In the Works

OKLAHOMA CONTEMPORARY Arts Center will present Fieldworks: Beyond Measure, a project by Todd Stewart, associate professor of art, technology and culture, and Robert Bailey, associate professor of art history—both at the School of Visual Arts at the University of Oklahoma. Curated by Pablo Barrera, curatorial fellow at Oklahoma Contemporary, Beyond Measure is a combination of photography, texts, video and audio pieces, and found objects. The exhibit focuses on the major themes of ecology, the origins of different measurement and recording practices, and the limits of movement across the land.

“Fieldworks is not just one specific thing, [it is] the name we decided to give to this cluster of activities that center on going out west to arid landscapes and looking around to see what there is,” says Bailey. “We research the sites we visit and try to visit places where people made a meaningful mark upon the land. That can be everything from artwork made out in the desert or the infrastructure of a military base or a historical event.”

The Fieldworks initiative, originally funded by Kirkpatrick Foundation, began in 2015 when Bailey, an art historian, and Stewart, a photographer, brought students on a cross-country road trip. They focused their research, observation, and art-making efforts to areas in the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts and within the Great Basin. Their first Fieldworks exhibition Erratic Fieldwork: Doing Art and Art History in the Anthropocene was held at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art in 2016.

“Fieldworks: Beyond Measure embodies our mission to foster an appreciation of contemporary art in all of its forms; we accomplish that goal through a combination of education, exhibitions, and programming,” says Barrera. “An ongoing art project by two University of Oklahoma professors utilizing a combined research and artistic approach was a natural fit. It makes sense to launch an updated version of the project at our new building as a homecoming for [their] ever-evolving work.”

Fieldworks: Beyond Measure will be on view at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center from December 17, 2020, through April 19, 2021.