Oliver Herring

Areas for Action series, c. 2011

Digital prints

20 x 14 in (50.8 x 35.56 cm)

Edition. Suite of 7 prints. (From the edition of: 5 boxed suites of 38, colophon and index, and 3 AP suites)

$2,500

"Areas for Action" (AFA) by Oliver Herring is an exhibition concept of participatory performances, improvisatory sculptures, and real-time collaborative artworks. The concept first came to life at Meulensteen Gallery in New York City in 2010 and consisted of twenty live-performances and actions, each lasting eight hours, the equivalent of one working day. Consisting entirely of volunteer participants, their actions were recorded in photographs or video and installed in time for the next day’s action. Over the course of the exhibition the actions cross-pollinated and created physical and thematic correspondences. According to Herring, “Neither wholly object nor performance-based, AFA sought to remove boundaries between time-based and non-time based artwork, between new media and physical art objects, and between viewers and participants. AFA became a site of risk-taking, experimentation, participation and an open laboratory for innovative modes of representation. Each of the actions was loosely based on a process or a material I had worked with in the past. Areas for Action was a retrospective of process rather than objects.”

Since its inaugural iteration, variations of AFA have been performed at the He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China, December 2010; The Kyoto Art Center, Kyoto, Japan, November 2012; WARPhouse Gallery, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, February 2013.

Gift of the Janet Flohr with proceeds benefiting the Artpace Artist Residency Endowment.

About the artist

Oliver Herring

Oliver Herring is a visual artist known internationally for his use of experimental techniques as a means to better understand human nature, individual behavior, and interpersonal dynamics. His work has taken on a variety of forms, but since 2000 has focused primarily on brief yet intensive collaborative encounters with volunteer participants. Herring directs and documents these open-ended performances, usually involving a series of improvised actions, which take place in different environments – public and private, cultural and educational – and feature groups of people interacting with each another. The resulting works not only record these impromptu activities, but also reveal the poignancy implicit in humanity when strangers expose their vulnerabilities and embrace trust.

Herring’s work is in the collections of many major institutions, and has been exhibited widely nationally and internationally, including the Museum of Modern Art, NY; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art, NY; the Whitney Museum of Art, NY; Performa 09, NY; the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; the Baltimore Museum of Art, MD; The Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA; the Blanton Art Museum, Austin, TX; and the Denver Art Museum, CO. Elsewhere, he has exhibited at the Camden Art Center, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Kyoto Art Center, Kyoto; He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen; A4 Art Museum, Chengdu; McAM, Shanghai; OCAT-Xian, Xian; Xth Lyon Biennale, Lyon; Performa 09, NY; Configura II, Erfurt; 2010 Aichi Triennale, Nagoya.