In 2018, Diane Simpson received a research grant from the Graham Foundation to support her project Architecture in Motion commissioned by FD13 Residency for the Arts in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, MN. Working over an extended research period of nine months, Diane designed her first costumes to be animated by two performers. Taking inspiration from the former Women’s City Club of St. Paul, designed by architect Magnus Jemne in 1931 in the Art Deco style, Simpson’s costumes reference key details of the elegant building. In collaboration with FD13, the costumes were first used in performance with Minneapolis-based dancers in June 2019. Building on the success of this first iteration, Every house has a door created a new performance to premiere on July 25. Following the 30-minute performance, Sara Cluggish, Director of FD13 joins Diane Simpson in conversation about the evolution of the project.

Diane Simpson is a Chicago-based artist who creates sculpture and preparatory drawings that evolve from a diverse range of sources, including clothing, utilitarian objects, and architecture. The structures of clothing forms has continuously informed her work, serving as a vehicle for exploring their functional and sociological roles and the influence of the design and architecture of various cultures and periods in history. Diane Simpson’s works were included in the 2019 Whitney Biennial. Other museum exhibitions include solo shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2016) and the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (2015). Recent solo gallery exhibitions include Herald St, London (2018); JTT, New York (2016); and Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago (2016).

Sara Cluggish is a writer and curator based in Minneapolis. She earned her MFA in curating and BFA in photography. Her research interests lie at the intersection of performance and moving image scholarship, with an emphasis on gender and sexuality studies. Cluggish is 2018 Guest Curator of FD13, Residency for the Arts in Minneapolis and St. Paul for which she is developing a season of events surrounding themes of health, illness, disability politics, and the body in a state of flux. From 2012 to 2014 she was the assistant curator at Nottingham Contemporary and has worked in the exhibitions departments at Chisenhale Gallery, London; Whitechapel Gallery, London; and the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is an occasional contributor to ArtReview, ArtReview Asia, Frieze, L’Officiele Arte Italia, and the Third Rail.

Every house has a door was formed in 2008 by Lin Hixson, director, and Matthew Goulish, dramaturg, to convene diverse, inter-generational project-specific teams of specialists, including emerging as well as internationally recognized artists. Drawn to historically or critically neglected subjects, Every house creates performance works and performance-related projects in many media. The company is based in Chicago and presents work for local, national, and international audiences.

Image: Diane Simpson, source images from the former St. Paul Women’s City Club, designed by Magnus Jemne in 1931, with Architecture in Motion costume drawings, 2019

For more information on the exhibition, Spirit of the Waves, click here.