“Measures of Proximity”
2021
72 x 36 x 8 inches (installation varies)
Stoneware, paper, and aqua resin
The series of sculptures are ball and socket joints consisting of hollow ceramic spheres and paper extensions. The rolling joinery behave like wheels, and like eyeballs in sockets. They are activated as extensions of the body, rolling them through a space to navigate using sound. I created a series of performances characterized by the physical attributes of the physical space, and the acoustic qualities of the sculptures themselves. The performances illuminated relationships between the gestures of searching, within an architectural space and imagined spaces prompted by the acoustics.
Performance Measures of Proximity: locating sound
April, 2022 (approximately 16 minutes)
Pfizer building, Brooklyn
Performers: Maddy Rowe and Demetrius Wilson
Measures of Proximity: locating sound, is a performance developed as part of the exhibition On Transcending Numbness curated by Tamara Khasanova. Over the course of several months, Chen experimented with creating a body of work that unites sculpture, performance, and sound by playfully integrating her existing sculpture Measures of Proximity with scored choreography for the cavernous industrial space at the former Pfizer building in Brooklyn. This performance explores and questions the themes of language, non-verbal communication, negotiations of oneself and movement.