About the work

Amalia Pica and 6a architects have collaborated to create an edition for Whitechapel Gallery entitled Equal Footing, 2019

Equal Footing is an extension of their recent collaboration ‘Enclosure’, commissioned for the Whitechapel Gallery exhibition ‘Is This Tomorrow?’ 2019. ‘Enclosure’ comprised an off-the-shelf sheep management system and objects designed by humans for animals, to keep them entertained while in captivity. The collaboration investigated objects that resonate on a broader horizon, which is less human-focused. In order to highlight our interdependence with animals, a rejection of our anthropomorphic age in favour of recognising humans as part of a global ecology.

For this edition, Amalia Pica and 6a architects have created a series of twenty unique hanging sculptures. Each work comprises two brightly coloured ceramic objects, resembling dog toys, strung from a wooden hook. The title ‘Equal Footing’ implies a balance, both formally and of power between collaborators and also species. However the ‘toys’ are playfully imbalanced and comically fragile. 

About the artist

Amalia Pica (b. 1978, Argentina; lives in London, UK) uses sculpture, installation, photography, live performance and drawing to explore the nuances of communication and the various forms that verbal or non-verbal exchange may take.

6a architects was established in 2001, London, UK, by Tom Emerson (b. 1970, France) and Stephanie McDonald (b. 1966, UK) combines a culture of making and innovation with humanity and playfulness in its contemporary art galleries, educational buildings, artists’ studios and residential projects.  The practice is currently completing projects in Melbourne, New York and Hamburg. Tom Emerson is professor of architecture at ETH Zurich and in 2018 was awarded the Conrad Ferdinand Meyer Prize. Stephanie Macdonald was nominated for Women in Architecture Award 2018.

Selected Exhibitions

Amalia Pica's recent solo exhibitions include please open hurry, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, 2018; (un)heard, Cc Foundation, Shanghai, 2018; ears to speak of, The Power Plant, Toronto, 2017; A un brazo de distancia, NC Arte, Bogotá , 2017; Asamble (performance), Solomon R.Guggenheim  Museum, New York, 2017; and A ∩ B ∩ C (line), Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 2014. Recent group exhibitions include Darbyshire, Gander, Pica, Starling, Hayward Gallery, London, 2018; Double Edge, Folkestone Triennial, 2017; Un Nouveau festival / Expanding the Field of Play, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2015; Adventures of the Black Square, Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2015 as well as the 12th Shanghai Biennial, 2018; Manifesta 11, Zurich, 2016; and 11th Gwangju Biennale, 2016.

6a architects recent projects include the new MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, and the South London Gallery Fire Station; Cowan Court, a sixty-eight-room hall of residence at Churchill College, Cambridge; and new photography studios for Juergen Teller, shortlisted for the Stirling Prize in 2017.