The Fabric Workshop and Museum
The New Temporary Contemporary
1214 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
[T] 215.561.8888 [F] 215.561.8887
www.fabricworkshopandmuseum.org
1222 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
[T] 215.568.1111 [F] 215.568.8211
info@fabricworkshopandmuseum.org
For Immediate Release
December 4, 2013
Left: Sarah Sze at The Fabric Workshop and Museum, an installation by the artist in collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM), Philadelphia, 2013.
Right: Portrait of Sarah Sze, Courtesy of the artist.
Sarah Sze at The Fabric Workshop and Museum
December 13, 2013—April 6, 2014
Press Preview: Exhibition Walkthrough with the Artist Sarah Sze
December 13, 2013, 10:30 am–Noon
Parking Provided | Reservation Required for Parking; Details Below.
Public Opening Reception: Friday, December 13, 2013, 6:00-8:00 pm
Members-Only Exhibition Tour with the Artist at 4:30 pm
Artist Lecture at 5:30 pm (open to the public)
Funding for this exhibition is provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, the National Endowment for
the Arts, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, and the Board of Directors and Members of
The Fabric Workshop and Museum.
The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) presents new work by Artist-in-Residence Sarah Sze in her first solo
exhibition in the Philadelphia area, titled Sarah Sze at The Fabric Workshop and Museum. "...Sze creates
exuberant installations that provide the viewer with a sense of wonder, visual pleasure, and a novel way to look at
familiar space" (MacArthur Foundation, Meet the 2003 MacArthur Fellows, October 5, 2003). Opening Reception:
Friday, December 13, 2013, 6-8 pm; Members-Only Exhibition Tour with the Artist at 4:30 pm; and Artist Lecture at
5:30 pm. The Exhibition Walkthrough with Sarah Sze on Opening Day for the Press Preview begins at 10:30 am,
parking is provided. For parking reservation and details please email Michele@fabricworkshopandmuseum.org.
The participation of artist Sarah Sze in FWM’s renowned Artist-in-Residence Program is due to the generous
support of The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. FWM, as one of the nine visual arts practitioners and organizations
that received $874,000 in funding in 2011, was awarded a prestigious Exhibition Grant by The Pew Center.
"We are delighted to support this ambitious exhibition for Sarah Sze, whose brilliant artistry is internationally
recognized," says Paula Marincola, Executive Director of The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. "This project
highlights the unique place of The Fabric Workshop and Museum as a commissioner of major works by
important artists, and demonstrates the dynamism and vibrancy of Philadelphia's art scene. The Pew Center
is proud to have made this show possible."
Additional support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter
Foundation, and the Board of Directors and Members of The Fabric Workshop and Museum.
Sarah Sze is known for her site-specific sculptures and installations that combine mundane objects, ranging from
hardware store items to household plants, into elaborate, architectural presentations imbuing the everyday with
surprising significance. Her work incorporates her ranging interests in visual art, architecture, science and
philosophy. Sze's exhibition at The Fabric Workshop and Museum explores the construction and measurement of
space, mass, time, and volume through the use of materials. Three museum floors contain different experiments.
Each one turns the viewer's sense of scale, gravity and information on its head. Common objects like rocks,
newspapers, and furniture mutate from something known, to something foreign, fragile, newly composed and
entirely transformed.
This exhibition will culminate with a catalogue, with a foreword by Marion Boulton Stroud, Founder and Artistic
Director of The Fabric Workshop and Museum; and essays by Arthur C. Danto (January 1, 1924–October 25,
2013), Philosopher and Art Critic; Jonathan Gilmore, Philosopher of Art and Aesthetics and Art Critic; and Jeffrey
Kastner, New York-based Writer and Senior Editor of Cabinet magazine.
