Client: Artist Susan Silas

Overview

Susan Silas is a visual artist interested in the way history intersects the personal and in how identity is formed. Her
work examines the meaning of embodiment, the index in representation, and the evolution of our conception of the
self.

Mies Van Der Roe famously coined the phrase “less is more”. He was the architect who referred to his work as “skin and
bones” architecture, one in which structure is not a hidden feature of a building. The modernist notion that form follows
function parallels the nagging question about how form and content are intertwined and if they can exist
separately. The idea that the mind can be removed from the body may be the penultimate form of that question. Who are
we without a body? Avatar Bending Forward represents the departure of the artist from the body. It is a figure that can
be interpreted as humbled both before the world (and Mies’s building), perhaps as a figure of abjection, but also as a
feminist idol as her scale creates an experience in which we can walk under her and have to gaze up to the heavens to
take in her face.

Goals

This proposal's goals are the integration of the concept of the art into a dynamic relationship with
the Mies Plaza at the Seagrams building. Scale, and location siting from all angles were carefully considered to deliver the ideal representation of the artwork.

Process

The collaboration between the artist Susan Silas and Daniel Reiser was deeply involved in all aspects of the project, from concept to siting, angles, lighting, materials, and fabrication. Our dialogue was deeply involved with the art and many versions were develop for the presentation to arrive at the best possible soluiton.