Failure Detection
MoMA PS1 will present the first solo museum exhibition of New York–based artist Julia Phillips, featuring newly commissioned major works in combination with existing sculptures. (15.04.2018 - 03.09.2018). Primarily working with ceramics, Phillips creates objects and scenes that are intimately connected to the body. Her sculptures mostly avoid direct figuration, however, and instead propose various interventions into and support structures for the body, emphasizing its absence from the works. Impressions of the human form are visible through elements like casts of orifices, handprints, and other traces, which indicate particular bodily placements in relation to her forms. While suggestive of functions that are overtly physical, these works also extend to the social and psychological. For Phillips, the body is entangled in the real and abstract spaces of politics, evident through indications given in her arrangements as well as the works’ titles, which are often directives for specific actions. (Text: MoMA PS1)