Scatter Terrain

The term “scatter terrain,” borrowed from role-playing and war games, refers to miniature fragments of architecture, natural features, or small props that provide a visual aid for players. Often conspicuously disjointed against an otherwise unadorned tabletop, these detailed, three-dimensional objects serve as cues to better envision larger, shared narrative of the game. During our recent Covid-induced seclusion, the idea of scatter terrain offered an appropriate metaphor for imagined adventure when real travel was prohibited, especially against a backdrop that sometimes felt featureless, repetitive, or isolating. This exhibition presents pockets of “terrain” – peculiar landscapes, architectural gestures, intimate domestic corners – as a metaphorical means of escape from the pandemic and connection to those who are faraway. This selection of artists at first reflects a collective and sometimes oblique response to the pandemic. Several art objects were created when most of us were still sheltering at home, and these artists articulated their anxieties and awareness of their limited domestic spaces through their works. Now, as many of us are still struggling to redefine a “normal” world, the works shown here may be seen in relation to other fractures and traumas in our environment. For instance, the invented landscapes and abstracted spaces echo our concerns about the ongoing climate crisis. Because some of the artists depict terrains that defiantly resist conventional illustrations of sublime, pristine nature, the works might be seen as fantastical dystopias. Other artists tackle issues of personal and political identity to question the notion of belonging, within a persistent, and perhaps increasingly hostile world. What started as a call for disparate glimpses into distant lives and locations is now shifting toward a realization that our communal sense of place is still marked by a reckoning with an ailing world and an urgent need for new perspectives.

Dan Rule, Magic Mountain (detail), 2020, animation, 10 minutes

Featuring Artists

• Avye Alexandres
• Chad Andrews
• Sarah Aziz
• Jackie Brown
• Stefani Byrd
• Zoë Charlton
• Locus Xiaotong Chen
• Sarah Crofts
• Jason Cytaki
• Jon Duff
• Jason Ferguson
• Els Geelen
• Stephen Grossman
• Stacy Isenbarger
• Leekyung Kang
• Heather Leier
• Julia Matejcek
• Ryan Sarah Murphy
• Sarah Nance
• Ken Reker
• Dan Rule
• Samantha Sanders
• Stephanie Serpick
• Casey Jex Smith
• Chloe Wilwerding

For more information, please contact Jonathan Duff at jduff@adelphi.edu.