The Immersive Work Highlights the Artist’s Practice of Blurring the Boundaries Between Art and Life

POTOMAC, MD– Glenstone Museum presents FEAR EATS THE SOUL by Rirkrit Tiravanija, an installation featuring hallmark elements from the artist’s practice of challenging the intended use of conventional gallery spaces by removing walls, windows, and doors to create an immersive experience designed to be social, accessible, and temporal. The work is on view from September 26, 2019 through early 2020 in Glenstone’s Gallery building.

“FEAR EATS THE SOUL by Rirkrit Tiravanija is a powerful, participatory work that engages visitors in shared experiences,” said Emily Wei Rales, director and co-founder of Glenstone. “As we begin our second year in the expanded Glenstone, this exhibition extends our commitment to showcasing radical artistic practices that encourage us to examine the role of art in contemporary culture.”

The work encourages visitors to partake in a suite of activities: a soup kitchen with a rotating menu of recipes provided by the artist; cochinita pibil offered at moments throughout the installation; a silkscreen factory producing t-shirts with phrases appropriated, borrowed or coined by the artist; and a facsimile of the artist’s 1994 gallery show at Gavin Brown’s enterprise in New York, installed with ceramic sculptures. Local artists will be invited to leave their mark on the gallery walls, initially featuring graffiti by Tiravanija that will be obscured by the close of the show. The t-shirts will be made to order for visitors to the exhibition. In exchange, a donation to City Kids Wilderness Project, a local non-profit that offers enriching outdoor life experiences for at-risk DC children, is encouraged.

For this iteration of FEAR EATS THE SOUL, Rirkrit Tiravanija has exercised a common convention within his practice by incorporating works by another artist, in this case works by the late American artist Gordon Matta-Clark (1943-1978), selected from Glenstone’s collection. The works by Matta-Clark are:

• Fresh Air Cart, 1972
• A W-Hole House (Datum Cut), 1973
• A W-Hole House (Rooftop), 1973
• Infraform (Cut Drawing), 1973

This is the first new exhibition in the Gallery since Glenstone opened its expansion, the Pavilions, in October 2018. The previous installation, Louise Bourgeois: To Unravel a Torment, is now on an international tour beginning with the Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, in the Netherlands, which will open on October 12, 2019.

About Glenstone

Glenstone, a museum of modern and contemporary art, is integrated into nearly 300 acres of gently rolling pasture and unspoiled woodland in Montgomery County, Maryland, less than 15 miles from the heart of Washington, DC. Established by the not-for-profit Glenstone Foundation, the museum opened in 2006 and provides a contemplative, intimate setting for experiencing iconic works of art and architecture within a natural environment.

Glenstone is open Thursdays through Sundays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visitors are also invited to explore the grounds or participate in self-guided sculpture tours from 12 to 4 pm, when guides are present.   Admission to Glenstone is free and visits can be scheduled online at: www.glenstone.org. Same-day visits can be scheduled online. Admission is guaranteed to visitors who arrive on the Ride On 301 bus.  

Media inquiries: press@glenstone.org

General inquiries: info@glenstone.org

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