Sarah Oppenheimer: S-281913

Bridging art, architecture, and philosophy, the spatial modifications of Sarah Oppenheimer generate astonishing effects that both scramble and clarify our understandings of the buildings we inhabit.

For her new project commissioned by Pérez Art Museum Miami, Oppenheimer reorients the array of staggered exhibition spaces on the museum’s second floor. “S-281913” consists of two architectural “switches”: eccentrically rotating glass elements that alternate in transparency and reflectivity in relation to lighting conditions and viewing position. The switches operate in tandem, relaying sightlines between the museum’s two primary light sources: Herzog & de Meuron’s archetypal lighting grid and PAMM’s expansive view of Biscayne Bay. The visitor’s primary axis of orientation will fluctuate as the switches are moved. Locations seemingly distant will be brought into close proximity, and spaces previously obscured will be brought into view.

Sarah Oppenheimer received an M.F.A. from Yale University. Solo exhibitions of her work have been presented at multiple institutions including Mudam Luxembourg; Kunsthaus Baselland; Baltimore Museum of Art; Saint Louis Art Museum; Queens Museum of Art; and the Drawing Center. Two major solo projects by Oppenheimer will be presented in 2017 at Wexner Center for the Arts, and Mass MoCA; Selected group exhibitions of her work include projects presented at Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston; Site Santa Fe; the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; CCS Hessel Museum; Sculpture Center; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; and White Columns. She is the recipient of honors including a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Fellowship and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship.