Hirsch Perlman

Taking the Society's Bergman Gallery as his text, Perlman undertook an appraisal of the overall space and all of its accoutrements to uncover their peculiar architectural significances. Perlman used distinct shifts and alterations of architectural details like wall height and width, moldings and door handles to render the space and aesthetic of the gallery unfamiliar. In turn these altered surfaces were used to exhibit photographs and text fragments referencing the Renaissance Society, Mies van der Rohe, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. This catalogue, designed to appear like a cropping or quotation from a larger study, is more accurately described as an artist's book. Melville's catalogue essay takes us through the exhibit, explicating various details while considering the use of architecture, media and appropriation in postmodern artistic practices.