Andrew Cruse on Sarah Oppenheimer: S-337473

In this afternoon gallery talk, Andrew Cruse, an architect and assistant professor in Ohio State’s Knowlton School of Architecture, will discuss the shared affinities between Peter Eisenman’s design for the Wexner Center for the Arts and Sarah Oppenheimer’s S-337473, a new work conceived of in dialogue with this still-provocative building.

In her artistic practice, Oppenheimer operates much like an architect—in her preoccupation with space, light, and material; through her manual and digital workflows; and with her methodical attention to how people use and interact with buildings. All this contributes to her investigation of “the switch,” a spatial reconfiguration that transforms symbolic exchange into an experiential reality, making visitors aware of their location within an architectural context. Similarly, in designing the Wexner Center building, Eisenman created a cultural catalyst intended to question the museum’s traditional civic role to provide certainty, permanence, and monumentality. Twenty-seven years after its opening, the building continues to challenge visitors, curators, and artists alike, including Oppenheimer. The talk will address the dialogues each work creates within their own contexts, as well as with one another.

Cruse’s academic work focuses on the evolution of human comfort and its impact on architectural design and energy use. In his own design practice, Good Form Studio, he is currently working on a glass pavilion for the Novartis Campus in Basel, Switzerland. Prior to joining the faculty at Knowlton, Cruse was an assistant professor of architecture at Washington University in St. Louis and an associate at Machado Silvetti in Boston.