Intangible Ruins by Ariel Schlesinger uses sculpture to investigate the everyday moments of comprehension and misunderstandings as a micro-scale idea. Schlesinger creates a world of poetic imagery to navigate through varying contexts and situations by using a combination of quotidian observation, common objects and simple technology. 

The meaning of our internal dialogues remain dormant until we venture to speak the words out loud, and as such, Schlesinger’s works seek to unveil this new expressive possibility. A campfire serves as a site-specific piece which illuminates this point, drawing our attention while at the same time allowing our imagination to roam free.

In collaboration with guest speakers, a diverse set of stories are told to provide an intimate and expressive environment that invites us back to something simple, warm and human. It is a space in which we can feel free to speak, tell a story, listen—to daydream intensely about what it means to be in community. 

Intangible Ruins poetically and immersively demonstrates said relationship between tangible matter and dormant expression, emotion and thought. Centered on the action of making, he provides an experience in which we can reflect upon the extent to which our thinking is shaped by both our hands and our words.