Inova Hosts Opening Reception in an Empty Gallery 4/1

The Institute of Visual Arts (Inova) will host an unusual exhibition of work from U.K.-based sculptor Samuel Williams from April 1-June 19. Samuel Williams: Instructions pits the limitations of time, materials and distance required to make an art exhibition against the ease and speed of current communications technology, simple and cheap materials, and volunteer spirit.

At the beginning of the show, the gallery will be empty. Each day Inova is open through May 22 (including opening night), Williams will send instructions via Skype, e-mail, telephone, text message, or fax for one sculpture to be made on site. A collection of volunteers, drawn from students in the Peck School of the Arts and the Milwaukee community, will sign on to help realize these works, gradually filling up the gallery at the pace of one sculpture per day. After eight weeks, if all goes as planned, 38 Williams sculptures will occupy the space. Williams' video work will be showing in Inova's screening room throughout the exhibition.

The exhibition is perfectly in line with Williams' usual working methods, primarily in sculpture and video, tending to focus on limitations of materials and time. His series of 20-second sculptures, made from whatever is at hand within the one-third minute time constraint, is a primary example. For this exhibition, Inova will fully engage Williams' inventive capabilities, and the limitations created by him living in a country an ocean away.

As Williams states, "Often projects cannot happen because of a lack of materials, budget or time. This work tries to make a positive out of those limitations. A limitation itself can be just another tool. They are things that generate unexpected outcomes, things that push creativity in interesting directions. It is not about setting oneself up to fail, but about looking for potential, and working with that."

Samuel Williams was educated at Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Brighton and the Royal College of Art in London. Most recently he completed a residency at the Kyoto City University of Arts in Japan.

EVENT DETAILS:
Samuel Williams: Instructions
Dates: Friday, April 1-Sunday, June 19
Opening Reception: Friday, April 1, 5-8 p.m.
Gallery Hours: Wednesdays-Sundays Noon-5 p.m., Thursdays until 8 p.m.
Location: Inova/Kenilworth, 2155 N. Prospect Avenue
Cost: Free

For information about Inova, please call 414-229-5070.

 

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