Two Sites with a Similar Problem, entrance panel, 2019, ink on paper, 10 ft. x 10 ft. 
Two Sites with a Similar Problem, primary wall panel, detail, 2019, ink on paper, 8 ft. x 3 ft.
Two Sites with a Similar Problem, primary wall panel, 2019, ink on paper, 8 ft. x 24 ft. 
Two Sites with a Similar Problem, Sites A & B, 2019, ceramic, mixed media, size variable. 
Two Sites with a Similar Problem, Sites A (Forrest), 2019, fired ceramic, glaze, wood, steel, sandpaper, 4ft x 4 ft x 8 ft. 
Two Sites with a Similar Problem, Sites B (Roloff), 2019, fired ceramic, glaze, soil, wood, steel, foam core, glass, 5ft x 4 ft x 6 ft. 
Two Sites with a Similar Problem, Sites B (Roloff), detail, 2019, fired ceramic, glaze, soil, wood, steel, foam core, glass, 5ft x 4 ft x 6 ft. 
Two Sites with a Similar Problem, secondary wall panel, 2019, ink on paper, slate, 7 ft. x 20 ft.
John Roloff & Neil Forrest: Two Sites with a Similar Problem, 2019
Two Sites with a Similar Problem, is the fourth collaborative project by Neil Forrest and John Roloff. Created for NCECA 2019, installed in the Art and Architecture Library, College of Design, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. It is comprised of industrial print wall panels, and two ceramic assemblages: Site A by Neil, Site B by John. In this project we examine vestiges of modernist thought in architectural form, problematized and articulated by ceramic elements, embroiled in an archaeological/catastrophic story line. Here we invoke the presence of Prince, Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright and other walk-on characters. We put them in complex conundrums vis-a-vis their habitat, designs, ideologies and stardom. Our quest with “Two Sites..,” is to arrive at new narratives and morphologies for ceramic practice through poetic interpretations of mind/body/nature problematics with clay materials as agents of deconstruction and revelation. We have researched and engaged landscape, architecture and pop culture in an attempt to expand traditions and tendencies of ceramics defined as or by objects of a comfortable range of scale, aesthetic and context. Through the invention of fantastic interactions and the interplay of personalities, we attempt to script new narratives that show materials (clay, ceramics) are equal characters in our stories. In the current work, natural disaster functions as an unknown guest… like an unnamed Greek god, who intervenes, surprises and brings change.
