Meet the Artist, Be Part of the Artistic Process: Dylan Gauthier Invites Community to his observationhouse at the Brandywine River Museum of Art
WHAT: observationhouse, an outdoor sculptural installation, has been designed and constructed by Dylan Gauthier as a mobile field studio that will serve as his workspace and as a visual anchor for his year-long residency. Its shape is inspired by the tetrahedral cabin Alexander Graham Bell built and used in Nova Scotia for his first experiments with flight and environmental sensing. observationhouse is equipped with environmental sensing technologies, a weather station, water quality monitoring instruments, and live data from the nearby US Geological Survey station.
WHEN: From October 17 through November 1 (except October 23 and 30), Gauthier will lead a sound walk at 10 a.m. The public is invited to join him daily on a wordless walk to various conservancy land sites, listening to the area's acoustic ecology and natural sounds, culminating with a discussion in observationhouse.
Most weekday afternoons at 2 p.m. during this period, Gauthier will conduct interviews inside observationhouse with Conservancy staff and local conservationists about topics such as the role of observation, engagement, experiential learning, and direct encounters with the landscape in their work. The public is invited to listen to and observe these conversations.
observationhouse will be open daily through January 5, 2017, and the public is invited into it to observe the landscape and explore sound recordings, interviews, and the river data he is gathering. Throughout November and December, Gauthier will work on site periodically.
WHERE: On the riverbank outside the Brandywine River Museum of Art.
WHY: observationhouse is the second of six parts of Dylan Gauthier's highwatermarks-six ways of sensing the river, a project commissioned by the Brandywine River Museum of Art. This participatory, community-based project focuses on the Brandywine River and the place of water in the public's shared imagination.
The artist's first work for the commission, the sculptural installation Hydrologic Unity: 02040205, is on view in the Museum. It is composed of a brightly-painted, two-person punt, built in June by Gauthier with assistance from volunteers from around the region and displayed next to a neon sign with the words "Hydrologic Unit." The numerals in the title refer to the precise location of the Brandywine River using a system created by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
WHO: Dylan Gauthier is an artist, curator, and writer whose work explores ecology, architecture, collectivity, time, media and networks, utopian systems, as well as questions an artist's role in society. He teaches art and media studies at Hunter College of the City University of New York.
COST: Free.
The Brandywine River Museum of Art is a program of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art, which preserves art and the environment. The Museum has an outstanding collection of American art housed in a 19th-century mill building with a dramatic steel and glass addition overlooking the banks of the Brandywine. The museum is open daily (except Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day) from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults, $10 for seniors ages 65 and over, $6 for students and children ages 6 to 12; free for children 5 and younger and members. The Museum is located on Route 1 in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.
The Brandywine Conservancy protects water, preserves land, and engages communities, using a multi-faceted approach to conservation. The Conservancy, also a program of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art, works with private landowners who wish to see their lands protected forever, and provides innovative community planning services to municipalities and other governmental agencies. The Conservancy currently holds 469 conservation and agricultural easements and has facilitated the permanent preservation of more than 62,000 acres of land. For more information, call 610.388.2700 or visit brandywinemuseum.org.
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