CCS BARD

A Selection of Drawings by Sarah Oppenheimer

A Path of Safe Travel presents a selection of studies borrowed from the archive of Sarah Oppenheimer, whose research is positioned alongside historical and current developments in cognitive science and architecture. While these fields have long explored the complex relationship between the subject’s ’s individual cognition of space and the “actual space” one occupies, Oppenheimer’s practice folds these inquiries into a broader conversation concerning how the built environment is mechanized. Through this, Oppenheimer points to the coexistence and intersection of disparate spatial realities and subject positions, which work concurrently to both center and de-center the viewer.

Taking an empirical approach to research, Oppenheimer’s practice incorporates regular collaboration with specialists in technical fields outside the normal purview of the art world. As such, Oppenheimer’s systems operate at the edge of possibility, frequently culminating in the production or resolution of new developments in technology and engineering. The advancements in knowledge put forth in Oppenheimer’s work bear significance both for our contemporary conceptualization of the function of exhibitionary and institutional space, as well as for our understandings of spatial experience, ambulation, and interface relations more broadly.