Supreme Red Rods

BACKGROUND Supreme Red Rods brings together the pure abstraction of the Russian Suprematists and the spatial experiences promoted by Italian Montessori education and recreates and extends Montessori's material and sensorial Red Rods. The work is designed to encourage playful interaction. It draws upon the spontaneity of Happenings, the collaborative inventiveness of Fluxus and the playfulness of the work of artists like Erwin Wurm or the video work of John Wood and Paul Harrison. It also engages with educational research and research in neuroscience concerning the embodiment of spatial awareness. CONTRIBUTION This research combines the formalist pictorial approach of the Suprematist artwork and employs constructivist approach of the Montessori classroom. It contributes to installation practice and uses video to expand the notions of time, space and scale in sculptural work. It contributes to interdisciplinary research and engages with debates in participatory art, education and occupational therapy. SIGNIFICANCE Supreme Red Rods was selected by the Blindside programing committee as a site specific work proposed and developed for the gallery.