In this new work, Shirley transforms the traditional officer’s home into an abstraction of light and geometry. The size and circularity of “Agency (as in giving…)” create a dynamic contrast with the room’s context, sparking a dialogue between story, time, and space. This interplay prompts a reevaluation of the viewer’s scale and the surrounding environment. As the artwork seemingly pushes against the room’s limits, “Agency (as in giving…)” takes on personhood, becoming as a character in a play—oversized, expressive, and almost existing as pure emotion in space. Through the tension between scale, figuration (the room), and abstraction (the light sculpture), Shirley invites a reconsideration of space and the present moment as a quantum duality of particle and wave, time and infinity.
LOCATION: Elements! in Art and Tech exhibition
Harvestworks Art and Technology Program Building 10a, Nolan Park Governors Island
Artist Opening Saturday August 31, 2024 and Saturday September 7th from 2 – 4:30 pm.
All events are free.
Open to the public from 11 am to 5 pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and by appointment.
Building on the legacy of artists like Sol LeWitt, Nancy Holt, Robert Smithson, Dan Flavin, and Robert Irwin, Shirley continues the exploration of light, space, and the modularity of archetypal forms, emphasizing their interaction with the site. She brings a fresh perspective by integrating questions inspired by recent discoveries in physics. In this work, the artist challenges herself to balance in-depth contemplation with a playful, minimalist approach. The dynamic form of the sculpture, along with its light, energizes the surrounding elements, granting them renewed agency to retell their story in the present moment.
• BIOS
Raphaele Shirley is a Franco-American multimedia artist based in New York City and upstate New York. Her work spans technology-based sculptural pieces, public art, place-making social interventions, and performance. She has presented solo and collaborative projects at venues including The Queens Museum, the Museum of Moving Image, the Emily Harvey Foundation in New York, the NCCA, the 2nd Moscow Biennale, and the Hermitage Museum in Russia, The Linz Museum in Austria, and The Kai Art Center in Estonia, among others. Her collaborators range from renowned composers to theater directors, architects, and technology experts. Raphaele, along with Algis Kizys, received the 2023 Wave Farm Grant for their performance piece 20F. She has also been an artist-in-residence at Harvestworks NYC with Rhys Chatham and GH Hovagimyan (2016) and The Arctic Circle (2009/2010). Raphaele has received several grants from the Norwegian Arts Council and awards for her collaborative projects.
Links
https://www.instagram.com/raphaele_shirley/?hl=en
@raphaele_shirley
20F by Raphaele Shirley and Algis Kizys. Generously supported by the Wave Fram Foundation 2023 Media Arts grant
3 tone ephemeral by Raphaele Shirley with sound by Rhys Chatham. Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Gallery
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/611342832/03f6ddaae6
Sky (Obscured and Revealed) by Raphaele Shirley Sound By Rhys Chatham at the Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Gallery
INTERVIEWS AND PRESS COVERAGE
https://www.streamingmuseum.org/innovation
About the Elements! in Art and Tech exhibition. Programmed for the annual Harvestworks Art and Technology Program Building on Governors Island, the artworks in this group show are inspired by elements of light, water, earth, flower plasma and their influence on humans. Selected by the Harvestworks arts committee and the Executive Director Carol Parkinson, the works use creative technology such as audio/video spatialization, gesture, body tracking and vegetal power.
