Trying to Talk With Humans

DATE & TIME:
Friday, March 10, 2017; 6:30 pm
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LOCATION:
Nave Gallery Annex (Davis Square), 53 Chester St, Somerville, MA

WHAT’S HAPPENING:

Trying to Talk with Humans brings together four projects that make time for dialogue, collaboration, and understanding. The exhibition is way of experiencing a series of live performances that extend beyond the photo documentation, instructions, worksheets, and drawings on display. What you see are the products of their existence and open invitations for people to join one another in conversation. What you do not see are the intimate experiences that are fostered as the artists engage with their audiences. They champion face-to-face dialogue in a contemporary world where our interactions are increasingly one-sided and digital. These projects are tactile. Imagine passing an egg to a stranger, choosing where to place your Post-It note, pulling thread through paper or plotting your next move in a game. How can these simple gestures have any impact? The artists in Trying to Talk with Humans answer this question by creating connections, taking action, and committing to empathy.

Students Curate Students will present the documentation of performances that have taken place prior to installation. The evidence presented by each artist also acts to promote a schedule of performances that will take place during the exhibit primarily at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University Medford-Somerville campus.

Live Performances

In these two-hour events, the artists perform their work simultaneously in the same space. Viewers are free to come and go during the duration of the event.

Friday, March 10
6:30- 8:30 PM
Nave Annex
53 Chester Street
Somerville, MA 02144

Saturday, April 8th
1:00 – 3:00 PM
Anderson Auditorium
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University
230 The Fenway
Boston, MA, 02115

Saturday, June 10th
1:00 – 3:00 PM
Anderson Auditorium
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University
230 The Fenway
Boston, MA, 02115

Saturday, August 5th
1:00 – 3:00 PM
Remis Sculpture Court
Aidekman Arts Center, Tufts University
40 Talbot Avenue
Medford, MA 02155

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Sarah Goldsmith, BFA 2018
In Yolk, the artist lays on an elevated surface while audience members take turns cracking an egg into her open mouth. The performance continues until all eggs are gone. Using humor and performance, Sarah explores topics of the abject, feminism, and creating conversation through performance, utilizing the egg as a reference to vulnerability and the feminine.

Sarah Jenkins, MFA 2017
Sewing Conversations is an ongoing project that brings people together to sit, sew, and talk. Each group of sewn drawings is the product of a few hours of time spent together. Each person gathers around a table, chooses paper and thread, then begins to sew. The recorded conversations reveal stories, memories, and snippets from daily life, and each person’s work becomes part of the collection that you see here.

Jacob Schaub, MFA 2018
The Reckoning Project describes the prescriptive use of an apparatus to develop new understanding of individual humans. This project provides an experience for one or more people centered on stress, tension, and ultimately relief. The diagrams presented demonstrate the founding principles of the project, an explanation of the process, as well as an open invitation to the viewing public to participate.

Graham Yeager, MFA 2017
Spectrum consists of three phases: a classroom inspired presentation of word pairings drawn on a large chalkboard, worksheets designed to bring two humans together to create unique combinations and a small group session where participants mark and discuss how they relate to the words and a each other. The interactions challenge an understanding of the world as divisive and binary while promoting a practice of understanding across an infinite spectrum.