Oona Stern

Page 1 | 2 | 3 | Information & News

brick: aiop09 October 2009 14th Street, NYC

3 rectangles of neon, reminiscent of the pattern of brick construction, illuminate the facade of Andrew Norwood House. 

This simple installation is poignant in several ways. The brick, a thing often unconsidered, is a humble object but which in it's commonplace use is fundamental to the urban fabric. It is literally the building block for home and commerce, necessary for simple survival, and facilitating the rich cultural network of urban settings. The glowing rectangles of brick illuminate the humble element, highlighting the brick structure of the building, bringing attention and honor to something usually unconsidered. The neon, as an advertising sign, broadcasts a familiar message: Bricks for sale. Buy now


Andrew Norwood House was built in the 1840's for a successful merchant, a manifestation of the social and financial culture of the time. On this site brick resonates the complex history of residential construction in New York. The building is currently home to Norwood, a social club, which itself continues the cultural richness of the City.

Presented by Art in Odd Places 2009: SIGN, an annual festival exploring the odd, ordinary and ingenious in the spectacle of daily life.


island path: last days - through October 8, 2009 Governor's Island NYC

A garden path is "drawn" into the grass on Governor's Island, relating to the site's history and use. It may reveal a route trod long ago when the island was a strategic encampment. It might mark the routine of more recent Coast Guard duty. It's meander may demark a figment of the future. The installation is a of tracery of human activity, past and present, in which an image is literally drawn into the material surface of the city park. The image itself is a visual reversal of traditional garden paving where grass grows up in the spaces between paving stones. For this installation the "spaces" are made from stone, and the "pavers" are grass.




Palmer Station, Antarctica January 2009
A residency granted through the Antarctic Artists and Writers Program of the National Science Foundation.