![]() Interested in the photographs as a receptacle for meaning as well as in their physical existence as repositories for metal grains used in forming the images, the artist extracted silver particles from the prints’ emulsion in order to present their three-dimensional, sculptural characteristics. 1875), he literally and metaphorically mined the history captured in the two photographs. Sampson’s Shoe Manufactory, with the Chinese Shoemakers in working Costume, ca. By 1880, the group had largely evacuated the area, most returning to China and some to California.Īs Starling had done in several previous works, for The Nanjing Particles (After Henry Ward, View of C.T. A collection of photographs and a handful of newspaper articles are mostly all that remains of their time in North Adams. While the nearly identical photographs were originally meant to be viewed using a stereoscope-an optical device which produced the illusion of a single three-dimensional picture - a fleshed-out image of the Chinese immigrants’ presence in North Adams remains elusive. The Chinese men, who were reportedly more productive in the factory than their American counterparts - and who worked for far less money - were brought to North Adams in 1870 to break a strike, and they stayed in the city for roughly ten years. This pair of stereographic photographs depicts a group of Chinese laborers in work clothes posed in front of the Sampson Shoe Company (a factory once located on what is now the MASS MoCA campus). The installation began with two very small albumen prints - each measuring roughly 3×3 inches. Photography figures prominently in Starling’s work and was the starting point for the main work in the exhibition, titled The Nanjing Particles (After Henry Ward, View of C.T. Other works track the physical transformation of objects and materials as well as their changes in meaning, function, and value as they cross and re-cross borders. His work frequently addresses colonial histories and the relationships between first-world economies and the communities that provide an increasing percentage of global resources. Travel and various forms of transport play an important role in the artist’s work his own pilgrimages mimic or re-trace the paths of the resources and stories that drive his investigations and illustrate the collapsing nature of the globe. Starling is known as much for his elaborate and performative working process - and the complex narratives he weaves together - as he is for the exquisitely crafted objects he produces. In an adjacent gallery at MASS MoCA, Starling exhibited the newest iteration of Strip Canoe (African Walnut), a continuing project begun in 2007, which involved a journey down the nearby Hoosic River. At the same time, he continued his exploration of labor and materials and their geographic, political, and cultural roots and repercussions. In doing so he offered an elegant, if provocative, critique of recent museum trends that embrace size and spectacle. Invited to take on MASS MoCA’s largest and most dramatic venue, Starling employed an extraordinary economy of means, choosing to animate the enormous exhibition space with sculptural forms derived from microscopic particles. The jurors who awarded Starling the prestigious Turner Prize in 2005 singled out Starling’s “unique ability to create poetics, drawing together a wide range of cultural, political and historical narratives.” Engaging directly with the sites where he exhibits, Starling often retells the stories of a particular place while making revealing - and often unexpected - connections to distant times and places. Overlaying local labor history onto current and historic practices in art production and presentation, the installation drew surprising connections between art, industry, and, global economics. The installation addressed a particularly poignant socioeconomic moment in North Adams’ history - the period during which the city was, surprisingly, home to the largest population of Chinese immigrant workers east of the Mississippi. Continuing his investigation into manufacturing processes and labor, Simon Starling created a major new work for MASS MoCA’s Building 5 as part of an exhibition entitled The Nanjing Particles. ![]()
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