On view in "The World is Round"
MetroTech Center, Brooklyn
October 26, 2006 – September 9, 2007

The World is Round features new commissions and recent works by Jacob Dyrenforth, Diana Guerrero-Maciá, Chris Hanson & Hendrika Sonnenberg, Matt Johnson, and Ryan McGinness, all of whom have created works that explore collective consciousness and expression. Although the artists work in a variety of media and thematic areas, their practices are all linked by an interest in shared languages and systems, whether personal or political, formal or informal.

Chris Hanson and Hendrika Sonnenberg have been collaborating for over fifteen years. Originally from Canada, they now live and work in Brooklyn. They are best known for their meticulously crafted sculptures of recognizable objects, made out of unusual materials such as blue and green polystyrene foam. The things they depict are familiar but not wholly commonplace, like a Zamboni or a chain-link fence, and the sculptures' unusual materiality brings into question the objects' functions, their permanence or lack thereof, or their perceived role or symbolic place in society.

Soapbox, Hanson and Sonnenberg's sculpture for MetroTech, is a cast aluminum depiction of a trio of soapboxes. This new work relates to their recent sculptural series portraying press-conference microphones, in which the objects' unusable presence and air of forlorn abandonment served as oblique commentary on the current state of the press and the transmission of information. In contrast, the idea of getting up on a soapbox—either literally or metaphorically—to address a crowd is considered a fundamentally democratic form of expression, extemporaneous and unfiltered by media. By casting these otherwise utilitarian and flimsy objects in aluminum, Hanson and Sonnenberg venerate the most valued cultural ideal, freedom of speech, with a monument that could also serve as a functional speaking platform.

Artist Bio
Hanson & Sonnenberg each received a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (1986 and 1987, respectively). Hanson received his MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago (1996) and Sonnenberg received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1995). They have exhibited their work in numerous solo exhibitions including Store Gallery, London (2005); Cohan and Leslie, New York (2005); and White Columns, New York (2000).

Sponsorship
The World Is Round at MetroTech Center is part of an ongoing program organized by the Public Art Fund and sponsored by MetroTech Commons Associates, an organization that consists of MetroTech companies Bear Stearns & Company, Forest City Ratner Companies, JPMorganChase, KeySpan, and Polytechnic University.

Special thanks to Forest City Ratner Companies and First New York Partners.

Location
MetroTech Center is located in Downtown Brooklyn between Jay Street and Flatbush Avenue at Myrtle Avenue. Viewing hours are dawn to dusk daily for outdoor works, Monday through Friday 8am to 6pm for Jacob Dyrenforth's installation in the lobby of One MetroTech. Subway: A, C, F to Jay Street/Borough Hall, exit at Myrtle Promenade; R to Lawrence Street; Q to Dekalb Avenue.