PEEK!

“These three-dimensional, constructed black and white photographs inside white optical viewing sculptures reflect a critical, humorous and questioning view of the world, seen through the lens of a future memory of a fictional place…” Rebecca Hackemann, 2009

Hackemann’s PEEK series shines a light on the act of seeing – the process of vision and the construction of meaning. Approaching Frame 301 visitors will notice the large storefront windows have been covered with white paper dotted with peepholes, enticing them to “peek”, “look” and “see”. Inside, Hackemann has attached mobile stereoscopes, at once taking viewers from Cabot Street to another landscape. Often criticizing an Orwellian visual culture, some images prompt viewers to reconsider the making of meaning based on the visual reception of image/text combinations. In other photographs, viewers may feel detached from a recognizable image as they attempt to grasp exactly what they see. The participatory requirement of the PEEK series is a subtle reminder that we are constantly receiving and conveying meanings. Hackemann has challenged the common definitions of the viewer/object relationship and the language of photography and sculpture by transforming the aesthetic experience. As we are active participants within this piece, we are reminded of our role and responsibility to create, exchange and disseminate our own definitions.

Hackemann is a British conceptual artist whose studio was recently relocated from New York, NY to a barn and farm that she shares with her family in Waverly, Iowa. Born, raised and educated in West Germany, England and America, Hackemann has developed as a person and as an artist alongside a variety of visual cultures. She continues to travel extensively, actively participating in numerous residencies that have taken her from Syracuse, NY to San Francisco, CA. Hackemann is a MFA graduate of Stanford University, CA and received her BFA from the University of Westminster, London. Recent exhibitions include the 5th Biennial of Contemporary Art in Novosibirsk, Siberia (2007) and Chinatown In/Flux, a large, site-specific public art project in Philadelphia in conjunction with the Asian Arts Association.