It Takes Two & A Vital Mess
It Takes Two & A Vital Mess
DANIELE FRAZIER
It Takes Two & A Vital Mess
DANIELE FRAZIER
datum
datum
Tijden
Tijden
locatie
locatie
For her installation ‘A Vital Mess’, Daniele Frazier transformed cheerful advertising characters into bearers of confusing, contradictory words, while with ‘It Takes Two’, she hit the nail on the head at the shipyard. A brief introduction to her work.
For her installation ‘A Vital Mess’, Daniele Frazier transformed cheerful advertising characters into bearers of confusing, contradictory words, while with ‘It Takes Two’, she hit the nail on the head at the shipyard. A brief introduction to her work.
The skydancer, a figure animated by the wind, uses the same medium often employed as an advertising tool by car dealerships, shopping centres, or retail parks. More recently, skydancers have appeared in memes. Online, with their ecstatic movements, they function as a blank canvas upon which various emotions can be layered via text.
Daniele Frazier created a new installation of 9 skydancers in 2023, specifically for NDSM. Titled ‘A Vital Mess’, the artist works with the same brightly coloured inflatable advertising objects. However, she subverts the commercial message by placing confusing and contradictory words on the figures she designed herself. Loaded, positive and negative words such as ETERNITY and NOTHING or ALL THE WAY and GONE TOO FAR alternate. Depending on where you stand, or how the wind behaves, you see certain words that may or may not form associations with one another. Another example is PLEASURE, THRILLS and RAPTURE with AGONY, PAIN and TORTURE on the back.
Daniele Frazier also presented her previously created work ‘It Takes Two’, skytubes in the shape of a hammer and nail that continuously ‘miss’ hitting the nail on the head. The artist previously exhibited this work at the Socrates Sculpture Park in New York. This piece can be seen as a direct reflection on all the construction issues surrounding NDSM, but it also refers to the crafts currently being practised by many makers at NDSM, as well as making a reference to the shipyard industry, the history of the site.
We interviewed Daniele Frazier about her creative process, inspirations, and her work at the shipyard. You can find the full conversation here.
Through its cultural programming, Stichting NDSM-werf explores what public space means, who and what is seen and discussed within it, and how it can remain an inclusive public and cultural space that is embraced by everyone. Daniele Frazier uses her wry humour on a medium that is seemingly straightforward and typically used for commercial purposes: the skydancer. Frazier’s work always engages with the politics inherent in any art displayed outside the walls of a museum. The 9 skydancers were on display outdoors at the NDSM (near the ferry terminal) from 19 May to 25 June 2023.
