Ms Modern Classical Conceptualist, or Their Shadows Obscured (Dramaturgical framework for structure and stability)
Ryan Gander
Life Story
This life-size figure, upscaled from an animator’s moveable desktop armature, stands looking up towards an abstract mobile, constructed from the same components as themselves, and suspended from the ceiling. This armature person, a study of the human form, is derived from a skeleton used by animators.
Armatures are highly engineered manmade constructions, developed with sole objectives of structure, stability and skeletal articulation. Gander writes that they are a zero point, a generic human form without identity or personality. Devoid of distraction, they enable us to investigate singular emotions and positions of power, individually, one at a time:
‘The two human traits that most fascinate me are empathy and humility. Both of these traits are tranquil forces. Humanitarian, positive and constructive, they also provide the subject with a sense of strength and resilience, whilst remaining optimistic and inclusive. Strength is often invisible, whilst power is often not. Similarly, strength is an adaptable and highly useful state, whereas power often is not. I live by this rule. The armature person is an extremely politicised work, but without any political motivation. They comment on the nature of power, without that power being for any given position. Hopefully, they remind us of all things symptomatic of the human condition. Birth, growth, emotionality, aspiration, conflict, and mortality; an avatar in which we see ourselves and are reminded of our own strengths, weaknesses, and indeed our own morality, humility and empathy.
The armature person is concerned with dramaturgical analysis – the study of social interaction in theatrical performance as defined by Erving Goffman in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1956). Life is a stage, and we are all aware that we are being watched and studied. I used to have a friend who worked in a quiet cafe bar who would imagine he was the subject of a TV show set around his existence, to pass the monotonous slow hours at work. He had worked out where all the cameras were positioned in the bar in his imagination, and the narrative around his existence. I am reminded of this when I see people waiting in public places alone. That there are multiple realities, multiple variations of the projection of the self; there are many of us, but many more when you account for all the individual interpretations of us.
I recently found out that this idea is similar to a metaphysical position called ‘Solipsism’ from the Latin solus, meaning ‘alone’, and ipse, meaning ‘self’. This position embraces the idea that the world and other minds do not exist, only the individuals, as if we are all living in a dream of our own construction.
The act of studying physical human action and interaction, sociology and anthropology is akin to the mastership of visual language and semiotics, they’re both preoccupied with codification of non-verbal communication. This is the heart of art.’
Ryan Gander, 2025
On display
Title/Description: Ms Modern Classical Conceptualist, or Their Shadows Obscured (Dramaturgical framework for structure and stability)
Artist/Maker: Ryan Gander
Born: 2025
Object Type: Sculpture
Materials: Aluminium, Brass, Plastic, Stainless Steel
Measurements: Figure approx: h. 1890 x w. 500 x d. 480 mm / Figure weight approx: 65 kg / Mobile approx: h. 3325 x w. 4620 x d. 4620 mm / Mobile weight approx: 107 kg
Accession Number: L.252
Historic Period: 21st century
Production Place: England
Copyright: © Ryan Gander; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery
Credit Line: Commissioned by the Sainsbury Centre, 2025
