Conversations: Transformation: Craft, Identity, and Materiality in Art
a UBS presented talk
Art Basel Miami Beach 2024, December 7
Sagarika Sundaram, Artist, New York
Sarah Zapata, Artist, New York
Moderator: Larry Ossei-Mensah, Curator and co-founder ARTNOIR, New York
Transformation: Craft, Identity, and Materiality in Contemporary Art is a conversation moderated by curator and ARTNOIR co-founder Larry Ossei-Mensah, featuring artists Sagarika Sundaram and Sarah Zapata. Both explore how fiber can reshape contemporary art by transforming it into powerful and immersive artworks at the intersection of textile and architecture. Zapata’s installation, Upon the Divide of Vermilion, presented in the UBS Art Studio in collaboration with ARTNOIR, encompasses viewers in an experience that feels both personal and architectural. Concurrently, Sundaram’s Released Form, on view in the UBS Lounge, uses hand-dyed felted wool and silk to reshape viewers’ perception of space.
This conversation offers a unique insight into how these artists are expanding the language of contemporary art by engaging with materiality, cultural narratives, space, and personal histories. Join us for a thought-provoking dialogue about art that challenges conventional boundaries of artmaking and invites new perspectives on the role of craft and material in shaping modern expression.
About the Artists’ Presentations at Art Basel Miami Beach 2024:
In Sagarika Sundaram’s Released Form, commissioned by the UBS Art Collection for the UBS Lounge, the surface breaks open like a concertina, tripling in size and pushing the boundaries of its form. The installation, which can be reconfigured, creates an immersive experience, where form and void, surface and structure, become tangible forces.
Sarah Zapata’s installation, Upon the Divide of Vermilion, presented in the UBS Art Studio in collaboration with ARTNOIR, has created an immersive space, where textile forms, inspired by classical and ancient structures, guide visitors through the installation. It reflects on how identities and histories are constructed over time while reimagining the role of fiber in art.
This talk is presented by UBS.
Sagarika Sundaram describes her process as one of transformation: ‘There’s an alchemy to it,’ she says of her work, ‘It changes in its final form.’ This sense of transformation and alchemy has been a central theme throughout Sundaram’s career, where she uses wool, silk, and dyes to create textile sculptures, reliefs, and installations. These works bridge the bodily and the botanical, using the materiality of wool to explore internal, external, and imagined landscapes.
Sarah Zapata employs weaving, tufting, and traditional craft techniques to create loud, architecturally responsive installations that traverse themes of gender, colonialism, and fantasy. Zapata’s site-specific works reflect her intersecting identities as a Queer woman of Peruvian heritage raised in evangelical Texas and now based in New York. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museo de Arte de Lima, and the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, among others. She currently teaches on the Painting graduate program at the Yale School of Art. Zapata lives and works in Brooklyn.
Larry Ossei-Mensah is a Ghanaian-American curator and cultural critic redefining art and society through his innovative and inclusive approach. His global footprint includes exhibitions in Manila, London, Athens, São Paulo, and Rome, showcasing his dedication to contemporary art and culture. Ossei-Mensah has collaborated with trailblazing artists including Steve McQueen, Melissa Joseph, Catherine Opie, Chase Hall, and Judy Chicago. As the former Susanne Feld Hilberry Senior Curator at Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and the Curator-at-Large at Brooklyn Academy of Music, Ossei-Mensah has made it his mission to drive significant change in the art world. Co-founder of the nonprofit ARTNOIR, he champions racial equity by amplifying the voices of creatives, curators, and communities of color. His curatorial projects include exhibitions at Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art; Artpace San Antonio; the 7th Athens Biennale, Ben Brown Fine Arts in Hong Kong and London, Denver Art Museum, and the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco.
Venue
Miami Beach Convention Center
1901 Convention Center Drive
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Conversations take place in the Auditorium (Grand Ballroom), Level 2, North.
Conversations are free and open to the public, booking is recommended.
Book your free ticket here.
Doors will open 10 min before the event.
Please save the event to your calendar to receive a reminder and access your free ticket on the Art Basel app. You are also welcome to join on a first come first serve basis onsite.
A recording of the Conversation will be available on our website and youtube channel after the event
Please check the visitor information page for access details: https://www.artbasel.com/miami-beach/at-the-show
Cover photo: Left: Sagarika Sundaram. Photo credit: Anita Goes. Right: Sarah Zapata. Photo credit: Martina Tuaty.
