In the 20th century, artists began to disassemble the notion of traditional sculpture by adding and subtracting constructions, incorporating found objects and designating everyday items as art. These adaptive and divergent methods of form making continue today in a generation of artists who define sculpture in the negative condition: not bronze, not stone, not the macho force of the blast furnace.

The materials in this exhibition encompass air, inflatable nylon, unfired clay and plastics bags – materials that have been co-opted for their versatility and their mutability between function and emotion. Some of the works in this exhibition require activation – such as electricity or inflation to become whole while others inhabit their softness quietly.

Soft Core investigates these practices by presenting existing works and newly commissioned works by a diversity of artists who question the fluctuating meaning of what it means to be soft.