MAREN HASSINGER
Sit Upons, 2010
New York Times newspapers
15 1/2 x 15 1/2 x 1/2 in. each (45 pieces per unit, one of 8 units)
Copyright The Artist
Photo: Joshua White
An affirming and nurturing childhood experience that has shaped and positively impacted Hassinger’s life and work is her participation as a Camp Fire Girl. Camp Fire was America’s first nonsectarian...
An affirming and nurturing childhood experience that has shaped and positively impacted Hassinger’s life and work is her participation as a Camp Fire Girl. Camp Fire was America’s first nonsectarian and multicultural organization for girls. Camp Fire (formerly Camp Fire Girls) is an organization that believes every youth should be given the opportunities and tools to discover who they are, become strong leaders, and contribute to their community. Camp Fire was created to “guide young people on their journey to self-discovery.” The artist has explained: “My grandmother became a leader of a Camp Fire Girls group. This experience is forever with me.” The underlying philosophy of Camp Fire Girls and the basis of the projects and multigroup meetings was the culture of Native America.
Hassinger learned such essential life skills while a Camp Fire Girl as adaptability, craft-making, survival, interdependence, and how to interact and “be” with nature. Camp Fire is also where Hassinger presumably encountered sit upons, handmade and waterproof seat cushions generally used in camping. The artist has taken this concept to create Sit Upons (2010/2015), using The New York Times newspapers, and has brought them to the interior space. She has also used the Sit Upons to interact with those who experience her work, in essence activating the Sit Upons as a performance work. The Sit Upons offer a repose of sorts that gives respite and stillness regardless of what the news reports.
It is fitting that Maren Hassinger twists and manipulates an ephemeral object that carries so much weight and reflects a certain cultural ecology. She has repurposed the newspaper, a man-made material, to fashion canopies, the environment, and mandalas. To repurpose The New York Times as a mandala is such an ingenious approach, and the following two definitions of mandala are apropos of Hassinger’s use of the medium:
A. A symbolic circular figure, usually with symmetrical and divisions figures of deities, etc., in the center used in Buddhism and other religions as a representation of the universe and serving esp. as an object of meditation.
B. In Jungian psychology: an image or archetype of a similar circle visualized in dreams, is held to symbolize a striving for unity of self and completeness.
Hassinger has disrupted the cultural ecology that The New York Times newspapers reflect. She has stated that she used the newspaper because it is the newspaper of record and is considered to be authoritative. The New York Times’ motto, “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” establishes the publication’s authority as well as its importance in relating current events. Hassinger has used this medium to cocreate a different cultural ecology and has, in essence, transformed the newspaper into something peaceful, spiritual, and meditative.
- ANNE COLLINS SMITH, MAREN HASSINGER: Dreaming Catalogue
Hassinger learned such essential life skills while a Camp Fire Girl as adaptability, craft-making, survival, interdependence, and how to interact and “be” with nature. Camp Fire is also where Hassinger presumably encountered sit upons, handmade and waterproof seat cushions generally used in camping. The artist has taken this concept to create Sit Upons (2010/2015), using The New York Times newspapers, and has brought them to the interior space. She has also used the Sit Upons to interact with those who experience her work, in essence activating the Sit Upons as a performance work. The Sit Upons offer a repose of sorts that gives respite and stillness regardless of what the news reports.
It is fitting that Maren Hassinger twists and manipulates an ephemeral object that carries so much weight and reflects a certain cultural ecology. She has repurposed the newspaper, a man-made material, to fashion canopies, the environment, and mandalas. To repurpose The New York Times as a mandala is such an ingenious approach, and the following two definitions of mandala are apropos of Hassinger’s use of the medium:
A. A symbolic circular figure, usually with symmetrical and divisions figures of deities, etc., in the center used in Buddhism and other religions as a representation of the universe and serving esp. as an object of meditation.
B. In Jungian psychology: an image or archetype of a similar circle visualized in dreams, is held to symbolize a striving for unity of self and completeness.
Hassinger has disrupted the cultural ecology that The New York Times newspapers reflect. She has stated that she used the newspaper because it is the newspaper of record and is considered to be authoritative. The New York Times’ motto, “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” establishes the publication’s authority as well as its importance in relating current events. Hassinger has used this medium to cocreate a different cultural ecology and has, in essence, transformed the newspaper into something peaceful, spiritual, and meditative.
- ANNE COLLINS SMITH, MAREN HASSINGER: Dreaming Catalogue
Exhibitions
"Living Things," JTT Gallery, 28 October - 28 November 2020 (2 examples)"Passing Through," Tiwani Contemporary, London, UK, 2 October 2019 - 15 November 2019. (4 examples)
"The Spirit of Things," Art + Practice, Los Angeles, CA, 24 February 2018 - 26 May 2018; traveling to Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD, 18 July 2018 - 25 November 2018.
"Maren Hassinger: A Retrospective," Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Spelman College, Atlanta, GA, February 12 2015-May 16 2015.