Public Sphere 2012

Erik Sigerud created ‘Public Sphere’ as a triptych in mixed media on canvas, presenting three views of a conference room overlaid with textual annotations and connecting lines. The colour palettes shift across the panels from muted greys and yellows to a vibrant red and finally to cooler blues and pinks, while the bare conference room remains a constant motif, focusing the viewers attention on an arrangement of tables and chairs. Sigerud deploys a schematic style, reminiscent of cognitive mapping, to explore networks of power. Words and phrases are scrawled and linked, suggesting relationships between concepts, places, and perhaps people. Each panel introduces a new perspective and highlights different relationships. This fragmentation and layering suggest a complex, multi-dimensional network where meaning is relational and contingent, challenging viewers to decode the relationships between power, space, and representation. The overlay of diagrams upon a familiar space destabilizes our understanding of both the physical and conceptual realms. ‘Public Sphere’ encourages us to think about how the structures we inhabit are also shaped by less visible forces, prompting an ongoing critical engagement with the spaces around us.