About the Artist
Sarah Sze (b. 1969, Boston, MA) received her BA from Yale University in 1991 and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New
York, in 1997. Solo presentations of her works have been staged at White Columns, New York (1997); the Institute of
Contemporary Art, London (1998); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1999); the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard
College (2001); the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2002); the Whitney Museum of American Art (2003); and the Baltic Centre
for Contemporary Art, Newcastle, UK (2009). In 2013, she represented the United States in the 55th International Venice
Biennale with her exhibition, Sarah Sze: Triple Point. Her work has also been included in group exhibitions at MoMA PS1
(1998); Manifesta 2 (1998); the 1999 Carnegie International; the 48th International Venice Biennale (1999); the Museum of
Modern Art, New York (2005); The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia (2005); the 5th Liverpool Biennial (2008); the
10th Biennale de Lyon (2009); and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2010). Her numerous accolades include
the 1997 Rema Hort Mann Foundation Award; the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award in 1999; a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation Fellowship in 2003; 2005 Radcliffe Institute Fellowship; the 2012 American Federation of the Arts Cultural
Leadership Award; and a 2012 AICA Award for Best Public Project in a Public Space for her installation Sarah Sze, Still Life with
Landscape at (Model for a Habitat) at The High Line in New York. Her art is held in the permanent collections of major museums
around the world, and she is represented by Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York and Victoria Miro Gallery in London. Sarah
Sze lives and works in New York.
About the Funders
The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, is a multidisciplinary grantmaker, supporting seven
areas: dance, visual art exhibitions, heritage, management, music, theater, and individual artist fellowships. The Pew Center’s
Exhibitions Program strategically supports the work of arts organizations and individual curators in the greater Philadelphia area
who approach exhibition-making in all its aspects with imagination, courage, and an ongoing commitment to artistic excellence.
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that funds and promotes artistic excellence, creativity,
and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities.
The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation was formed in 1975 as the E. Rhodes Carpenter Foundation by E.
Rhodes Carpenter, founder of the Richmond, Virginia based company now known as Carpenter Co.
Also on View
Selections from the Permanent Collection, November 2013–Fall 2013
At FWM's New Temporary Contemporary, 1222 Arch Street: On view are works produced in collaboration with FWM by artistsin-residence Louise Bourgeois, Ann Hamilton, Kiki Smith, Kara Walker, and others.
About The Fabric Workshop and Museum
The Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) is the only museum of its kind, offering internationally renowned artists the resources to
create new work in experimental materials. Artists come from all media—including sculpture, installation, video, painting, ceramics, and
architecture—and use FWM’s facilities and technical expertise to create works of art that they could not create on their own. Research,
construction, and fabrication occur on-site in studios that are open to the public, providing visitors with the opportunity to see works of
art from conception to completion. FWM’s permanent collections include not only complete works of art, but also material research,
samples, prototypes, and photography and video of artists making and speaking about their work. Access to the creative process
provides visitors with a point of entry into understanding challenging works of contemporary art. FWM offers an unparalleled experience
to those young and old, including the most significant artists of our time, students, and the general public.
The programs of The Fabric Workshop and Museum are supported by Agnes Gund; Amy Stone, Art Ancora; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual
Arts; The Arcadia Foundation; The Barra Foundation; Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation; Claneil Foundation; The Dedalus Foundation, Inc.;
Dolfinger-McMahon Foundation; E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation; Edna W. Andrade Fund of The Philadelphia Foundation; The
Honickman Foundation; Independence Foundation; Institute of Museum and Library Services; The Judith Rothschild Foundation; Knight Foundation;
LEF Foundation; LLWW Foundation; Longwood Plantation Foundation, Inc.; Louis N. Cassett Foundation; Mondriaan Foundation; National Endowment
for the Arts; New Millennium Charitable Foundation; The New York Community Trust; Nimoy Foundation; Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state
agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage;
The Philadelphia Cultural Fund; PNC Foundation; PNC Arts Alive; Public Funds from the Netherlands Cultural Service; The Quaker Chemical
Foundation; Samuel S. Fels Fund; Individual Trustee Discretionary Grant, of the W. Clement and Jessie V. Stone Foundation; Uplands Family
Foundation; and the Board of Directors and Members of The Fabric Workshop and Museum.
For more information, or to request images, please contact Michele Bregande, Assistant to the Directors, at michele@fabricworkshopandmuseum.org, or
215.561.8888.
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