Impossible House, Summer 2017

Impossible House, Summer 2017

Impossible House derives its title from one of the works within it, a participatory installation that invites the audience to reflect on systemic privilege and social structures that can empower and oppress, specifically in relation to education and teaching. Driven by the students’ immediate concerns and investigations around their own education and their place as artists and educators going forward, a considerable amount of work in the exhibition grapples questions of privilege and equity, voice and representation. The individual pieces are propelled by an awareness of each student’s place within society and the education system, as well as the desire to examine or reflect upon ways to transcend the bureaucracies and challenges involved in navigating these systems.

Using academic and social research methodologies inspired by the work of contemporary artists, students investigated individual questions through collaborative gestures with students, conversations with family and friends, the creation of participatory makerspaces, generating collections and accumulations of objects and texts, and a variety of other modes of visual storytelling. Embedded in each work is an awareness of the contradictions within the politics of representation and the responsibilities of speaking for and with others.

Ultimately each work represents the desire for art to be transformative—transforming the artist as they explore unfamiliar perspectives and investigate new ways of thinking and making, impacting the viewer as they navigate unconventional art and research practices, and perhaps even shifting the larger social landscape to challenge and inspire our work as artists, educators, and citizens.