Episode 19: The Art of Time
Alicia Eggert
Artist & Educator
This Present Moment, 2019-2020, neon, custom controller, steel, 144" x 180" x 48". Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Renwick General Acquisitions Fund, 2021.4.
Interdisciplinary artist Alicia Eggert creates captivating work, which wrestles with fundamental existential questions in witty and awe-inspiring ways. From monumental inflatables, flashing neon signs, cut flowers, and more, her dynamic works have been exhibited globally. Often taking the form of text, she transforms words and phrases collected in her journals into profound, arresting installations that illuminate her interplay with time and language.
She credits her preoccupation with time and existence to her upbringing as a child of evangelical Pentecostal missionaries. At a young age her family moved to South Africa to establish a ministry and she spent much of her time listening to her father’s sermons, contemplating life and performance, which left an indelible impact on her work. One of the beautiful things about her work is its simplicity and legibility which render them easily comprehensible. As a sculpture professor at the University of North Texas, she teaches a course about public art that culminates in students executing their work formally. Her dedication to her craft and students is inspiring and a reminder to live in the present, but with an eye to the future.
You are (on) an island, 2011-2013, made in collaboration with Mike Fleming, neon, wood, latex paint, 120" x 120" x 96"
This neon sign's message is animated by the word "on" flashing on and off at regular intervals, transforming an initially obvious statement into a reflective and philosophical inquiry.
The sculpture was originally made in 2011 for the Sacred and Profane Art festival on Peaks Island, Maine. Neon Workshops invited Mike Fleming and I to bring "You are (on) an island" to the UK in 2013, and to present it as a mobile billboard. We installed the sign on the back of a flatbed truck, powered it with a small generator, and toured the sculpture around the UK for two weeks. The project culminated in a limited-edition publication.
Your Magic is Real, 2019 Made in collaboration with James Akers, neon, LEDs, steel, aluminum, acrylic, disco ball, sound, electronics, 132" x 300" x 300". Photos by Adam Neese. Video by Vision & Verve.
This immersive light and sound installation was created in collaboration with James Akers for the Color Factory in Houston, and is designed to evoke the power of collaboration. When people first enter the room, they encounter a stark white space that is devoid of light and color. Handprint sensors on a central platform and two side walls are spaced far enough apart so that a single person can't touch both sensors on their own. But when two or more people join together to bridge that physical and metaphorical divide, a small electrical current passes through their bodies to complete a circuit, and the room immediately begins to come to life. The longer participants hold hands, the more the room fills the with light, color and sound.
Individually controllable neon lights create animated starbursts on the walls and ceiling whose flashing patterns increase in speed over time. Over 200 neon and LED lights illuminate a sign that says “You Are Magic,” and when the show reaches its climax it activates a disco ball in the ceiling. The electronics are algorithmically programmed by TX/RX Labs to create a unique experience for each set of participants, including a variety of musical scores composed by Evan Scallan. But as soon as participants break their physical connection, the room immediately goes dark and silent once again.
Alas...,2020-21, fresh cut flowers, chicken wire, MDF, paint, 36" x 84" x 6”. Flower arrangement by Penny Halcyon. Photos by Todora Photography and Vision & Verve. Video by Vision & Verve.
Each time this sculpture is exhibited, it is installed with freshly cut flowers, which will vary based on the season and location. The flowers wilt and die over the course of the exhibition. This composite image of two photographs shows the sculpture in two different states.
OURs, 2022, Made in collaboration with Planned Parenthood Federation of America, LED neon, aluminum, paint, acrylic, 76” x 120” x 40”.
This flashing neon sign was made in collaboration with Planned Parenthood to illuminate the importance of abortion access at a critical time in history. It cycles endlessly through the statements “OUR BODIES,” “OUR FUTURES,” and “OUR ABORTIONS.” The constant interchangeability of those three statements serves to highlight their inseparability — how a person’s control over their own body determines how much control they have over their future, and how access to abortions is an essential part of that control. Designed to be a mobile sign, the sculpture was first displayed at the Supreme Court of the United States before it began traveling across the country to shine a light on Americans’ rights to make decisions about our bodies, our futures, our abortions.
About Alicia:
(b. 1981) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work gives material form to language and time, the powerful but invisible forces that shape our perception of reality. Her creative practice is largely motivated by an existential pursuit to understand the linear and finite nature of human life within a seemingly infinite universe. She derives her inspiration from physics and philosophy, and her sculptures often co-opt the styles and structures of commercial signage to communicate messages that inspire reflection and wonder. Alicia creates neon signs that illuminate the way light travels across space and time, and billboards that allow Forever to appear and disappear in the fog. These artworks have been installed on building rooftops in Russia, on bridges in Amsterdam, and on uninhabited islands in Maine, beckoning us to ponder our place in the world and the role we play in it.
Alicia's work has been exhibited at notable institutions nationally and internationally, including the CAFA Art Museum in Beijing, the Triennale Design Museum in Milan, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Corning Museum of Glass, the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, the Telfair Museums, and many more. Recent solo exhibitions have been held at Galeria Fernando Santos (Porto, Portugal), The MAC (Dallas, TX), and T+H Gallery (Boston, MA). Alicia is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including a TED Fellowship, a Washington Award from the S&R Foundation, a Direct Artist Grant from the Harpo Foundation, an Artist Microgrant from the Nasher Sculpture Center, and an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Maine Arts Commission. She has been an artist in residence at Google Tilt Brush, Sculpture Space, True/False Film Festival, and the Tides Institute and Museum of Art. In 2020, she was added to the Fulbright Specialist Roster by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Alicia earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Drexel University in 2004, and a Masters of Fine Arts in Sculpture/Dimensional Studies from Alfred University in 2009. She is currently a Presidential Early Career Professor of Studio Art and the Sculpture Program Coordinator at the University of North Texas. Her work is represented by Galeria Fernando Santos in Porto, Portugal, and Liliana Bloch Gallery in Dallas. She lives with her son, Zephyr, in Denton, Texas.
Learn more about Alicia on her website and follow her on Instagram.
Press:
Nasher Public Installation of Eggert’s The Time for Becoming - Nasher Sculpture Center
Acquisition of her work “This Present Moment” for the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian American Art Museum for the gallery’s 50th-anniversary exhibition - Contemporary Craft in Focus: This Present Moment - SAAM
Recorded on January 10, 2022.
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