March 24, 2022

Assembly Required at Pulitzer Arts Foundation, March 4 – July 31, 2022

“The Pulitzer Arts Foundation presents Assembly Required, an exhibition of work by nine artists who invite the public to shape and co-produce their artworks. The artists—Francis Alÿs, Rasheed Araeen, Siah Armajani, Tania Bruguera/INSTAR, Lygia Clark, Hélio Oiticica, Yoko Ono, Lygia Pape, and Franz Erhard Walther—were selected for their shared belief in public action and its role in transforming society. Taken as a whole, the work in Assembly Required poses vital questions about how art enables us to imagine new ways of being in the world.

Created between the 1960s and the present, the artworks in Assembly Required respond to distinct social and political moments and issues, from the unrest in the United States during the Vietnam War to Peru’s military dictatorship in the 1990s, and more. Each artist offers unique perspectives on social change, addressing the need for optimism and hope in the face of global tensions.” — Pulitzer Arts Foundation  

“Every possible happening is there in potential, ready to be realized in the act. Then for the first time, anyone is fit for the act of creating.” — Lygia Clark

Francis Alÿs. When Faith Moves Mountains (Cuando la fe mueve montañas), Lima, 2002. In collaboration with Cuauhtémoc Medina and Rafael Ortega Video (36 minutes) and photographic documentation of an action, ‘making of’ video (15 minutes) © Francis Alÿs. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner
Lygia Clark’s Diálogo: Oculos, or “Dialogue: Goggles,” originally created in 1968. © O Mundo de Lygia Clark-Associação Cultural, Rio de Janeiro Photo: © Brita d’Agostino
Lygia Clark. Bicho Pássaro do Espaço (Critter Bird in Space), 1960. Aluminum, 19 3/4 x 20 x 3/8 inches (50.2 x 50.8 x 1 cm). San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Purchase, by exchange, through a gift of Peggy Guggenheim. © O Mundo de Lygia Clark-Associação Cultural, Rio de Janeiro. Photograph: Katherine Du Tiel
Yoko Ono. Typescript for Grapefruit , 1963–64. Typewritten cards, some with ink additions. Each: 5 1/2 x 4 1/8 inches. From book proposing 151 simple instructions, or “scores,” for performing an artwork © Yoko Ono
Hélio Oiticica. Penetrável Macaléia, 1978. Stainless steel, colored metal screens, sand, gravel, bricks, and plants. Cube: 86 1/2 x 86 1/2 x 86 1/2 inches (220 x 220 x 220 cm). Overall install dimensions variable. Edition of 5 © Hélio Oiticica. Courtesy Lisson Gallery
Lygia Pape. Divisor, 1968. Performance at Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2010 © Projeto Lygia Pape. Courtesy Projeto Lygia Pape and Hauser & Wirth
Franz Erhard Walther. Vier Koerpergewichte (counterbalancing body weights) Single Element No. 42 of 1. Werksatz, 1968. Photograph courtesy of Galerie Jocelyn Wolff and Peter Freeman, Inc. © 2022 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Assembly Required has been curated by Pulitzer Arts Foundation Curator Stephanie Weissberg.

Images courtesy Pulitzer Arts Foundation.