COLUMBUS, OH.- Bureau for Open Culture, Columbus College of Art & Design, presents Of Other Spaces, on view through April 25, 2009 with artists Mary Jo Bole, Michael Brown, Alain Bublex, Robert Buck, Gregory Crewdson, Dan Graham, Candida Höfer, Guillaume Leblon, Laura Lisbon, Gordon Matta-Clark, Eva Meyer and Eran Schaerf, Laurent Montaron, Marylène Negro, TJ Norris and Scott Wayne Indiana, Sarah Schönfeld, Maya Schweizer, Suzanne Silver, Christian Tomaszewski, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Jane and Louise Wilson. The exhibition was curated by James Voorhies.

Of Other Spaces explores how space affects human behavior and experience. The exhibition asks us to consider the ways in which spaces are charged with authority, and both serve and suppress our actions and ways of relating. The concept of “other spaces” is inspired by the philosophy of Michel Foucault, especially his thoughts on social relations and cultural practices expressed in the intersection of space, architecture, and history. In a rarely cited 1967 text by Foucault, entitled [“Of Other Spaces, Heterotopias,”] he introduces what he calls heterotopias--different or other spaces.

Hospitals, prisons, schools, libraries, museums, fairgrounds, cinemas, beaches, cemeteries, gardens, hotel suites, train stations, and even mirrors have the potential to be other spaces. Other spaces are essentially virtual. They function in accordance with personal memories, associations, experiences, and imaginings that one has of these very real sites. By making common practices strange, Foucault’s writing often initiates conversations about habitual actions, in this case, in relation to space. The collection of works of art on exhibit here and the reprinting of Foucault’s text on “heterotopias” in the exhibition catalogue form the visual and philosophical catalyst for thinking about the function and meaning of space in everyday life.

Of Other Spaces continues a discussion on the origins, uses, histories, influences, and current and past activities that accompany our personal experiences of space.

An integral part of this exhibition includes a screening of She Might Belong to You (2007) by Eva Meyer and Eran Schaerf, Metropolis, Report from China (2006) by Maya Schweizer and Clemens von Wedemeyer, and Will there be a sea battle tomorrow? (2008) by Laurent Montaron at the film/video theater at Wexner Center for the Arts.