Installation art can be defined as the placement of objects in a certain context to convey a certain feeling, idea, or experience. Through their placement, a relationship is created between the objects and the viewer. This relationship transforms the objects from their everyday uses into being a part of a specially created experience. Installation art originated in the 1920s with works like ‘Fountain’ by Marcel Duchamp and ‘Merzbau’ by Kurt Schwitters but came into prominence in the 1960s, an era of increased interest in audience participation and perception. Instead of form being the focus of the work, the materials used and the viewer’s experience become the primary concern of the artist.

California artists Christine Lee, Paul Hayes, Tanya Aguiniga, and Tom Hill have challenged themselves by limiting the materials used to create dynamic spaces and compositions of wood, paper, fiber, and metal. Tanya Aguiniga unravels fiber to create an all encompassing textured environment, Tom Hill welds metal to convey exaggerated elements from the natural world, Paul Hayes forms lively and voluminous swarms and clusters using paper, and Christine Lee layers scraps of wood to extend the interior surfaces of the Museum. The methods of construction and the use of multiples allow the artists to work through a variety of configurations, filling the space with texture and depth.

The installations of ‘Four-Site’ respond to the architecture and vision of the San Francisco Museum of Craft+Design. The installations are crafted environments and can push our perception past the applied materials-specific references. How these fundamental materials of craft and design are applied and manipulated enhances our perception of space and challenges our assumptions of these commonplace materials. Like craft, the installations push the limits of the materials being used and engage a method of making that requires patience, methodology, skill, and creativity. The artists in ‘Four-Site’ compose and sculpt space creating innovative, expansive forms, spaces that allow for wonder and imagination.

This exhibition intends to cross medium specific boundaries and expand our understanding of the materials capacities while simultaneously engaging with and celebrating the vision and architecture of the Museum of Craft and Design.