What Sculpture Depends On is a series of artist talks by Park McArthur, Rita McBride, Sung Tieu, and Jessica Vaughn, exploring how contemporary sculpture negotiates the ways in which material and form are interdependent with social, economic, and administrative structures. Park McArthur’s recent work proposes sculpture as process-based: a product of scores, a temporary event in a larger continuum of interpersonal interdependencies. It is often via instructions—drawn from the needs and desires of care work—that McArthur determines how and when her sculpture takes its form. Sung Tieu’s work investigates the distribution of volumes and space—in state architecture, for example—as an instrument of social control and surveillance, while also exploring the fundamental psychological impacts of form and design. In Jessica Vaughn’s work, currently showing in the exhibition I CUSTOMERS at the Kunstverein, everyday objects and architectural structures are rendered through the overworked body and states of exhaustion, drawing an (unequal) correspondence between industry, body, and institution. The social function of objects that surround us every day is also addressed in Rita McBride’s work, both in its sculptural methods of scaling and material alienation and in her participatory installations. In her talk, McBride considers the role of intellectual property rights for artists as a future material source through the framework of Copyleft licensing.

What Sculpture Depends On brings together four artists whose practices draw on a (post-)minimalist legacy, while also critically questioning it with regards to the accessibility, availability, and supply chains of materials within current socio-economic structures. The talks will take place from 5 p.m. to approximately 7.45 p.m., followed by a round-table discussion with the artists and Kunstverein director Kathrin Bentele.

The artist talks are taking place in conjunction with Jessica Vaughn’s solo exhibition I CUSTOMERS.

5 p.m.: Jessica Vaughn
5.45 p.m.: Rita McBride
6.30 p.m.: Break
6.45 p.m.: Sung Tieu
7.15 p.m.: Park McArthur
Followed by a round table discussion with Kathrin Bentele, director of the Kunstverein

Park McArthur (born 1984 in Raleigh, USA, lives and works in New York) has shown her work at Kunsthalle Bern (2020) and MoMA, New York (2019), among other venues.

Rita McBride (born 1960 in Des Moines, USA, lives and works in Düsseldorf and Los Alamos, USA) is a professor of integration, visual arts and architecture at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Her works have been shown at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2023); Wiels, Brussels (2017); and at Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover (2016), among other venues.

Sung Tieu (born 1987 in Hai Duong, Vietnam, lives and works in Berlin) has recently shown her work at MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, US (2023); Amant Foundation, New York, US (2023) and n.b.k. Berlin (2023).

Jessica Vaughn (born 1983 in Chicago, lives and works in New York) is an associate professor at the Tyler School of Art & Architecture at Temple University, Philadelphia. She has a forthcoming commission for the Frieze Artadia Prize, at Frieze New York (2023). Her work has been shown at the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf (2023); Carnegie Museum of Art (2022); ICA Philadelphia (2021); n.b.k. Berlin; and Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2020), among other venues.