An Empty Vase

by Jenny Heishman and Matthew Offenbacher
with
Gretchen Bennett, Buddy Bunting, Tim Cross, Nicholas Nyland, and Chauney Peck

"Our idea is based on thinking of a new gallery as a kind of collection. We have created a structure to enfold, energize, and complicate that collection. It is inspired by the nineteenth–century English architect John Soane's solutions for the compact and dense presentation of his collection of paintings, sculptures, and curios. Within the limited confines of his townhouse, Soane enthusiastically piled object upon object, rooms inside rooms—compelled, we imagine, to fill up the empty space. An art gallery is a kind of void which is ritually filled and emptied. In order to keep the melancholy of this rhythmic cycle at bay, we have made space that aims for enthusiasm rather than mastery."    –Matt and Jenny