Settings: Artist Research- Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons
New Hoover Qadraflex, New Hoover Convertible, New Hoover Dimension 900, New Hoover Dimensions 1000 Doubledecker
1981-1986
Four vacuum cleaners, acrylic, fluorescent lights
248.9 x 133.4 x 71.1 cm

http://www.jeffkoons.com/sites/default/files/styles/380x_height/public/artwork-images/new23_sm.jpg?itok=GhUuoQB2

I chose to include this work by Jeff Koons within my artist research as I was compelled to the way that he took an object that society views in a particular way and changed its context and meaning. In this case he has taken Hoover vacuum cleaners and contextualised them until they are no longer ordinary. Through encasing these vacuum cleaners in perspex he is insinuating that a product designed to clean dirt would remain eternally untouched and clean, rendering ultimately useless, and essentially removing the 'machine' from it. The vacuum cleaners are positioned within the perspex in such a powerful and mighty way; they are flaunting their brand names and acting as high quality objects. They gleam under the fluorescent lighting of the gallery and have a sense of 'newness' about them that makes them so appealing. His work causes me to think about the themes of consumerism, desire and eroticism, branding, media, class roles, and the dichotomy between popular taste and high art. Koons follows Duchampian values through his appropriating an art status to particular objects, in this case the vacuum cleaners. His art can be seen as a parody to a select American culture that has an enormous appetite for glamorous commodities. 

He is making conceptual art; exploring the way that fantasies and desires are transferred onto ordinary objects by placing them within a gallery context and making them inaccessible. They are suspended in a state of perfection, a state that would be destroyed if they were ever to be turned on. 

I feel as though the work is open to many interpretations. Many people have issues with Jeff Koons' work and find that they cannot see any point of what he is doing. I do, however, feel that these works are open to perspective and that this the beauty of them. I am drawn to the fact that the work's impact on the physical presence by creating such a clear divide between themselves and the viewer. They give the sense that you can look at them but not touch them. It is an odd feeling as the objects within the case are ones that would be otherwise accessible to the viewer. I also find it interesting to note that the viewer might potentially have the same object in their homes. 

This is one particular work by Jeff Koons that I can really appreciate. I would not change anything about it. 

Settings: Artist Research- Louise Lawler

Louise Lawler
Well Being
1986
Framed Cibachrome print, paint, label
Dimensions variable

https://www.mcasd.org/artists/louise-lawler

This work by Lawler takes the art label, an interpretation aid placed beside an artwork in a gallery or museum, and centres it as a focal point of the installation.  The placement of the label to the side of an artwork would cause one to assume that it is referring to the work beside it, however the label is rather referring to the wall upon which the artworks hang. The sections of colour on the wall are representational of money invested in health research and money invested in military research. Through doing so she is directly anchoring the artworks with her political outlook. The works are thus trapped in their affluent setting and almost lose their power.

The way that the work has been set up is very interesting. The artist is alluding to the fact that a work may be muted by its context. Be it institutional or private, she argues that a work of art cannot be seen independently from its surroundings and that it is ultimately bound to its context. Therefore, by painting the meanings that she wants to be explored directly onto the walls she is unambiguously demonstrating the power of the gallery walls in cementing the meaning value and meaning of a work. The walls that so powerfully create a context for a piece, are working to question this idea and retract from the works themselves.

The bright colours of the wall work exceptionally well to grab the viewer's attention. The distance between the framed paintings and the art label works effectively in that it is far enough away from the painting to cause me to question its distance and want to read it. However, I do think the work is only effective if the viewer takes time to read the art label. If the label is not read and the work is simply glanced at the entire piece will hold a completely different message. It will simply appear as if the works are being arranged in a different set up and the viewer might completely miss the meaning of the work altogether.

The same issue might be prevalent with the installation that we are working towards in our group for Settings. If the viewer does not stop to listen to the audioclip the meaning behind the work will not be conveyed properly. However, even if the viewer does not listen to the audio clip but views the paintings hanging in the space and questions their presence that would be enough for me to deem that the work was successful in exploring the ideas we have intended.

I like the idea that a visitor to the gallery might view this work as it is, without reading the label and understanding the artist's intention, before visiting it again and spending more time interpreting it. I find it to be interesting that a viewer might hold a certain interpretation of a work for a period of time before that interpretation is questioned by themselves. For this reason, I do not think that there is anything that I would change about the work.

