The proposed workshop will consist of a circle of people meeting inside of Richard Serra’s Torqued Ellipse to engage in an honest exchange: a “Share and Tell,” of things we feel conflicted, confused or guilty about doing, politically, environmentally, socially, and to receive sincere solutions and suggestions from others, based on their lives, on how to do better. Perhaps by being in this unusual space, unusual interactions and aspects of ourselves may be accessed. We will examine the core aspects of how we actually live our lives, how precisely we spend our energy and our time, and share simple changes we might make to concretely contribute to a better world.

A circle confronts you head on, but the ellipse is a side view of the same form. The ellipse allows us to view the circle in perspective. From the ellipse, it may be possible to discern experiential aspects of the circle rather than interact with the circle from a purely conceptual or removed vantage point. In Serra’s Torqued Ellipse, the circle is altered twice, bringing it further into the realm of lived experience. The concept of the circle is adapted from the second
dimension into the third, and then torqued, opening the shape into a space available for fourth dimensional experience of time and action.

Our workshop inhabits both the literal and conceptual space of Serra’s ellipse by creating a relationship to the museum, which, like Serra’s
circle, is a torquing of the information exchange which traditionally surrounds the work. Whereas the museum experience is often associated with conversation based in history and the ideas of others, we opt to engage participants in a genuine personal dialog on the pathos we experience outside the safety of the museum and the whimsy of art objects. We believe this workshop will function as a subjective metaphor for Serra’s torquing and ellipsing of the objective circle.

All people warmly welcomed.

Sincerely,
Katie Herzog & Shashana Chittle