Seat of Learning, Jane Lackey and Thomas Lehn

Seat of Learning: Jane Lackey and Thomas Lehn, a multimedia and multi-pronged art installation investigates time, movement, memory, knowledge and how we learn from material objects. The concept originated when the artists found a vintage school desk that encapsulated early learning through its patina, material presence, and history of use. Through broad-based calls for participation and video interviews, the artists gathered intimate stories and objects from a diverse range of individuals. The immersive installation, a supportive wooden framework stretched with translucent cloth, mirrors the phenomena of layered density or sharp clarity of memory. Video and audio stories reverberate with one another as visitors move through the installation to observe grouped objects, bringing awareness to their potency, our cultural connections embedded in common objects and what we learn from objects over time.

A selection of 32 objects and edited interviews are included in the 2020 installation. An entry pathway invites a walk through displays of objects leading to a lower central space. Along the way, overlapping scrim walls build upon one another to create new shadings as they filter sound and projections. The audience can move or be still and listen as they delve into private thoughts and collective awareness. Visitors have access to short audio interviews using their own phones or by reading a printed text to access the story for each object. A longer video of the interviews is projected on the gallery wall outside of the architectural structure and also plays on a laptop in the cavity of the vintage desk.

Over the past several years, Lackey and Lehn have interviewed close to 70 individuals who responded to public calls asking them to bring an object that has been meaningful over time. In 20 minute private interviews, each person answered questions about their object and what they have learned from it. A selection of 32 objects and edited interviews are sequenced throughout the 2020 installation.

Seat of Learning is a collaboration between Jane Lackey and Thomas Lehn with help from volunteers and assistants.

Jane Lackey is a visual artist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A leader in the field of contemporary fiber, she uses multiple processes, surfaces and mark making systems to summon invisible aspects of identity and connection. She makes artwork that is inspired by the chemistry of physical sensation, reductive qualities of mapping and durational experience.

Thomas Lehn is an architectural designer, furniture designer and maker with experience producing both large scale and intimate environments using multidisciplinary solutions. Lehn’s focus is on processional, spatial sequences that unfold through close attention to detail, movement, light and user interface. 

Featured in the Marie Walsh Sharpe Gallery of Contemporary Art at Ent Center for the Arts, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Seat of Learning opened the evening of Feb 27 and continues through July 18, 2020.