Exhibition Sittings: Khaled Sabsabi

Khaled Sabsabi at Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum

Photo taken at the exhibition

Photo taken at the exhibition

Video taken at the exhibition

I found this work to be very interesting, particularly based on the fact that backgammon is a game played quite often in my household based on my Iranian background. The work is a projection of 6 games of backgammon onto one table. The table is accompanied by two leather seats. I sat down and watched the hands moving and the dies rolling. I loved the way that the game was happening on the table in front of me and I could see and hear it but it was not really there. The hands are entering the view from all angles and sliding the checkers across the board, throwing the dice  in a whirlwind of motion. The film plays on a loop and projection is constantly in motion. The game is dependant on chance and strategy equally and could act as a metaphor for the complex relationship between the countries that make up the Middle East. It is, however, very easy to imagine different interpretations of the work. One could see it as a representation of play within adults or as an exploration of competition within the human condition. I, myself, interpreted it as a common ground of peace between conflict; almost a truce of commonality for the brief duration of the game. This peace between potential enemies could be extended by challenging the opponent over and over, causing the conflict to be put aside for. 

I like the way that the work invites you into it. The seats to the side of the table are inviting and the eyes are drawing to the table top. The viewer is suddenly interacting with the piece without really intending on doing so. It is also quite difficult to discern when the clip has gotten to the end and looped based on the fast nature of the games that are being played, this means that the viewer might find themselves sitting and observing for a number of loops rather than just one. I found that the seats played an important role in my interaction with the work. I was able to sit down and then completely concentrate on what was in front of me. Had the chairs not been placed down, the same environment would not have been created and I would have been less inclined to observe the work for as long as I did. The artist had indeed created an environment by the way that the work was presented to the viewer. It felt separate to the rest of the works within the gallery based on the way that he had created a new, inclusive space.

I would have liked to have seen the work in a smaller space that housed the work on its own. I thought this would be beneficial to the work as it would strengthen the feeling of inclusion and create an environment within which viewing the work was intimate and personal. I did, however, feel that the work was appropriate within the wider context of the gallery space; the majority of the backgammon games that I have played have taken place at busy family gatherings and I can imagine that the viewing the work within a busy gallery would have replicated the same feeling. 

Settings: Artist Research- Peter Fischli and David Weiss

Peter Fischli and David Weiss
Untitled Work
1992
Polyurethane objects

Photo sourced from the Tate

This work by Fischli and Weiss is similar to the work by Thomas Demand where the viewer is forced to challenge what they think they are seeing. The installation was only viewable from a glass window on a locked door and so the viewer was limited in terms of how they were able to interact with it. The installation appears to be a storage unit or some sort of caretakers room filled with everyday objects such as buckets, tyres, furniture, masking tape, cigarette packets, paintbrushes, and other utensils that might be found within an art studio. The objects within it, however, are highly realistic replicas made from carved and painted polyurethane. 

The viewer may potentially look at this work and dismiss it based on the assumption that it is just items in a room, without realising that it is in fact something different to what the had assumed it to be. I find this to be such an interesting aspect that can be explored within installation art. I am drawn to the idea that an artist can cause a viewer to be sure of themselves and doubt themselves so interchangeably; that a viewer will potentially question their instincts when looking at a work. This notion is important as it follows the same values that were at play in Marcel Duchamp's works. The items within this work are, however, precise replicas of objects from the everyday. The viewer is given the opportunity to undergo a discovery that encourages them to look at their surroundings in a fresh way. Fischli speaks of the objects within the installation:

Perhaps our carved objects have more of an affinity with painted still lifes. In the case of Duchamp the concept of objets trouvés, or ‘found objects’, is important, whereas we try to create objects. Duchamp’s objects could revert back to everyday life at any point in time. Our objects can’t do that, they’re only there to be contemplated. They’re all objects from the world of utility and function, but they’ve become utterly useless. You can’t sit on the chairs we carve. They are, to put it simply, freed from the slavery of their utility. Nothing else is left other than to look at this chair. What else can you do with it?

(Fischli in Fleck, Söntgen and Danto 2005, p.22.)

This work is an example of a piece that forces the viewer to understand art in a different way; art should question and challenge the viewer rather than just appeal to the eye. This is especially relevant in the way that this piece is exhibited. Having a room within a gallery that is accessible to the viewer through only a window on a door, and furthermore a room that is so void of structure and organisation, is very important to the work; it is exploring the idea of the gallery as a place of order and high art. The window being the point of access is also very important in terms of the way that the audience is able to view the work; only a number of people would be able to do so at a time and would only be able to do so for a certain amount of time depending on the size of the potential audience. This would work to limit the viewing time which would cause the viewer to rely more on their instincts when interpreting the work. 

If I were creating this work I think that I would position the window so that the audience would have to alter their standing position to be able to see inside. I like the idea that the viewer would have to sacrifice their normal position to have access to the work. 

Robert Fleck, Beate Söntgen and Arthur C. Danto, Peter Fischli David Weiss, London 2005, pp.19, 22, 66, 136, 138–9, reproduced pp.20–1, 23, 124.

