ENTER HERE, 2019
Installation with cone 6 ceramic forms, synthetic rope, plastic, and MDF board
Photos courtesy of Artist.
Inspired by material culture and the way objects can dictate movement through space, ENTER HERE is an installation comprised of ceramic objects and everyday materials that together, create an environment that paradoxically possesses the subtle control one might perceive in a garden, and the chaos of a construction site.
This conceptually generated work considers the hierarchy of materials and the ways in which objects script behaviour in physical space. Using installation as a mode of phenomenological experience, the clay sculptures act as physical barriers that simultaneously allow access while preventing movement, causing the viewer to question if they have truly been afforded permission to enter the space.
Pick Up a Tile, 2020
Documentation of performative installation, using 49 unfired clay tiles
Photos courtesy of Sophia Middleton and Artist.
Forty-nine unfired clay tiles occupy a room. They rest in piles, stacks, and rows, awaiting movement. The unfired clay is a mixture of discarded clay from the ceramic studio that is repurposed and reclaimed. It is cheap. It is dirty. Familiar diamond plate pattern is carved into the clay, creating a relief that would normally be seen outdoors on metal surfaces. This tread is designed to prevent slipping and is typically found on industrial materials. Using fragile hand-carved clay as a body to carry this pattern associated with safety, creates tension and raises questions about perceived stability. The spaces between the tiles are empty channels, separating the pieces into a grid. I thought about the grid as a stage or a comfort zone, and wanted to use gesture and movement to orchestrate an interactive installation that would confuse static boundaries.
I began this collaborative performance by handing out a small piece of paper that said, “Pick Up a Tile” to each participant. I used my physical interaction with the tiles to encourage group participation. The instruction “Pick Up a Tile,” and my performance functioned as the control, and the response of the participants was a variable of chance.
ABOUT
Anna Luth is an interdisciplinary artist who works in expanded ceramics, performance, and installation to explore obstacles and boundaries relating to phenomenological experience. Using labor-intensive methods of making, Luth considers the ways performativity can activate art-objects while creating collaborative encounters. Originally from Alberta, Luth is the 2017 recipient of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts’ Queens Golden Jubilee Scholarship. She is thankful to live and work in Vancouver on the unceded Territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My practice involves a variety of materials, but I continuously turn to clay because of the way it is persuaded by touch. I work with both fragile clay in its unfired state and durable fired ceramic in order to raise questions about the perceived stability of the material, and the way it incites a hyper-awareness of the body. The paradoxical tension of clay drives my practice, and my creative process is a balance of chance and control; I am fascinated by tension that creates inconsistencies and fails to land in one place.
I observe patterns of construction and destruction in my surroundings: temporarily cordoned-off sites redirect, exclude, and ‘improve’ physical space. I often reference the vocabulary of material-culture in my work— namely industrial materials that are often associated with safety— because these recognizable visual cues elicit specific behaviours and movement as we renegotiate disrupted interior and exterior environments.
Making is a physical and performative experience; I am fully engaged in the process and my movement/labour is embedded in the sculpture. Performative gestures and instructional titles or scores are inspired by the Fluxus Movement and installation art. When my ceramic objects are completed, it is my intention to use the movement of myself and the viewer to activate the work. Ceramic history is intrinsically bound to community and function, and is carried through to present-day quotidian activities like eating and drinking. I see my work as functional in the way that my intention is to bring people together, to create an encounter facilitated by objects.