Platform: Genius Loci
Inaugural Platform Project by Hope Sandrow

In Genius Loci (the prevailing spirit of a place), inaugural Platform artist Hope Sandrow will respond to the opening of the new Parrish by creating temporary installations that integrate art and cultural objects used in rituals and ceremonies that mark a beginning or rite of passage. Sandrow, whose practice often involves intensive historical research into site and place, will evoke symbols of new life and good fortune, corresponding to the many cultures that have enlivened the history of the East End.

The Future is Ours
November 10, 2012 – December 31, 2013

The Future is Ours, is a voluntary participatory project for visitors, families, employees, and workers at the site of the new Parrish Art Museum. A card imprinted with the phrase, “The Future is Ours,” will be distributed to visitors as they arrive or depart with the invitation to write how they envision the new museum within their lives. Each completed card will be strung on a line between two stanchions: as more and more are added, the responses will become sculptural and layered. Ultimately, the responses will become part of an archive produced by the artist.

Observational Findings
November 12, 2012 – January 31, 2013

Observational Findings, is a temporarily installed 19th Century display case, once owned by Samuel L. Parrish, that contains objects selected by Hope Sandrow as symbols of the “genius loci” of the Parrish Art Museum. The vitrine’s rotating contents– ranging from rare photographs from the earliest days of the Museum to found objects like “good luck” horseshoes, and elixir bottles unearthed from the grounds of the artist’s studio (property once managed by Samuel Parrish as President of the Long Island Improvement Society)– serve as reminders of the customs prevalent at the time in which the Museum was founded. Other contemporary found objects relate to the agrarian roots of the Museum site, the materials and processes of observation, and the golden ratio, found in both nature and the proportions of the new building.

(Sky)gaze
November 10, 2012 – January 31, 2013

(Sky)gaze is a component of Hope Sandrow’s project, Genius Loci, a series of site-specific events and projects that evoke “the spirit of place.” (Sky)gaze refers to the ancient practice of seeking information about one’s environment by observing the sky.

The project includes scheduled screenings of the artist’s video, Untitled Observations—images of the moon projected through a telescope on to the artist; and guided telescope viewings of the sun, moon, and celestial bodies, offered in collaboration with the Montauk Observatory, Suffolk County Community College, and Dark Skies Society, (under the direction of astronomers Sean Tvelia and Dr. Mike Inglis, and dark sky advocate Susan Harder).

About the Artist

Art making is a way of life for Hope Sandrow. Her Open Air Studio, is an evolving work of art that encompasses the breadth of her Shinnecock Hills backyard, its past and present, and all living things within. From sculptures that also function as chicken coops and conceptual water features, to the wildlife that happily inhabit those structures, Sandrow’s practice is one of total engagement with her immediate surroundings. Yet she ably connects the microcosmic to the universal through themes of natural history, art, culture, and science. Her work has taken the form of photography, video, installation, sculpture, new media, and performance, and has been exhibited in galleries and museums that include MoMA PS1, Whitney Museum of American Art, New Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art, and Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. She is represented in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, among others, and has received two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, a Skowhegan Governors’ Award, and an Art Matters Fellowship.