Sarah Oppenheimer: S-337473

Experience the Wex in entirely new ways with S-337473, a newly commissioned work conceived specifically for the center’s unconventional architecture by category-defying artist Sarah Oppenheimer. Comprised of two large-scale, glass-and-metal structures anchored by a unique pivot mechanism—what the artist refers to as “switches”—S-337473 rotates at a 45-degree angle when activated by visitors. In response to your touch, thresholds turn into beams and columns become screens as they are reflected by the work’s surfaces. The exhibition space is reoriented around new axes, altering the flow of bodies and ricochet of sightlines through the built environment.

During her two years as a Wexner Center Artist Residency Award recipient, Oppenheimer collaborated with Ohio State’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering to develop the new, patent-pending pivot mechanism. Unlike the more familiar pivots embedded in conventional doors and windows, the rotational axis of S-337473 runs diagonally; the work’s surfaces rotate around this bias axis, creating a torqued transition between the center’s vertical and horizontal grids. Turning a familiar activity into a dynamic performance, S-337473 reorganizes the perceived limits of the center’s already-provocative architecture, transforming your procession through our galleries into an act of renewed and engaged navigation.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.