Swept Away: Dust, Ashes, and Dirt in Contemporary Art and Design

Swept Away: Dust, Ashes, and Dirt in Contemporary Art and Design was the first exhibition of its scope to examine the artistic potential of ephemeral materials as it showcased the work of 25 international artists who transform dust, ash, and dirt into intricate and poignantly beautiful installations, sculptures, paintings, photographs, and performances. The exhibition investigated how humble, overlooked, and discarded materials can be altered, manipulated, and recombined into works that address the transient nature of art and life, the quality and content of memory, loss and disintegration, and the detritus of human life.

Swept Away featured 34 works—13 of which were commissioned specifically for the exhibition—that were created through the collection, removal, and reconstitution of ephemeral matter, exposing, in many cases, the debris of human existence. The exhibition also included “live” installations that allowed museumgoers to interact with artists and their works.

Swept Away: Dust, Ashes, and Dirt in Contemporary Art and Design was part of a series of MAD exhibitions that include Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting (2007); Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary (2008); Slash: Paper Under the Knife (2009); Dead or Alive: Nature Becomes Art (2010); and Otherworldly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities (2011).

Swept Away: Dust, Ashes, and Dirt in Contemporary Art and Design was organized by the Museum of Arts and Design and curated by Chief Curator David Revere McFadden; it was supported in part by public funds from the Netherlands Cultural Services.

Swept Away was accompanied by a 136-page, fully illustrated catalog, which includes an essay by Chief Curator David McFadden. A complete set of artist biographies and statements along with images of the artists’ works.