Ursitti is intentionally mysterious about the
exhibit. She prefers that gallery goers experience A Big Stick of
Confidence without pre-conceived notions about the exhibit. “It’s like a
psychology experiment,” she explains. “You wouldn’t tell the volunteer
subject what is going to happen to them before they go into the
experiment as it colors their experience and ruins the experiment!”
A Big Stick of Confidence responds to the
unique space of the Esther Klein Gallery, and is informed by the time
Ursitti spent over the past year at the Monell Center, where she worked
with world-renowned olfactory scientists Pamela Dalton and George Preti.
Ursitti has been working with scent since the early 1990’s, and is
recognized as a pioneer in the area, creating pungent installations and
interventions. She is interested in non-verbal (chemical) communication,
the non-visual senses, speculative fiction and memory. Her work often
incorporates situation and context.
Ursitti has exhibited widely internationally
and has been the recipient of numerous awards including IASPIS
(International Artist Studio Programme in Sweden); Scottish Arts Council
Award; Wellcome Sci-Art Grant; Helen Chadwick Fellowship at the British
School at Rome and the Ruskin School, University of Oxford. She is
presently the recipient of a Canada Council Long Term Artist Grant, and
was included in the survey exhibition Generation: 25 Years of
Contemporary Art in Scotland. She is currently based in Glasgow,
Scotland where she is a lecturer at Glasgow School of Art. For more
information about Clara Ursitti, visit http://www.claraursitti.com.
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