“CUBICLE” by Jonathan Schipper — through Dec. 4 at Rice Gallery

photobyjonathanschipper

Photo by Jonathan Schipper

“CUBICLE,” ARTIST JONATHAN SCHIPPER’S newest time-based, kinetic installation, opened Oct. 6 at the Rice Gallery. Schipper’s works reveal the flow of time as imperceptible until, as in life, we see the physical evidence of its passing. In “Cubicle,” he constructed an office setting that undergoes subtle, yet inescapable, changes over two months.

“The most static object is still in motion at a molecular level, and the world is always changing,” Schipper said. “My installations are about destruction and creation, and they generally have no static point. It is the process of changing them that is the point.” The installation is Schipper’s newest work in his ongoing Slow Room series.

UPDATE: 11/10/16

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Five weeks after its opening, “Cubicle,” is truly on the move. The space that the installation takes up is about two-thirds its original size, and the wall that features the hole that draws the materials closer is experiencing a pile-up of desks and cabinets. Smaller objects, including chairs and computers, overturn, while the large desks slowly advance and take almost everything with them.

One of the docents, Rice junior Blessing Falade, says that the installation’s movement has had some unexpected consequences for the building. “I wasn’t anticipating the noise,” she says, “but some things that fall create a very, very large noise, to the point where people in other classes hear it.”

Although the installation is only three weeks away from closing, visitors might still be surprised at how much it has progressed since the opening. Falade explains that Schipper, the artist, carefully calculated the necessary speed of the objects, one millimeter per hour. Rice Gallery’s website states that Schipper’s works “reveal the flow of time as imperceptible until, as in life, we see the physical evidence of its passing.”

Hours

Tuesday: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Wednesday: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Thursday: 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Friday: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Saturday: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Sunday: Noon – 5:00 PM

Closed Mondays and university holidays.
Rice Gallery will be closed 21-28 November for Thanksgiving.

Directions and Parking

Rice Gallery is on the ground floor of Sewall Hall, and is best reached by using Campus Entrance 1 at the intersection of Main Street and Sunset Boulevard. When the entrance road dead-ends, a left turn will take the visitor directly into paid visitor parking in the Founder’s Court Lot. Payment for the Founder’s Court Lot is by credit card only. Maps are available at rice.edu/maps

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