Art & Art History
Privy
Privy is a collaborative installation by Chicago artists Laurel Fredrickson and Susan Peterson. The installation confronts the societal norms that proscribe, define, articulate, and isolate us both within and without the social body. Distanced from our physical bodies, our ordinary acts are degraded and separated from us. The membrane of convention defines our limits and names us as civilized beings, whose inner and outer experiences are clearly delineated. We inhabit the divided spheres of public and private. Precise rules of conduct carefully limit and deny the movement of activities from one sphere to the other, from outside to inside. Perceptions of the self alter as one moves from external to internal space from what is open to what is protected. Paradoxically, the protection offered by the portable toilet is both one of cover and exposure, particularly in the act of transition, from inside to outside. This precarious privacy reflects the anxiety inherent in any delineation between self and society.
The installation is constructed of some thirty portable toilets viewed from two distinctly different positions: objective exterior and subjective interior, which includes “sub-installations” within approximately half of the units. In its denial of, or access to, the virtual interior of the installation, Privy suggests the decisions and the options available to the individual regarding inclusion, exclusion, or seclusion.
Laurel Fredrickson and Susan Peterson
Privy
Gallery 400
Chicago, IL
September 17–28, 1990
Opening Reception: Wednesday, September 19, 1990, 4–7pm
Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois at Chicago presents a collaborative installation by Chicago artists Laurel Fredrickson and Susan Peterson. This installation deals with the societal norms that proscribe, define, articulate, and isolate us both within and out of the social body. Perceptions of the self alter as one moves from external to internal space from what is open to what is protected. Paradoxically, the protection offered by the portable toilet is both of cover and exposure, particularly in the act of transition, from inside to outside.
The installation will be constructed of some thirty portable toilets to be viewed from two distinctly different positions: objective exterior and subjective interior, which includes “sub-installations” within approximately half of the units. In its denial of, or access to, the virtual interior of the installation, Privy suggests the decisions and the options available to the individual regarding inclusion, exclusion, or seclusion.
EXHIBITION SUPPORT
Privy is supported by the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Art and Design’s College of Architecture, Art, and Urban Planning. This exhibition is also partially funded by PORT-A-JOHN and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
MEDIA COVERAGE
Hixson, Kathryn. “Laurel Fredrickson and Susan Peterson.” Arts Magazine, Dec. 1990, p. 106.
Bulka, Michael F. “Laurel Fredrickson and Susan Peterson, Gallery 400, University of Illinois at Chicago.” Sculpture, Jan./Feb. 1991, p. 63.
Laurel Fredrickson (born 1958) has worked as a studio art instructor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago since 1989. Her interests are centered in contemporary and modern art, theory, and criticism. Fredrickson explores various topics within these art-historical periods, including performance art, feminism, and the intersections of art and politics. Fredrickson earned a BFA in printmaking from Washington University in 1980. She also recently obtained an MFA in painting and drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago 1987.
Susan Peterson grew up in Glenwood, Minnesota, a farming community of 2,700. Peterson attended Carleton College, and is currently pursuing an MFA degree at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she focuses on producing sculpture and installations that center on light, sound, and image.
PRINT COLLATERAL
Postcard: Privy – Opening Reception
EXHIBITION CHECKLIST
Laurel Fredrickson and Susan Peterson
Privy, 1990
Installation