Alicia Eggert
Conditions of Possibility
April 24 – May 22, 2021
The Unimaginable Future, 2020-21, steel rebar, tie wire, 93” x 185” x 41
If time is a construct, Alicia Eggert’s goal is to figure out exactly how it’s constructed, and how our perception of time is shaped by personal, cultural, and geographical factors. Eggert derives her inspiration from reading about time as it’s defined by physics and philosophy, but focuses on the words and phrases we use in our everyday language — words like “now” and “then” — as her points of entry into more complex ideas. She gives those words physical, material forms, because Eggert believes we might be able to understand something more fully if we can experience it physically.
Eggert’s work often co-opts the methods and materials associated with commercial signage to communicate messages about time that inspire reflection and wonder. She has made flashing neon signs to illuminate the way light travels across spacetime; billboards that allow Forever to appear and disappear in the fog; and signs that reveal the relationship between reality and possibility. These sculptures have been installed on rooftops in Russia, on bridges in Amsterdam, and on uninhabited islands in Maine, beckoning people to ponder their place in the world and the role they play in it.
Between Now and Then, 2008, 2” x 2 1/2” x 8.5”, custom engraved corridor sign
Small Nows, 2020-21, 17 1/2” x 25” 6”, DC motor, gears, aluminum, wood, paint, electrical wiring.
Fabricated by Duoc Le
Alas, 2021, fresh cut flowers, chicken wire, MDF, paint, 36” x 84” x 6.”
Flower arrangement by Penny Halcyon