Inside Out and From the Ground Up

Inside Out and From the Ground Up, the inaugural exhibition at MOCA Cleveland’s new building, spreads throughout the Museum. Considering the building itself as a dynamic sculptural form, the exhibition engages the architecture as both subject and stage. The works on view present the breadth of contemporary practice, from physical constructions and monumentally-scaled painting, to minimal gestures and experimental film and video. Inside Out and From the Ground Up calls on viewers to move around, look up close and from afar, and consider multiple perspectives.

Barry Underwood’s photographs provide an inner, transitional view of the building throughout its construction, capturing the energy behind its formation. In contrast to the newness of the architecture, works by Gordon Matta-Clark, Henrique Oliveira, and Jennifer West explore the symbolic potential of aging and soon-to-be-forgotten structures. Works by Louise Bourgeois, Rachel Whiteread, and Haegue Yang signify human presence through objects that bear the subtle marks of use. Oliver Husain, Corey McCorkle, and William Villalongo offer portals to dream-like other worlds, whereas Jeremy Blake and David Hammons take us to particular places, rich with social and historical layers. Paintings by Katharina Grosse and Jacqueline Humphries absorb viewers in perceptual ambiguity. Walead Beshty uses chemical reactivity to alter the surface of materials, while David Altmejd’s work generates vital forces from within.

Through this array of media and approaches, the artists in Inside Out and From the Ground Up explore our active and variable relationship with the built world. Reflecting on how spaces are constructed, divided, and imagined, they shape viewers’ awareness of their own presence and surroundings.  

David Altmejd, Walead Beshty, Jeremy Blake, Louise Bourgeois, Katharina Grosse, David Hammons, Jacqueline Humphries, Oliver Husain, Gordon Matta-Clark, Corey McCorkle, Henrique Oliveira, Barry Underwood, William Villalongo, Jennifer West, Rachel Whiteread, and Haegue Yang