Articles by Erin Sweeny

Artist Introspectives

The Practice of Walking: Somewhere Near Zabar’s

Artist Introspectives

The Practice of Walking: Somewhere Near Zabar’s

Erin Sweeny recounts her performative action of walking the length of Manhattan on Good Friday, and relates the project to other artists who incorporate walking in their practice.

The New Situationists

Implicit Politics: August Sander and the Fallacy of Objectivity

The New Situationists

Implicit Politics: August Sander and the Fallacy of Objectivity

Erin Sweeny uncovers the complexities of accepting photography as an objective representation of reality, through the work of twentieth century German photographer August Sander.

Looking at Los Angeles

Devin Farrand, Ariel Herwitz and the Phenomenon of Gravitation

Looking at Los Angeles

Devin Farrand, Ariel Herwitz and the Phenomenon of Gravitation

Erin Sweeny explores the lives and work of LA-based artists Devin Farrand and Ariel Herwitz, a couple investigating vastly different materials in their independent art practices.

Divine Wind: HK Zamani and The Reinvention of PØST

Divine Wind: HK Zamani and The Reinvention of PØST

Erin Sweeny shares the 20-year history of PØST, an alternative art space in Los Angeles founded by artist and curator HK Zamani.

All The Colorful Lights: Liz Nielsen, Carolina Wheat, and Elijah Wheat Showroom

All The Colorful Lights: Liz Nielsen, Carolina Wheat, and Elijah Wheat Showroom

A look inside the lives of Brooklyn-based artists, gallerists, and curators Liz Nielsen and Carolina Wheat, who founded Elijah Wheat Showroom in honor of the son they lost.

The New Situationists

Everyone Gets Lighter: On John Giorno, Ugo Rondinone, and the Gift of Exchange

The New Situationists

Everyone Gets Lighter: On John Giorno, Ugo Rondinone, and the Gift of Exchange

This inaugural article of a new column titled “The New Situationists” investigates the romantic and collaborative relationship between poet John Giorno and artist Ugo Rondinone.

Rooms With A View

Rooms With A View

“Treat your body like it belongs to someone you love.” I spied this sentence in a health-food store recently. My thoughts wandered to catchphrases spouted in yoga classes, talking about …

Ragnar Kjartansson and the Pathos of Performance

Ragnar Kjartansson and the Pathos of Performance

Collaborations between artists and musicians have long blurred the line between performance and sculpture.

The Feast of Detroit

The Feast of Detroit

Does Detroit represent a failed system or does the city defy traditional responses to notions of failure?

A Classroom with Legs

A Classroom with Legs

Social choreographer Ernesto Pujol discusses The Field School, the mobile and ephemeral classroom he founded in 2006.

Praxis Makes Perfect

On Landlines

Praxis Makes Perfect

On Landlines

Columnist Erin Sweeny ponders the “evolving network” engendered by a temporary art space-cum-subway station newsstand.

Praxis Makes Perfect

Topography of Time

Praxis Makes Perfect

Topography of Time

As she settles into her new home in Brooklyn, columnist Erin Sweeny reflects on a year of wandering after graduate school.

Praxis Makes Perfect

Welcome to the Funhouse: Mike Kelley’s “Mobile Homestead”

Praxis Makes Perfect

Welcome to the Funhouse: Mike Kelley’s “Mobile Homestead”

“Mobile Homestead,” a project by the late Mike Kelley, has a new permanent home in Detroit. Columnist Erin Sweeny revisits this “fitting tribute” to the artist.

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | New Situationist City

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | New Situationist City

“Considering the search for meaningful engagement in a society that feels increasingly fragmented, certain aspects of Situationist theory are more topical than ever.”

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | Lure of the Line

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | Lure of the Line

Writing from an artist residency program in Santa Fe, Erin Sweeny contemplates “the natural phenomena” of New Mexico and its “striking horizon lines.”

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | High Time: On Ritual and Duration

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | High Time: On Ritual and Duration

Erin Sweeny explores flexibility and self-imposed structure in the lives of artists and in recent artworks on view at SITE Santa Fe.

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | The World Is Not Flat

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | The World Is Not Flat

Open Enrollment’s Erin Sweeny writes eloquently about physical motion in the lives of young artists and the “emotional gravity wrapped up in movement.”

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | In The Long Run

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | In The Long Run

Erin Sweeny looks at the role that failure and the unexpected plays in sustaining an art practice over the long run.

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | Yes, We Insist

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | Yes, We Insist

During a trip to Chicago after President Obama’s re-election, Erin Sweeny realizes that the pursuits of art and politics may not be as far apart as they seem.

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | Disorderly Conduct: The Imperfect Librarians

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | Disorderly Conduct: The Imperfect Librarians

Erin Sweeny on the “new Order” governing her post-graduate life, where any sense of normalcy or routine has largely disappeared.

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | A Good Wind: Forces of Nature in the New Age of Innocence

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | A Good Wind: Forces of Nature in the New Age of Innocence

How can artists and other cultural practitioners create the spaces they need to work and to exhibit? In part, says Erin Sweeny, by forming those spaces themselves, through partnerships and collaborations.

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | Carrying Home

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | Carrying Home

Erin Sweeny reflects on the varied meanings of home, partly by way of Mike Kelley’s “Mobile Homestead,” a full-size replica of his Michigan childhood home.

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | Vulnerability of the View

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | Vulnerability of the View

Erin Sweeny uses the literal and metaphorical framework of sunglasses to reflect on Los Angeles, its art scene, and her current role as an observer of and participant in it.

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | How To Build A Fire

Praxis Makes Perfect

Praxis Makes Perfect | How To Build A Fire

New “Praxis Makes Perfect” columnist Erin Sweeny earned her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art last spring; she shares what’s happened in her life since then.