Leigh Davis, detail from Foreclosed Storage Unit, 2009

“Now the truth of the matter – and one has no eye for that in times of great peril, and only by a great effort even in times when danger is threatening – is that in reality the burrow does provide a considerable degree of security, but by no means enough, for is one ever free from the anxieties inside it?” – Franz Kafka, The Burrow

Open Source Gallery is pleased to present The Burrow (H.H.), a new project from Brooklyn-based artist Leigh Davis. Working from photographs she took of an inhabited self-storage unit in New Mexico and using materials found in the surrounding neighborhood, Davis’s installation repurposes the gallery as a transitional living space, in which everyday artifacts of human existence take on different meaning when encountered in a place not designed for habitation. In constructing The Burrow (H.H.) specifically for the gallery, Davis engages her ongoing interest in creating projects in relation to the opportunities and constraints presented by the sites in which they are located.

The title of the project is taken from The Burrow, a Kafka story told from the perspective of a compulsive character who describes with pride the concealed burrow he has built to protect himself. As the character elaborates on the details, however, the description grows more paranoid and fantastical, and ultimately the narrator becomes trapped, possessed by his own creation. Davis’s project similarly creates a state of curiosity and uneasiness, in which viewers are invited–through the objects presented–to reconstruct for themselves the life lived by the person who is not there. But by restricting physical access to the space, the project relegates viewers to be voyeurs, from the outside, prompting them to consider their own relationship to the imagined life inside.

We have already received some wonderful entries including Sam Bargatz from Loadingdock5, Gregory Duncan, and Ryan Enschede. Now we are ready to increase our idea pool. To bring your projects into being, on November 2nd, we will host a fundraiser and introduce the project to inspire your ideas.

We are now building an energy model with Gregory Duncan and are starting to measure our energy use.

Open Source Gallery is a 501(c)(3), all donations are tax deductable.

on view now: Letizia Werth: My heart is a black bag (photo above) and Alison Read Smith: Thugs (below)

Open Source Gallery is now accepting submissions for the exterior of our gallery space. If chosen, your piece will  be permanently on view as part of a growing collage of works from various artists. Since your piece will be posted on an exterior wall, submissions must be on paper in a medium that can handle outdoor elements like rain and sunlight. If interested, please send your proposals with your contact information and a picture and brief description of your work to info@open-source-gallery.org