Through an intimate system of material and conceptual echoes, D Rosen, Soo Shin, and Catherine Sullivan have produced work that unravels the boundaries surrounding conventional formations of identity as a separate self, or artistic productions as autonomous endeavors. The exhibition exposes a net of influences, of resonance, of polyphony and discord. In it, the artists and curator Ruslana Lichtzier investigate an inherent otherness that female and non-binary bodies embody from within.
The myth of Narcissus and Echo plays a subsidiary role in the psychological construction of identity. Both Freud and Lacan referred to Narcissus while describing their models for identity formation; both men neglected Echo, whose voice they did not hear. Returning to the feminist voices of Deconstruction in order to insist on an ethical stance that embraces ambiguity, the exhibition responds to Echo, who was deprived of her own voice and spoke only through the words of others. We renounce Narcissus.
Relying on physical proximity, the exhibition was formed in the months prior to, and during the pandemic, through ongoing group virtual conversations, studio visits, and visual and textual exchanges. The work towards the exhibition was based on an agreement, among the individual artists and the curator, to enter an unknown and experimental route, and to produce a shared system of echoes. The exact definition of the system remains purposefully omitted; its understanding and implementation were left to the group and each participant’s interpretation.
The design of the exhibition, which provides the audience with the opportunity to view the show from a car, follows the logic of a drive-in theater while responding to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The exhibition was generously hosted by Chicago Manual Style.