An Experiment in Vulnerability: Notes to Myself, Rhetorical Questions, and Conversational Fragments

Work by Roni Packer

Curated by Lauren Leving

 

1. Rarely do the boundaries of highbrow and Public Art overlap. Why is this? Why so often is Public Art watered down? Is this really the best way of serving the public? Is it because work lacking conceptual rigor is more accessible? Is it because it is less likely to offend? Or could it be because artists, arts professionals, and government organizations that sign off on Public Art projects think that is the method to best serve a widespread audience? Artist Roni Packer and I aim to navigate these questions, thinking of the Terrain Biennial as an experiment in Public Art, and gaining an understanding about how to best cater to the public.

 

2. Packer is not a Minimalist but today, for this project, she is. The houses depicted in her banners—the site and Packer’s childhood home—are simple silhouettes, unidentifiable to the everyday viewer, with the intent of uniting audiences through the basic necessity of shelter.

 

3. From my perspective, Public Art is not synonymous with risk taking. But for this project, Packer, stepping out of her comfort zone, is vulnerable. She creates work she would not typically make in an attempt to best serve the Biennial’s audience. We hope that the simplicity enables viewers to create their own meaning without first interpreting Packer’s. Is Packer’s meaning important here? The middle “banner,” more in line with Packer’s typical body of work, acts as a bridge between her vulnerability and the viewers’. We experience vulnerability when discussing art. Having the wrong answer (What makes an answer right or wrong? Isn’t art subjective?)—or no answer at all—causes anxiety. Discomfort. It’s one of the many reasons people are hesitant to enter the museum setting. Perhaps Public Art exists to solve this problem—creating space for general audiences to feel at ease viewing and thinking about art. For Packer, this project is an experiment in creating work solely for the public. Designed for them. Dedicated to them. Unburdened with the emotions of the artist with the hopes of producing work that is universally relatable. After all, don’t we all yearn for a home? A place where we feel safe and where we belong?

 

4. While we work on this project, I am also peripherally assisting with the Year of Public Art project for the City of Chicago. The bulk of proposals seem to be for murals and mosaics. Why do they seem to be the go-to mediums for Public Art? Are they well received? Will these banners, seen by drivers stopped by the nearby red light on the way to work and children on their walks to school, have the same impact? How do we measure the impact of Public Art?

 

5. In a recent discussion, Packer mentioned that she, a native Hebrew speaker, prefers the simplicity of short phrases when reading in English. I tend towards lengthy, detailed sentences. In an attempt to mirror her creation of these banners, in which she rejects elements of her current practice to make the work more accessible to a broad audience, I resist my typical style of writing. Employing a casual tone (rarely do I use “I”!) and short paragraphs à la Sol LeWitt, I aim to reduce barriers to exhibition text access. Which makes me wonder, who is the traditional exhibition text reading audience? Are the same people viewing Packer’s banners reading this curatorial statement? Who are you?

 

 

 

Artist Bio:

Oscillating between grounded structures and floating canvases, Roni Packer doubts any optimal point of view, and seeks orientation beyond her cultural roots.

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Her work traces the complex relations between painting, memory, and space. In order to get closer to the physicality of the surface, tearing, flipping, gouging, and re-weaving comprise the spectrum of her actions. Within these operations, Packer resists taking painting's materiality for granted; she remembers and forgets by engaging with the paint and the transformation of her materials. In an attempt to touch upon a spatial memory, through color, she creates nomadic spaces that desperately ask to be grounded.

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Born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel, Packer received a BFA from Tel-Hai College, as well as, a BA in Humanities from The Open University. In 2017, she received her MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago.