Wild Times


Susan Robb’s work is an ongoing investigation of people, place and our search for utopia.

Artist Bio

Wild Times merges new media, social engagement, and site responsive art as an invitation to explore wildness as a geographic ideal, part of our urban identity, and a state of mind. Beginning in mid-April, Robb will embark on a five-month, 2,650-mile hike from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail. Using the trail as a nomadic studio, and her experiences as inspiration and medium, she will create digital works—photos, videos, and 3D files—periodically sending them to a series of West Coast art venues. There they will be printed, projected and installed, evolving into cumulative exhibitions. Host venues include Grand Central Art Center, in Santa Ana, CA; Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Desert, CA; Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA; and the Frye Art Museum and Henry Art Gallery, in Seattle, WA. At its core, Wild Times is a proposition to Robb’s audience to seek out and explore their own wildness. To aid this process, Susan has created satellite programming such as a “hero’s journey” writing workshop, group “therapy” explorations facilitated by a psychoanalyst, comedic improv workshop dérive, and a “trail magic” master class.


Award Year
2013
Status

Completed

Susan-Robb-headshot

Susan Robb

Seattle, WA

Susan Robb’s work is an ongoing investigation of people, place and our search for utopia. She orchestrates temporary, site-responsive and socially-engaged projects to transform contemporary concerns—climate crisis, social isolation, high-speed daily living—into opportunities to re-envision and re-connect. Her projects include The Long Walk, ONN/OF “a light festival”, Parking Squid, Sleeper Cell Training Camp and Warmth Giant Black Toobs. In addition to the Creative Capital Award, Robb’s work has been funded by a Pollack-Krasner Foundation Grant, two Artist Trust Fellowships, a Stranger Genius Award, 4Culture, and the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts and Culture. Her work has been collected and shown nationally and internationally.