Wendy Jacob
American, born 1958
Wendy Jacob creates sculptural installations and interventions that force people to interact with objects or places that would normally be inanimate, such as architectural spaces or pieces of furniture. Some of her projects have included breathing walls and ceilings, tightropes strung through domestic spaces, and floors that vibrate with sub-audible sound. At first glance, Untitled appears to be a stagnant sculpture made up of black crescent shapes arranged on the floor. As one draws nearer, they become animated with breath, rising and falling like bodies at rest. These forms are part of the first “breathing” work Jacob made from inner tubes and 1960s-era hairdryers she found in thrift stores. She based the movement of the forms on her own breathing patterns, which she recorded during an hour of uninterrupted sleep.
Label from One Another: Spiderlike, I Spin Mirrors, March 7–June 1, 2014