body double (annotated atlas), 2022
In body double (annotated atlas), 2022, two world atlases are altered—cover to cover— creating a Rorschach-like pigmented imprint. Each page (the introduction with its graphings of global information, 122 map plates and 227 index pages) individually responded to. On view the pages are turned at random by staff, the body of the book being fragile.
About the author:
Ann Messner, 1952 b. NYC, currently lives in Brooklyn.
Ann Messner is a trans-disciplinary artist. Her work is a research based, often project focused, practice challenged by the more perplexing of dilemmas society finds itself in inner conflict over. Through processes of discernment, social constructions of reality are engaged and interrogated, as specific works develop.
“The practice is an empathic response to unacceptable conditions. I respond to the fragile, tenuous, bonds that confirm our humanity. Thinking and acting in the world as an artist allows me to problem solve, to make peace on an emotional level, while at the same time intellectually recognizing space for imagination is closing in.”
Ann is recipient of numerous fellowships inclusive of the National Endowment, Guggenheim Fellowship, the Anonymous Was a Woman Award, a Gottlieb Foundation Fellowship. She was fellow at Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University (1999-2000) and senior fellow Princeton University Council on the Humanities (2001-2). She has been tenured Professor of MFA Integrated Practices at Pratt Institute.
Full CV @ annmessner.net
About the book:
body double (annotated atlas), 2022
material: 2 atlases of the world, pigment, each sits on a low platform
overall dimensions 57 x 20 x 5; each book open 24 x 18
