Backspace Material Stage is an ongoing project that examines the relationship between material and its context, specifically how site and arrangement can shift an object’s meaning, perceived form, and value. What happens to objects when they are taken out of use? How does their perceived value change, and what are their new qualities?
The first installation explores how dislodged asphalt, taken from the road and placed onto the wall, is transformed from a road surface—defined by its utility for walking or driving—into a rock: an object without an immediate use value. Sitting on top of the wall, it’s difficult to see the ‘rock’ as they are similar in colour and tone. In this shared relationship, we’re reminded of the wall’s shared identity as a surface for activity to occur. I’m sure what the wall is removed, it may be used as something else and its meaning and form shifting.
This project will be developed in relation to my studio investigations during my MFA II, specifically focusing on how objects/artworks react differently when taken from a white-walled studio environment and placed into this dark transitional space.
One of these works will be the remnants of a site-specific installation in the Hoff space. The materials used for the installation were pieces of coloured paper. Through the act of rolling and compressing them into the gap beneath the wall, they transform from thin, two-dimensional surfaces into hollow, three-dimensional tube forms. This action embeds within them a record of pressure, force, and spatial negotiation.
Although the site and the work no longer coexist, the memory of their interaction persists within the material itself. The paper carries this relationship forward, holding the trace of its former context while continuing to exist in a new state.
Backspace Material Stage will be open NAS campus hours into May 2026
