While You Were Out – Lizbeth and George Krupp Gallery (Gallery 264)

http://www.mfa.org/

What happens when architecture is left unattended? From children’s literature to popular films, creative minds have long dreamed up what might happen when lights go off, doors are locked, and people depart various spaces. The three artists presented in the Lizbeth and George Krupp Gallery through July 2016—Francis Alÿs, Simon Gush, and Hiraki Sawa—offer three distinct possibilities. They utilize diverse approaches (intervention, documentary, and imagination respectively) and a variety of filming locations (museum, office, home). In doing so, they expose what does (or could) happen while we are out, seizing upon fantasy, curiosity, and the video camera’s ability to serve as remote eyes when our own cannot see.

The Krupp Gallery is one of eight contemporary galleries that opened in 2011 as part of the dynamic Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art. These galleries present innovative approaches to the exhibition of contemporary art within the context of the Museum’s encyclopedic collections, offering new perspectives and encouraging connections between art of the present and past.

ABOVE: Hiraki Sawa, Dwelling, 2002. Digital single channel video (black and white, sound), 9 minutes. Charles Bain Hoyt Fund, Irving W. and Charlotte F. Rabb Acquisition Fund for the Department of Contemporary Art, and Michael D. Wolk Fund for New Media 2013.298