The Platform series was an innovative artist-driven approach to programming within the building and grounds of the Parrish Art Museum. Platform involved ongoing artists’ projects that consider the entire Museum—from the corridors to the café to the covered porches and terraces—as a potential canvas for works that transcend disciplinary boundaries. Each year, a new artist or collective is commissioned to generate ideas that respond to and activate the myriad spaces and grounds of the Museum, encouraging new ways to experience art, architecture and the landscape.
The Barbara Lee Family Foundation supported Platform: Tara Donovan on view at the Parrish from July 4, 2015 to October 18, 2015. Tara Donovan (b. 1969, New York) creates large-scale installations and sculptures made from everyday objects. Known for her commitment to process, she has earned acclaim for her ability to discover the inherent physical characteristics of an object and convert it into art. Donovan poetically transforms accumulated materials such as drinking straws, index cards, slinky toys, and other surprising objects into formations that appear geological, biological, or otherwise naturally occurring. With this exhibition, Donovan developed a new installation that relates to the space, context, and environmental conditions of the Museum.