Phoebe Washburn
Sacred Love (call me by my tool name)
A commissioned site-specific installation, 2026
Exhibition dates: June 4, 2026 – May 31st, 2027
Sacred Love (call me by my tool name) is a site-specific installation that was conceived in the artist’s studio in New York City and will resolve over several days at The Mill in Westport, NY. For this project, Washburn repeats the actions that she has revisited for over 20 years, organizing her scavenged and stored building materials into new structures and assemblages. Spanning across two galleries, playful, ridiculous, and inefficient systems will tread the fine line between control and chaos as Washburn attempts to harness the energy of her creation. Akin to a poem in process, the work will become as it is created, pushing through the tension of trying to find the right words, until the mind opens up and Washburn finds herself making poetry with the material. As a sculptural organism, Sacred Love (call me by my tool name) will become a living embodiment of Washburn’s process, activated by the sounds of her working in concordance with the radio sounds that have conditioned her practice. The title Sacred Love references the Bad Brains song of the same name; at the time of its recording in 1986, the frontman H.R. was incarcerated and “dialed in” the vocals to the song while on a collect call to his bandmates in the studio. Similarly, Washburn will remotely revisit Sacred Love(call me by my tool name) each month to swap out audible elements by mail, transforming the project over the course of its exhibition.
Phoebe Washburn (b. 1973) received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts. Washburn’s solo shows include exhibitions at the Kunsthallen Brandts, Odense, Denmark; National Academy Museum, New York, NY; Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany; Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Germany; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; and the UCLA Hammer Museum in Los Angeles among others. She was included in the 2008 Whitney Biennial and Greater New York 2005. She has participated in group shows at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; The Kemper Museum, Kansas City, MO; Sculpture Center, Long Island City, NY; and the Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY; among others. Her work is in the collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY and UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA. Phoebe Washburn is represented by Marinaro Gallery in New York.