Maddie McSweeney: Untitled (Jam) pt. 2

In Untitled (Jam) pt. 2, Maddie McSweeney transforms spectatorship into participation. Expanding upon an earlier durational performance, this installation invites visitors to step inside a constructed enclosure and consume jam within the space — shifting the dynamic from watching to being implicated.

The work centers containment, proximity, and the body as sites of tension and connection. Through a simple but visceral act, McSweeney heightens awareness of taste, gesture, vulnerability, and mutual presence. What appears playful or absurd gradually reveals deeper undercurrents: the pressures of observation, the instability of boundaries, and the emotional charge of shared space.

By reversing the gaze and redistributing agency, Untitled (Jam) pt. 2 examines collective intimacy and the subtle dysregulation that emerges when private experience becomes public exchange. The work asks participants not only to witness, but to cross a threshold — to consider how connection forms, where discomfort begins, and how the self exists within a greater whole.

“I enjoy activating simple forms, and I believe it is key to universal empathy. If I can bring people to a more observant and present state, I can cross their emotional boundaries. Then, a connection may be formed.” –Maddie McSweeney