Pittsburgh
Mattress Factory
It was no surprise that “Gestures: Intimate Friction,” guest-curated by Mary-Lou Arscott, a British architect living in Pittsburgh, included architects and designers in addition to visual artists. In her statement, Arscott explains, “Our physical reality bumps up against us and then disappears from view…The process of creating the installations in this exhibition will be collapsing, constructive, and collaborative.” “Intimate Friction” aimed to engage viewers on several levels, going beyond the visual to encourage physical experience and participation. Nina Marie Barbuto, Dee Briggs, Nick Durrant, Jeremy Ficca, Pablo Garcia, Jenn Gooch, Ling He, Matt Huber, Nick Liadis, Gill Wildman, Spike Wolff, and the collective Transformazium were given several weeks, extensive support, and the freedom to produce new works. Briggs’s Art You Can Get Into…if you have $12, an indoor/outdoor piece at the 1414 annex building, was both critical and lighthearted, motivated by the artist’s interest in public space and museum pricing and accessibility. …see the entire review in the print version of December’s Sculpture magazine.
