Chloë Bass (b. 1984) created Wayfinding, an installation of sculptures inspired by public wayfinding signage. Bass designed a set of more than thirty signs placed throughout the Pulitzer’s outdoor spaces. These works are organized into four sections. Each is anchored by a billboard posing a question that explores human emotions ranging from compassion and desire to anxiety and loss. Accompanying sculptures include archival images and statements written by the artist that encourage private reflection in public space, intensifying everyday moments.
Wayfinding also includes a site-specific audio artwork narrated by the artist and local collaborators. This component of the exhibition draws from several sources: quotes from the City of St. Louis’s Mow to Own Program (a program where citizens can acquire properties adjacent to their own by caring for the site for two years), Google and Yelp reviews of the Pulitzer, reports on aging and disorientation from the National Institutes of Health, landscape architecture teaching guides, and the artist’s personal narrative. It also incorporates many of the phrases written on the sculptures. Alongside Bass, the audio artwork is read by artist Damon Davis; poet, storyteller, and podcaster Cheeraz Gormon; and theater artist Ron Himes.
Chloë Bass is a New York-based artist who works in performance, publications, installation, and social spaces. She uses daily life as a subject for deep research into scales of human intimacy. Wayfinding is a sub-project of Obligation To Others Holds Me In My Place, a poetic investigation of intimacy within the immediate family. Bass has held numerous national fellowships and artist residencies. She is an Assistant Professor of Art at Queens College, CUNY, where she co-runs Social Practice Queens.
Access the site-specific audio work by calling 314 384 5148 or by using the SoundCloud player below. A transcription is available below and at the information desk during the museum’s open hours.
