Matt Siber & A.N. Pritzker Elementary School
Project Overview
Collective Consciousness visually engages objects in educational space that make institutional learning possible. Thinking sculpturally, I aim to present these objects slightly outside of their usual context. Singular objects are reoriented, relocated, or photographed as monolithic; often appearing visually abrupt and obstructive. Careful attention is paid to the object’s relationship to photographic space.
Pushing the sculptural approach further, I create temporary assemblages of objects to be photographed. These constructions offer a range of possible metaphors regarding education and culture. My assemblages walk a line between the verge of collapse and relative stability. I am interested in this tension as a way to think about the process of growing and learning as a young person. I see a playfulness in these photographs that references many of the grade school approaches to making learning interesting and fun.
The bulk of this work has been made during the pandemic in an empty school. The idea was refined and strengthened in response to the pandemic as a way to employ the idle educational objects in the absence of children and teachers. The presence of students limits what I can assemble without risking student safety. The empty school gives me license to create pieces that are more precarious, and sometimes fall down. An empty school also affords me access to the classrooms, whereas the pre-pandemic pieces had to be created in hallways.
Meet the Artist
Matt Siber
Matt Siber (b.1972) is a Chicago-based visual artist working in photography, digital imaging, video, installation and sculpture. With an MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago, he has had solo exhibitions in Madrid, Berlin and Chicago among other venues. His first monograph, Idol Structures, was published by the DePaul Art Museum, Chicago in 2015. His artwork is part of many private and public permanent collections including The Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Contemporary Photography, and The Bidwell Foundation. His work has been published internationally in publications including ArtForum, Sculpture Magazine, Flash Art, Aperture and EXIT Magazine. He has received grants from the David C. and Sarajean Ruttenberg Arts Foundation, the Aaron Siskind Foundation and the Illinois Arts Council. Siber is Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Photography Department of The School of The Art Institute of Chicago.
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Matt Siber (b.1972) is a Chicago-based visual artist working in photography, digital imaging, video, installation and sculpture. With an MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago, he has had solo exhibitions in Madrid, Berlin and Chicago among other venues. His first monograph, Idol Structures, was published by the DePaul Art Museum, Chicago in 2015. His artwork is part of many private and public permanent collections including The Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Contemporary Photography, and The Bidwell Foundation. His work has been published internationally in publications including ArtForum, Sculpture Magazine, Flash Art, Aperture and EXIT Magazine. He has received grants from the David C. and Sarajean Ruttenberg Arts Foundation, the Aaron Siskind Foundation and the Illinois Arts Council. Siber is Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Photography Department of The School of The Art Institute of Chicago.
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