AUSTIN.- As part of WorkSpace 08, and as a contemporary counterpart to the Exquisite Visions of Japan exhibition of Japanese woodcuts on view at the Blanton this summer, Argentine artist Fabián Bercic will provide a site-specific reinterpretation of the traditional Zen Garden. An opening reception will be held on June 19th from 6 – 9 PM as part of the museum’s “Third Thursday” event.

Bercic’s installation serves as a critique of consumerism and the commercialization of culture. He transforms the traditionally sacred rock garden, replacing its natural and organic elements with highly synthetic plastic materials. Stylistically, the work in this contemporary context, reflects the artist’s interest in product design, medieval manuscript illustrations and his own imagination. It explores how one can create and reinterpret a sacred and meaningful process/object (a Zen garden, in this case) with the materials of a late-capitalist society. The artist’s act of repetitively and painstakingly assembling the artwork’s materials recaptures the traditional function and purpose of the Garden, in that the artist achieves the loss of self through these Zen actions. Conversely, it serves as a comment on disposable, industrial production. A seating area will be incorporated into the work, allowing viewers an area from which to contemplate the complex dichotomies of the Garden.