Exhibitions: A Sudden Blow

Institute 193 Presents Sarah Moyer: A Sudden Blow March 30–May 6, 2023

Open Saturdays 2-6PM or by appointment

After moving our headquarters down the street, we are pleased to announce the repurposing of our original space at 193 North Limestone Street as Institute 193 Presents, a project space dedicated to pop-ups, screenings, and events to supplement our regular programming. The inaugural presentation, A Sudden Blow, comprises two films by Lexington-based artist and filmmaker, Sarah Moyer.

1. Solitude, 2023, 19 min, color, sound, video.

Solitude dwells on the minor, but constant and cumulative, horrors that can infect domestic life. A woman moves through her garden, kitchen, and shower all the while being haunted; perhaps by her desire, and, almost certainly, by parallel versions of herself. She moves deliberately and absurdly, wandering unfazed through the futile rituals of daily existence. Rather than showing the home as a place of sterile security, it is shown as it truly is despite our best efforts––as gross, fecund, and cruel as the garden that surrounds it. The accompanying soundscape combines the repetitive din of both spaces, further dissolving the barrier between them and exposing their false distinction.

2. Mattress (Where the Fragments Met), 2023, 20 min, color, sound, video.

By appropriating the slow pans and tight focus endemic to both nature documentaries and a certain era of horror film, Mattress merges the two. Both sound and image suggest a material, jarring dissonance. A fork scrapes against a ceramic plate. Teeth come together the wrong way. Sticky flesh is coated in feathers. Expecting firm resistance, a forefinger slides through the rotten skin of a too-old vegetable. Death in daylight. The environment resists our unnatural ordering of it, its closeness and disregard for our comfort become apparent.

–Paul Michael Brown