Make. Sleep. Repeat.
Make. Sleep. Repeat. features Seattle-based artist KCJ Szwedzinski, the February 2021 visiting artist-in-resident for Erie Arts & Culture, with Allegheny College Art professors Heather Brand, Eric D. Charlton, Byron Rich, and Ian F. Thomas. The exhibition was curated by Allegheny College students Cesar Bautista, Finn Dugan, Haley Fabich, Danae Fowler, Karen Gauriloff, Kaung Myat Htet, and Lauren Mahany, as part of a course on Contemporary Institutions of Display taught by Professor Paula Burleigh.
Curatorial statement: Make. Sleep. Repeat. showcases perceptions of separation and banality that many experienced during the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic. Artworks made during the pandemic respond to the monotony of isolation and repetition experienced during lockdown. Make. Sleep. Repeat. also recontextualizes artworks made pre-pandemic: viewed from our current vantage point, some artworks inadvertently highlight the emotional effects of quarantine life. By embracing the digital sphere, artists adapt cyberspace as both a medium and as a form of documentation. The ways in which artists increasingly participate in online exhibitions parallels other shifts we made from conducting work in-person to remote in order to safely connect with others. Make. Sleep. Repeat. invites viewers to pursue an introspective journey regarding their own experiences with alienation throughout the pandemic. Works on view suggest the act of making functions as a means of creatively coping with crisis.
