presenting her first new piece in new york in more than a decade, american artist ann hamilton merges the transitory presence of time with
the ductility of material to create a large-scale installation – ‘the event of a thread’ – for the 55,000-square-foot wade thompson drill hall.
a field of 42 large wood-plank swings – able to accommodate two people at once – fill the expansive space, with a massive kinetic curtain
forming a backdrop that reacts to the sway of each visitor through a rope-and-pulley system.
commissioned by the armory, the work references the building’s architecture, as well as the individual encounters and congregational
conclaves that permeates its rich social history. in addition to these elements, hamilton also introduces into the mix pigeons that are supposed
to be released at the end of each day to fly around the space and ‘home’ to a large cage at the back of the hall.
the multisensory artwork fuses movement, sound, and live events that invite visitors to connect through the reactions of one another
and the work itself, revealing and celebrating the virtue of the singular and collective body.