Reflecting on Gordon Hall at the List Visual Arts Center

An exhibition of the work of New York-based artist Gordon Hall was on view at List Projects at the MIT's List Visual Arts Center. Gordon’s practice incorporates Minimalist sculptural elements which are then navigated by the body of a performer. Audiences experience these works through viewing the live performance, or the sculptural relics. Conceptually, Hall calls attention to transitional moments—between understanding and the illusive, body and space, life and death. The relationship between inanimate object and performer, time, and place also become compositional elements of his work; levels of interconnection range from the interior of the individual frame to the exterior modes of sculptures, physical location, and other viewers in the gallery space.

Gordon Hall, "The Number of Inches Between Them," 2017
Pigmented cast concrete, color poster multiple, performance.
Installation view of List Projects: Gordon Hall at MIT List Visual Arts Center, April 17-May 20, 2018.
Photo: Peter Harris Studio

The Number of Inches Between Them is a performance and installation that permits various interpretations through Hall’s exploration of the self—in both intimate and expansive ways. The performance, which occured once during the exhibition, involved Hall and other performers using their bodies to interact with the sculptural objects by placing themselves in various proximity to, alongside, or directly on top of the pieces. The exhibition’s introductory text noted that by “using both abstract forms and re-constructed copies of found objects, the artist asks how we might use such things and how they solicit bodily engagements from us.“[1] The intentional spaces left open for consideration through Hall’s minimal approach permitted viewers to consider their own relationship to the sculptures in the absence of the performers. The careful positioning of these objects accentuated the space between them, suggestive of past, present and future times, as the work itself appears to be timeless.

These geometric objects are made of pigmented cast concrete, and they exist as a sculptural aftermath of the performers’ actions as they were placed throughout the gallery. A series of documentary photographs showed how Hall can assemble them in various site-responsive ways, depending on the architectural space. The sculptures are cast replicas of a bench designed by twentieth-century artist Dennis Croteau. Hall wanted to engage with Croteau’s work, which has remained largely outside of the mainstream, by bringing it into a new context—and he offered viewers the same opportunity. Copies of color posters printed with an image of Croteau’s original bench in its outdoor location were stacked in a pile against the wall, suggesting that they could be taken away or simply appreciated in the space.

Gordon Hall, "The Number of Inches Between Them," 2017
Pigmented cast concrete, color poster multiple, performance, 39 min.
Performers: Mary Bok, Gordon Hall, Mike Peterson, Lou Desautels, Danny Harris.
Photo: Cassandra Rodriguez

In The Number of Inches Between Them, there were multiple entry points for the audience to think, observe, and relate. Engagement with the sculpture through active viewing, such as approaching and closely examining the work, or passively looking from a distance, was possible. Viewers were positioned to reconsider their own relationship to space, objects, and physical location. What Hall was able to touch on in The Number of Inches Between Them is an evident desire for an intentional connection to space, and to each other.

The MIT List Visual Arts Center is located at 20 Ames Street in Cambridge. The exhibition was on view April 17 through May 20, 2018. For more information, including hours of operation, additional programming, and accessibility, please visit: https://listart.mit.edu/exhibitions/list-projects-gordon-hall

1. https://listart.mit.edu/exhibitions/list-projects-gordon-hall Accessed April 28, 2018

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