Nicolas de Oliveira, Nicola Oxley, Michael Petry, and Michael Archer, eds. 2004. Installation Art. 1. paperback ed., reprinted. London: Thames & Hudson, pp. 172

Settings: Artist Research- Thomas Demand

Thomas Demand
Büro (Office)
1996
Colour Print - Diasex perspex
183.5 x 20 cm

Photo sourced from Thomas Demand

Thomas Demand creates scenes from paper and photographs them, giving the viewer a deceptive idea of reality. When I look at these photographs I have two contrasting ideas, that the photos look convincingly real, or that the seem strangely artificial. He is recreating an image into a scene which then becomes an image in itself. It gives the sense that the work exists in a realm that I am not apart of 

I like the fact that the materials of this work are listed as being a photograph print, as if the artist only wanted the work to exist in the frame of the photograph. This gives his work a very ephemeral quality and sense of temperance. I can relate to this idea when thinking about the work that we are planning for the Settings installation. The work will exist in the space for only a short time and would then exist only in documentation form. I am drawn to the way that Demand has created the entire scene out of paper, he is forcing the viewer to question what they are seeing when they look at the photograph. In a sense, the space that he is showing is completely constructed by himself, giving him the power to destroy it as he pleases.

The work is interesting in the way that the artist has taken an object, paper, and created forms from it that are not generally linked to it. The paper is thus given a new life, it can be seen as a form of construction to create something that appears to be not only solid, but permanent in the sense that it will exist in the photograph forever. The work forces the viewer to challenge what they are seeing rather than simply taking it for face value. I think this is an important thing to be aware of when we are creating our own installation for the Settings project as we want the viewer to look at something and be open to the idea that it may be different to what they had originally perceived it to be. 

Settings: Artist Research- Ilya Kabakov

Ilya Kabakov
Two Walls of Fear

Photo sourced from D. James D

Ilya Kabakov is an artist who has really explored ideas about what constitutes an artwork and how the environment that it is presented in affects the way that it is viewed.

She argues that ' any installation is incredibly, impossibly sensitive to the place where it is constructed' (millennium 80). This idea is explored in her work Two Walls of Fear. The installation is built onto the former site of the Berlin Wall and consists of two parallel wooden structures representing the Eastern and Western Walls. These walls housed rubbish that the artist had found in the prewar heart of berlin (now deserted). The rubbish, suspended from the walls using wire, are presented to the viewer as artworks, accompanied by white art labels containing commentary in both German and English.

I think this work is interesting because I found that my interpretations were constantly changing and evolving. I found myself switching between feeling as though the artist wanted to glorify the rubbish, and that the recreation of the wall in a temporary material such as wood was exploring the temporary nature of conflict and its uselessness to the progression of society. I equated the rubbish with the wall and saw them as one entity; ultimately deciding that the installation, to me, meant that the Berlin Wall was the rubbish of society.

The work is powerful in a number of ways. Kabakov is presenting to the viewer the idea that the site of the work makes the work. This piece would not have had quite the same message if it was installed within a gallery. The viewer gets a sense of history and ideology by being within the site and viewing the work. A connection is formed between the work and the site, one that is almost concreted and thus not be able to be replicated within another space.

The presentation of the work within the space is very effective. I like the way that the rubbish has been hung from the wires rather than being presented on plinths or in frames. The wires give me a sense of movement, as if the pieces of rubbish are flying around. I feel as though viewing the work in person would be very emotional; to be physically within the wall structures and surrounded by the pieces of rubbish would feel encompassing and inhibiting. The commentary on the art labels might make the viewer feel uncomfortable within the space.

If I was making this space I would have liked to have carved the commentary into the wooden walls. This would have referenced the messages that were graffitied onto the Berlin Wall while it was standing. I can, however, understand why the commentary was written on art labels; the labels challenged the idea that an object can be considered an artwork based on its presentation.

Settings: Artist Research- Mike Kelly

Mike Kelly

Craft Morphology Flow Chart

1991
Croctchet dolls, tables, prints
Dimensions variable

Image sourced from the Tate website

Within this work Mark Kelley explores some aspects of the ideas that we are wanting to raise within our own installation piece for the course. Kelley's work presents the viewer with a series of card tables and banquet tables upon which he has placed both sewn and crocheted dolls - items that would generally be presented at craft fairs rather than in gallery format. His positioning of these items into the gallery is challenging the idea that an object is legitimised as a piece of art once it enters this type of space. On the walls of the gallery are images of the dolls- measured and inspected. This aspect of the installation gives it a more clinical feel, as if the doll is an object of examination within a laboratory.

