Interiors March 14, 2014
40º F
Interiors, a night of readings and installations about coziness, loneliness and bookishness.
+
Leslie Jamison read about the discovery of the blue whale who became known as 52 Blue, the so-called “loneliest whale in the world”–a creature always heard traveling alone, with a singularly high-pitched call–and his strange evolution from animal to myth, how he’s come to mean so much to so many far-flung devotees. In keeping with 52 Blue’s ability to inspire, artist Sarah Knouse created an epoxy string sculpture inspired by Leslie Jamison’s book. The piece existed much like 52 Blue: a collection of lines, or sound waves coming together to form an ethereal portrait.
Danish writer Dorthe Nors generously sent a piece of writing all the way from Denmark to be read at the Interiors event, describing Hygge (pronounced HOOG-guh!), the Danish phenomenon of coziness. “Hygge” is a way of staging coziness: candles, coffee, cake, cuddling up inside the house to protect oneself from the dark and cold winters – or in the summertime when the dark is non-existent, people “hygge” in the yard with grill parties, cold drinks, sausages. It’s a beautiful thing, the Danish “hygge”. And it’s also a little bit dangerous.
Amanda Thackray’s “Library” was an installation of cast ice books installed around the perimeter of The Winter Shack. When initially crafted, the solid book objects retained a high level of detail: the texture of bookcloth at the covers and pages at the edges of the book were hauntingly realistic. However the books could not be opened; they remained artifacts and relics, and gave observers no choice but to watch them slowly melt away. “Library” is inspired by the work of Sarah Cohen, a Massachusetts-based artist. Sarah “transform[s] mass consumerist icons into different materials that critique the everyday popular culture of the American experience.” You can see more of her work at: https://sites.google.com/site/sarahcohenprojects/portfolio/frost-beat and http://www.sarahcohenglass.com/
wintershack.org 
Pingback: Winter Shack med Leslie Jamison, New York