Lost and Found: Exploring the Internal Cartography of Experience

Mapping is a process of defining and measuring space. Size and scale, distance and duration—the forms of our surroundings exist in constant correlation to our bodies and minds. We search for points of reference in order to better understand our relationship to the shape and contents of the world around us. These relationships contribute to the narrative of our personal experiences and delineate the boundaries of our personal geographies. In a circular process of self-awareness intersecting external environments, we use space to measure our bodies, and we use our bodies to measure space. Senses and situations become the latticework upon which the vines of perception intertwine themselves.

At Dia:Beacon, we encounter a multitude of experiments and inquiries into the origins and effects of these “searching feelings.” The vast architectural expanses contain artworks that destabilize and dislocate. Sensations are inevitably counterbalanced by projects, which attempt to recalibrate the viewer in relation to an unstable world. Installation artist Daniel Oates-Kuhn will catalog these anomalies and lead an investigation into how they shape our experiences.

Daniel Oates-Kuhn is an installation artist who resides in Beacon, New York. His practice employs a taxonomic inquiry into transitional architectural spaces and false work. These improvisational and temporary forms substantiate the spaces and contraptions that he eventually constructs. The resulting forms attempt to synthesize public space with open space, and intentional social interaction with chance encounters. Oates-Kuhn has exhibited in New York, Vancouver, and San Francisco. He is currently working as a gallery attendant at Dia:Beacon and as a special project facilitator at the Museum of Modern Art.