The Clark Art Institute has unveiled newly commissioned site-responsive installations by six leading contemporary artists in its first outdoor exhibition set throughout the woodland trails and open meadows of the Clark’s distinctive 140-acre campus.
Organized by the Clark under the leadership of guest curators Molly Epstein and Abigail Ross Goodman, Ground/work features a dynamic range of outdoor presentations by international artists Kelly Akashi, Nairy Baghramian, Jennie C. Jones, Eva LeWitt, Analia Saban, and Haegue Yang, that respond to the Clark’s unique setting while expressing ideas core to each artist’s individual practice. The installations are on view through October 2021, allowing visitors to encounter the works day or night and throughout the seasons, experiencing them anew as the landscape and weather conditions change.
“The Clark has always been deeply connected to our unique natural setting in the Berkshires, where one lives with—and treasures—the seasonal fluctuations that are such a part of life here. For Ground/work, our meadows and woodlands serve as a kind of natural ‘gallery,’ offering visitors the opportunity to venture beyond our institutional walls and contemplate vibrant and inspiring contemporary works set amid the remarkable natural beauty that surrounds them,” said Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark. “We are excited to build upon our history of collaborating with living artists and art historians in the most ambitious program of new commissions the Clark has staged to date.”
Originally slated to open in June 2020, logistical challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic caused unavoidable delays for the project. Visitors to the Clark have been able to watch the individual projects being installed on the grounds over the last several months. “Watching Ground/work grow over several months is certainly not what we originally envisioned,” said Meslay, “but we have happily adapted to the current circumstances with resilience. I know many of our visitors have found this to be a fascinating glimpse into how exhibitions are made.”
“We could never have foreseen it when we first conceived Ground/work more than three years ago, but the significance and benefit of being able to offer our visitors the opportunity to visit the Clark and enjoy an outdoor exhibition at this moment feels particularly welcome,” Meslay said.
Guest curators Epstein and Ross Goodman said: “The Clark’s magnificent landscape, with its varied terrain and opportunities for wandering, served as an open invitation to the participating artists in Ground/work, each of whom recognized the context as an exciting prompt for innovation in their work. It has been a privilege to work on this project that further extends the Clark’s interest in presenting global contemporary art and which honors the visitor, the artists, and the environment. As each project has been installed, the significance of the artists’ consideration of nature as participant and raw material is further revealed. By re-orienting the viewer to the possibilities presented by both art and nature, these works engage features of the Clark’s landscape to blur the boundaries between the familiar and the unknown.”
The six artists’ installations are sited across the vast and varied campus, thereby providing visitors with a rich experience of moving through the landscape to reexamine nature through their encounters with each work. The projects on view combine the individual investigations of these artists with their responses to the environment, the Clark’s lands, and the museum’s permanent collection and architecture.
The exhibition is supplemented by additional online content available on the Clark’s website and app, including interviews with the artists talking about their projects, a trail guide, an image gallery, and more. Visit clarkart.edu/groundwork or download the Clark’s app through the Apple and Samsung stores. Trail guides are also available at the Clark’s information desks.
Ground/work builds upon the Clark’s long history of collaborating with contemporary artists and art historians, inviting them to engage with the museum and its campus, both through exhibitions and as resident scholars, researchers, and lecturers. It also represents a deepening of the Clark’s commitment to contemporary art, championed by Olivier Meslay since joining the Institute as Hardymon Director in August 2016. In addition to Ground/work, visitors this year will have the opportunity to enjoy a yearlong installation in the museum’s public spaces, Velo Revelo, by contemporary artist Pia Camil (Mexican, b. 1980) and Lin May Saeed: Arrival of the Animals—the first institutional solo show in North America of works by the German-Iraqi artist—at the Clark’s Lunder Center at Stone Hill.
The exhibition, organized by the Clark and curated by Robert Wiesenberger, associate curator of contemporary projects, is open from July 21 to October 25. Wiesenberger is also working in collaboration with Epstein and Ross Goodman on Ground/work.
For more visit: clarkart.edu
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