Goethe-Institut Boston Studio 170 presents “Autolysis” installation and participatory events by Artists-In-Residence Heather Kapplow and Walker Tufts, June 4-15, 2022. Taking place in the Institut’s newly-renovated space in the Back Bay, “Autolysis” calls attention to issues around climate change, plant species adaptation/extinction, and personal mortality through a focus on engagement with soil/dirt as the base of existence.  

An initiative by the Goethe-Institut Boston to feature New England-area artists, Studio 170 provides artists and audiences an open, lively place for inspiration, experimentation and open discourse in the heart of Boston.

Heather Kapplow and Walker Tufts, “Autolysis” Installation and Participatory Artwork

June 4-15, 2022
https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/sta/bos/ver/stu/22st/hkwt.html

170 Beacon St, Boston, MA 02116

View the installation through activities with the Artists (free admission to all events):
Guided walking experience with artists, Saturday, June 4, 1-3pm

Open Studio Drop-in Hours: Tuesday June 6 and Friday June 10, 5:30-7:30pm
Dirty Movie: June 8, 6:30pm

Finissage, Artist Talk and Karaoke: Wednesday, June 15, 6-9:30pm

“Autolysis” (self-splitting), by artists Heather Kapplow and Walker Tufts, is named after the first stage of decomposition when a body is buried, and from the Greek roots of that word. Autolysis is a poetic and visceral exploration of issues around climate change, plant species adaptation/extinction, and personal mortality through a focus on/engagement with soil/dirt.

Dirt/earth is the very base of our daily existence and also where we return to when we cease to exist. It nurtures us, and then we disappear into it. In the Covid-era, when we have become profoundly oriented towards the digital, and where cleanliness has felt like a life or death imperative, “Autolysis” offers an immersive, tactile and olfactory experience of re-connection with the earth and to dirt.

Autolysis also opens conversations about personal relationships with the earth in a way that emphasizes the actual material of the earth rather than earth with a capital “E”, and creates space for gentle contemplation of end of life/end of species issues.

Come immerse yourself in stories and scents unearthed from Boston’s past and present soil and imagine our future flora with conceptual artist Heather Kapplow and artist and game designer Walker Tufts!

Activities with the Artists

Guided Walking Experience
Saturday, June 4, 2022, 1-3pm

Free admission

Join “Autolysis” artists Heather Kapplow and Walker Tufts in a guided walking experience. We’ll engage our senses and imagination, paying close attention to the Goethe-Institute’s neighborhood–its flora, its history, its soil–and gather materials that can be used to contribute to the evolving aspects of “Autolysis.”

Open Studio Drop in Hours

Tuesday June 6 and Friday June 10, 2022

5:30-7:30pm
Free admission
“Autolysis” artists Heather Kapplow and Walker Tufts will be onsite working and hanging out, and you are welcome to come by and visit to investigate the work and ask questions. This is a casual time to get to know us and the work, informally. BYOB, and if you’re able, also bring a ziploc baggie or jar of some soil from somewhere that’s important to you that you can share with us. If you are unable to make our open studio drop in hours, get in touch–we can also be available by appointment.

Dirty Movie

Wednesday, June 8, 2022, 6:30pm
Details TBA

Finissage

Wednesday, June 15, 2022, 6-9:30pm
Free admission

Join us for a closing party for “Autolysis”! We’ll begin with an artists talk, where Heather Kapplow and Walker Tufts will host a free ranging conversation about their work and how “Autolysis” fits into it, perhaps with special guests. Then we’ll all enjoy the soil one more time, and do a little dirty karaoke! Bring your favorite song about dirt, death or climate change and we’ll help each other keep our spirits up even though we know the end of the habitable world is nigh. Please bring a ziploc baggie or jar of some soil from somewhere that’s important to you that you can share with us for our ongoing collection. 

About the Artists

Heather Kapplow (no 3rd person pronouns preferred) is a self-trained conceptual artist. Kapplow creates participatory experiences that elicit unexpected intimacies using objects, alternative interpretations of existing environments, installation, performance, writing, audio and video. Kapplow’s work has received American and European government funding; support from numerous private foundations; and commissions from galleries, film and performance festivals including the MIT List Visual Arts Center, ANTI-Festival, and ISEA International.

An avid collaborator, Kapplow has co-created ensemble projects at the ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum (DK), Guggenheim Museum (US), Institute of Contemporary Art (US), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (US), Museo Arte Moderno (MX), Museum of Fine Arts Boston (US), and the Queens Museum (US), and performed within live artworks by La Pocha Nostra, Paul Ramirez Jonas, and On Kawara. Kapplow is also an active member of two international art communities that produce work collectively: Flux Factory and Mobius Artists Group, and an affiliate artist at metaLAB at Harvard University.

Walker Tufts is an artist and game designer. Walker’s work explores our relationship to others (human and more-than-human) through games, exhibitions, dinner parties, and performances.  With various collaborators, Walker makes games that playfully place player’s bodies in physical relationship with global systems, dirt, bodies, and microbiomes. His work has been shown internationally including: MassMoCA, Den Frie Udstillingsbygning, and Flux Factory. His projects have received funding from the Danish Arts Council, the Arts Council of Wales and the Foundation for Contemporary Art. Walker has created commissioned public works and participated in residencies from Saint Petersburg, RU to Portland, OR. He is currently collaborating with bacteria to grow experimental concrete in the Emerging Practices MFA at University at Buffalo.

About Studio 170

Studio 170 was established in 2019 to open the Goethe-Institut Boston’s unique, flexible space to New England artists and creative minds as a “laboratory” for ideas. A jury made up of curators and cultural advocates from New England selects a new cohort of artists per year from received applications.  Since its founding, five artists and artist collaboratives have developed projects within 2 week residencies. The goal is to expand the program to promote transatlantic dialogue and exchange between artists through single and joint residencies in New England and Germany.

The next call for artists will open in September 2022. Learn more: www.goethe.de/boston/studio170

About Goethe-Institut Boston

The Goethe-Institut is the cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany and is dedicated to promoting international cultural dialogue and exchange. The Goethe-Institut Boston was the first Goethe-Institut in the United States and founded in 1967. It is located in the historic Back Bay/Beacon Hill area and provides services for the six New England states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The Goethe-Institut Boston is the contact point for anyone interested in German culture and for those who want to study or teach German.

For over 40 years, the Goethe-Institut Boston has been promoting an ongoing dialogue and exchange between American and German artists and experts in order to present German culture abroad and help shape a current understanding of Germany today. In order to achieve this goal, we collaborate extensively with our partners at the local universities (Harvard University, MIT, Boston University, among others).

The program department organizes a broad range of events and supports projects in the fields of film and new media, arts, theatre and dance, music, literature, architecture and more. Events take place in our auditorium as well as at partner venues. Beyond this, the Goethe-Institut arranges thematic trips to Germany for experts in the arts and media.

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