Summer Series: This Way

A beige graphic with paper cut outs reads "This Way."

Visual identity by Kelly Chen.

At the beginning of the summer when warmer weather is upon us, vaccine distribution gradually expanding, and a year of being largely home-bound, many of us may needed a little encouragement (or even instruction!) on how to re-emerge into the outside world or perhaps simply re-engage our daily environment.

With this in mind, MIT List Visual Arts Center organized This Way, a series of nine artist-designed walks and experiences that offer us diverse points of entry—some intimate explorations of physical embodiment and sensory experience, others guided modifications of scale, space, and geography, or novel considerations of language, architectures, or landscapes.

Borrowing its title from a 1961 series by conceptual artist Stanley Brouwn, while also drawing inspiration from Fluxus and the dérive or “drift” of the Situationists, This Way  takes up themes of movement and performance, ritual and meditation, and both abstract and concrete explorations of a range of spaces we occupy. A new iteration of This Way  had been released on the List Center website every other Wednesday, from May 12 to September 8, 2021 and they are now all available. 

Emilie Gossiaux | May 12, 2021

Emilie Gossiaux is a multi-disciplinary artist working in New York City. Since losing her vision in 2010, Gossiaux’s altered experience of the world has seen her practice grow—finding inspiration in dreams, memories, sensuality, and non-visual sensory perceptions. Relying solely on her sense of touch and proprioception, she demonstrates a profound sensitivity towards texture, space, and material. Alongside her studio practice, Gossiaux works as a museum educator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art with Access and Community programs. 

Headshot of artist Emilie Gossiaux

Morgan Bassichis | May 26, 2021

Morgan Bassichis is a comedic performer living in New York whose solo and collaborative works draw on stand-up comedy, music, and historical archives to activate lineages of queer and Jewish radicalism. They have been described as “fiercely hilarious” by The New Yorker and “a tall child, or, well, a big bird” by The Nation. 

Artist Morgan Bassichis speaking into a microphone in front of a red sign.

Maria Gaspar | June 9, 2021

In this week’s prompt, A Score for Adam, Maria Gaspar narrates a scene from a community memorial and vigil honoring the life of Adam Toledo, a 13-year old Latino boy who was shot and killed by Chicago police on March 29, 2021. 

Headshot of Maria Gaspar with short dark hair wearing a navy blue shirt.

Rafael Domenech | June 23, 2021

Interdisciplinary artist Rafael Domenech shares a prompt for moving beyond your periphery. A purposeful misconstruction of a situation with no future invites participants to engage in a series of posters and poems through simple actions to create your own experience guided by Domenech. Tracing, tearing apart, and leaving behind, this prompt asks “where will you begin and where will you end?”

Rafael Domenech stands in his office surrounded by a books, a laptop, and paper hung on the wall.

Shannon Finnegan | July 7, 2021

It’s time to get cozy as interdisciplinary artist, Shannon Finnegan invites participants to experience this prompt from the comfort of your own bed. With restfulness and remoteness in mind, this activity is best completed with a friend who is not physically with you.

A white person with shoulder-length, blonde hair looking directly at the camera. They are seated among some rocks with hands clasped and resting on their knees. They're wearing a wood grain sweatshirt and pant set. The sweatshirt has contrasting sleeves with a squiggle pattern and sleeve cuffs in two different colors.

Corin Hewitt | July 21, 2021

Corin Hewitt invites you to participate in two shadow walks that awaken your sensitivity to light and to consider our relationship with the indoors and outdoors by noticing shadows. Seeing with the eye or sensing with your skin, this prompt can be experienced both indoors and outdoors. Shadow Walks invites participants to find awareness and interpret their relationship with shadowed spaces through light, energy, and movement.

 

Headshot of Corin Hewitt wearing a navy dress shirt.

Heather Kapplow | August 4, 2021

Heather Kapplow invites us to participate in A Walk in Search of Contradiction. With this prompt, take notice of opposition and conflicts that shape our daily environments. Old and new, rigid and soft, Kapplow’s walk prompts participants to take note of primary characteristics of a place and the elements that undermine them.

Headshot of Heather Kapplow with an orange hue.

David Horvitz l August 18, 2021

David Horvitz invites us to walk towards the ocean no matter whether it’s 1 or 1000 miles away. Horvitz shares an intimate story of his grandmother’s desire to see the Pacific Ocean again, inviting participants to reflect upon uprooting, movement, and longing.

Photo of David Horvitz in the forest holding up a huge pile of mushrooms.

Xaviera Simmons | September 8, 2021

Xaviera Simmons prompts participants to picture and deconstruct their ideas of property. She asks participants to imagine themselves as property owners while probing us to reevaluate desires for ownership and attachments.

Headshot of Xavier Simmons wearing a black knitted shawl.