Fall 2016 Talks : Heather and Ivan Morison

Often working in and with the public realm, artists Heather and Ivan Morison intertwine art, architecture, and theatre in their dynamic collaborative practice, to create moments of surprise, disruption, and hope. With a diverse approach to making, their works have ranged from the creation of large-scale, dynamic public spaces, to the organization of a nomadic theatre company—in each instance engaging with ideas of collective experiences and the limitations and possibilities for creating a work of art.

The Morisons’ talk at The New School will explore the duo’s extensive oeuvre of public installations and interventions, including Skirt of the Black Mouth (2012-15), a project commissioned by Tate Modern which employed large sculptural elements to define and reconfigure public space; I’m So Sorry. Goodbye (2008), which explored the use of public space as ritual practice, through the creation of a thatched shelter, observatory, and performance space where attendees were served hibiscus tea; Black Cloud (2009- 2016), a community-created and -inhabited barn; and The Cleaving (2015), a dinner service utilizing locally-sourced cuisines, utensils, tables, and chairs that invites participants to engage in the physical space, while contributing to the activation of performative elements of the immersive environments.

Public Art Fund Talks at The New School are organized by the Public Art Fund in collaboration with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School.
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This program is made possible in part by Con Edison and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, as well as by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Heather (b. 1973, Desborough, UK) and Ivan Morison (b. 1974, Istanbul, Turkey) live and work in Brighton and North Wales. Recent solo exhibitions and projects include Black Cloud, originally commissioned by Situations for Victoria Park, Bristol, re-built at both the Hepworth Wakefield and Eastside Projects, Birmingham (2009-16); The Cleaving, Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto (2015); Skirt of the Black Mouth, Tate Modern, London (2012-5); All’s Well That Ends, Schauspielhaus Bochum, Germany (2014); Sleepers Awake, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2014); Smile All The While, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2014); Shadow Curriculum, South London Gallery, London (2013-2014); Knives Are Mothers, Works|Projects, Bristol (2014); Slyk Chaynjis, Diverse Works, Houston (2013); Nuclear Family, National Theater of Wales (2014); Anna, The Hepworth Wakefield (2012); Cave, MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, UK (2012); Little Shining Man, Dandara, UK (2011); Sleepers Awake, Artlands, Sittingbourne, UK (2011); Black Pig Lodge, The Southbank Centre, London (2011); Plaza, Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada (2010); Luna Park, commissioned by Chapter, Cardiff, UK (2010); Unreachable Country. A Long Way to Go, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK (2010); Frost King, Open Satellite, Seattle (2010); Mr. Clevver, commissioned by Contemporary Art Spaces Tasmania, Queenstown, Australia (2010); Falling Into Place, published by Bookworks, London and Situations, University of West of England, Bristol (2009); The Black Line, Void, Derry, Northern Ireland (2009); The Shape of Things to Come, Victoria Park, Bristol, commissioned by Situations, University of West of England, Bristol (2009); How to Survive (The Bad Years) at Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto (2008); The Opposite of all those Things, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, UK (2008); The Land of Cockaigne, Bloomberg Space, London (2007); And so it goes, as part of the Welsh Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale, touring to Oriel Davies, Newtown and Chapter (2007).

Mining the Minutiae
The fall 2016 Public Art Fund Talks at The New School series brings together a diverse group of artists—David Shrigley, Heather and Ivan Morison, and Spencer Finch—whose practices mine the minutiae of collective experiences.

David Shrigley employs a distinctive comedic tone to dissect the experience of everyday situations and human interaction. Often utilizing the public realm, Shrigley confronts the viewer with his or her own experience, creating an awareness regarding life’s infinite jest. Working predominately outside the gallery space, Heather and Ivan Morison focus on the interaction of people and ordinary things, objects forgotten and unnoticed. Their public interventions focus on the active engagement of common grounds, from histories, sites, and materials to people. Spencer Finch seeks to represent the most elusive forms of experience through the lenses of nature, history, literature, and personal experience. Referring to the fleeting and the temporal elements inherent in all areas of life, Finch mines the observed world to create poetic installations that speak to a shared existence.