D-33

Sarah Oppenheimer
D-33
September 6 – October 13, 2012
Opening Reception: Thursday, Sept. 6, 6-8pm

P.P.O.W is pleased to announce the opening of D-33 by Sarah Oppenheimer.

D-33 is the most recent entry into Oppenheimer's typology of holes. Responding to a history of architectural typology, Oppenheimer systematizes the spatial continuity created by architectural rupture. In this exhibition, Oppenheimer investigates the ways in which perforations in architectural boundaries impact spatial navigation and visualization.

D-33 is an architectural catalyst. Intersecting apertures disrupt the corners of six discrete rooms. Light, sight and motion flow across previously enclosed boundaries. Visual distance is collapsed while the physical distance traversed by the viewer is extended. Abbreviated sightlines create visual and mnemonic shortcuts between the cluster of rooms. As such, the work operates on the level of a digital interface; composite spaces are shared between users in real time.

D-33 is a doubled hole. Discrete temperatures of warm and cool white light illuminate each of the six rooms. Light diffuses along each wall surface, then refracts on a large-scale sloped glass plane, contaminating the light temperature in each zone. The light absorbent aluminum surface of D-33 counteracts this contamination. Cleaved by the inserted apertures into discrete color-zones, light functions as a marker of spatial difference.

In late November, Oppenheimer's groundbreaking architectural intervention will open at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The installation will link the museum's modern and contemporary collections through two apertures that traverse floor, ceiling and walls. Currently, Oppenheimer's work can be seen in Factory Direct at the Warhol Museum and 610-3356 at the Mattress Factory, both in Pittsburgh. Oppenheimer's upcoming exhibits include solo projects at the Wall House in the Netherlands; Duve Berlin, Germany; and Site Santa Fe, New Mexico; her work will be included in Against the Grain at the Museum of Art and Design in New York City.

Oppenheimer was awarded the Rome Prize Fellowship in 2010-2011 and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant in 2011. Recent exhibitions include D-17 at Rice University, Houston, TX; Automatic Cities at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, CA; Currents: Sarah Oppenheimer at the Saint Louis Art Museum, MO; and Inner and Outer Space at the Mattress Factory, in Pittsburgh, PA. Oppenheimer lectures extensively and was recently featured in a number of catalogues published exclusively about her work, including "Keunstler Kritishes Lexikon der Gegenwartskunst" with an essay by Ines Goldbach, "Sarah Oppenheimer D-17," published by Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, with an interview and introduction by Kimberly Davenport, and "Sarah Oppenheimer MF-142" at Annely Juda Fine Art with an essay by Cay Sophie Rabinowitz.