of the insights artists have had in the last century that I find really exciting. It’s true: you can make a painting that looks good everywhere, but you can also make a sculpture expressly for the purpose of being seen in the place where you build it. It helps you be mindful of where you are and sometimes it shows you things you see without noticing it.