SHORTLIST
THE MULTIMEDIA ARTIST WITH A NEW PARIS SHOW SHARES EIGHT THINGS THAT FAN HER CREATIVE FLAME.
Multimedia artist Sarah Sze shares the eight things she can’t live without
When Sarah Sze had her first solo show at the Fondation Cartier in Paris, in 1999, she built her entire multimedia installation, Everything That Rises Must Converge, on-site. For “Night into Day,” her current exhibition at the same institution, the process couldn’t have been more divergent. As a result of the pandemic, Sze created her two works—a planetarium of found and pop-culture images that unfolds in immersive layers, and a pendulum that melds filmic imagery with objects—in her studio in New York. She then used live digital feeds to erect them in Paris, an approach completely in sync with the show’s focus. “The work is about being in a state between the digital and physical,” says Sze, who is known for her boundary-collapsing, site-specific pieces. “I’ve always been interested in how you can create an experience that feels very live.” She did just that earlier in 2020 when she unveiled Shorter than the Day, her commission for the new Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport; also in New York, next year, Sze will add an outdoor sculpture to Storm King Art Center upstate. “The challenge is making work in a permanent space still play with time,” Sze says. “And how to be anti-monumental in a piece that, inevitably, has a monumentality to it.” sarahsze.com
1. Eileen Gray E-1027 Table
Great design marries beauty and practicality. This is brilliant as both a sculpture and as something usable.
2. Jantar Mantar
When you walk into this sundial in New Delhi, your body feels physically very small. It’s an incredible structure.
3. Temple of Queen Hatshepsut
I studied this Egyptian temple as a student. It shows a union of the human hand and this gorgeous architecture dug out of the surrounding desert.
4. Ise Grand Shrine
Every 20 years, local artisans reconstruct these buildings in Japan. You can see different stages of growth and demise depending on when you visit.
5. Louisiana Museum
At this museum outside Copenhagen, you’re able to contemplate nature and art equally. And the choreography of the spaces is always surprising.
6. Lao Gan Ma Chili Crisp
We love spice in my household. You can put this on anything, and it will make it taste better.
7. Chris Ofili
This watercolor was a gift for my 50th birthday. Chris has great confidence of mark and color. There’s a real sculptural strength to the way everything is depicted.
8. Chinese Workers’ Stools
I have these all over my house because I find them useful. They’re simple, exquisite, and—despite being small—can hold the weight of the largest human.