The aspect of this work that I find to be the most interesting is not only the way that Kelley is challenging the gallery as a definer of art, but the way that he has chosen an item that is generally considered 'craft' as the object to do so with. Had he chosen to use an everyday object such as a broom or a teapot the issues raised would not have been as strong. This forces the viewer to think about the 'art vs craft' dichotomy and presents a platform in which they could potentially merge.

The way that the work utilises the space is interesting. A number of the tables contain groups of dolls whilst others contain only one or two.  This loosely structured format, where the dolls are simply propped onto the tables without any sort of logic, further adds to the hypothesis that the simple existence of these items within the space makes the art, without having to even present them in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

Had I been the artist creating this work I think I may have included other items that are also considered very kitsch and crafty; potentially tea-cosies and lace doilies. I feel as though a variety of objects would have been effective in strengthening the art-craft dichotomy.

It is important to think about the way that the audience would respond to this work. Would a person who was not as familiar with the arts interpret the work differently to someone more involved? I think this is a work that could potentially bring up the dialogue of "anything is considered art."

I think the positioning of this work within a gallery would not only alter a viewer's perspective of this particular work but would also then extend to other works within the gallery. The work suggests that the gallery walls do not define art and thus a viewer's perception of other pieces within the gallery may be altered. They might find that they are more skeptical when looking at works within institutional spaces.

Settings: Artist Research- Sharon Kivland and Ben Hillwood-Harris

Artist research
Sharon Kivland and Ben Hillwood-Harris
The Abandonment of Origins



This work was similar to that of Mark Kelley. The artists placed reconstructions of found artefacts on a series of white plinths within the Mappin Art Gallery. The objects were accompanied by drawings of their structure and of the 'strata' upon which they were found. The work explored the idea of the the fictitious nature of cultural history and the way that the existence of the works within the gallery walls defined them as art and automatically empowered them with a sense of value, meaning, and cultural worth.

I had trouble finding information about this work. I wonder if the viewer was told that the objects on the plinths were reconstructions of found artefacts and not the genuine artefacts themselves. If the work gave an explanation as to the origin of the artefacts the viewer would be more inclined to understand the issues that the work is raising. If not, the viewer might just assume that the objects are of historical and cultural value without question. In either of these cases the response would be interesting.

The way that the artists has utilised the space is very effective. The placement of the objects onto the series of plinths gives an air of importance and value. This works to strengthen the idea that the environment surrounding an object can define its worth. Additionally, the general presentation of works of value of this nature are done so on a plinth; the structure of which elevates an object, literally and figuratively.

Based on the little information I could find regarding this piece it is difficult to say whether there are aspects of it that I would change. I would certainly find value in allowing the viewer to assume the objects on show are of high cultural and historical worth but would have a text near the exit explaining the origins of the pieces. I like the idea that the individual views the work under a certain pretence before being advised of the reality; allowing them to realises the effect that the gallery environment has on their views.

Settings: Artist Research- Martha Fleming and Lyne Lapointe

Martha Fleming and Lyne Lapointe
La Donna Delinquenta
1987

Photo sourced from Martha Fleming

Photo sourced from Marth Fleming

These artists choose abandoned or forgotten sites for all of their installations to be set up in. They do so based on the fact that the buildings are charged with meaning; social, emotional, ideological, and economical. For the work La Donna Delinquenta (1987) that took place in Montreal, Canada the artists chose to use a space within a theatre that had been abandoned for 20 years.

The works itself explored representations of women and the title, having been taken from a text from the nineteenth century, describing the innate criminality of the female gender, forced the viewer to view the work with that mindset.

The thing that I found so interesting about the works by these artists was that they were placing them in an environment that they knew would play so heavily in the viewing of the work itself. The environment would create a dialogue with the viewer, the installation would create a dialogue with the viewer, and the installation within the environment would create a dialogue with the viewer.

On the artist's website I found this quote:

In our projects for and with abandoned buildings, we work with the complex psychic fabric left as a kind of palimpsest or veneer on the structure itself. The material which we manipulate is in fact not so much the building per se as its psychic history, which is of course the thread that weaves buildings into and out of a living and magnetically contradictory social history mapped out onto the urban fabric. Every building is a memory theatre and retains a psychic and emotional aura gleaned from the passage of all those who may have come between its walls, and this elastic umbilicus is firmly anchored in the memory which those people retain of their passage. A boarded-up building is an embodiment of the unconscious. It is also a reminder of the failure of capitalism. The projects themselves, in lifting the veil on these buildings and the denied unconscious inside them, create an unforgettable punctum in the urban narrative. They are sites of the possible.  Armed only with a conviction of the primacy of our shared psychic experience of space, without any tool or intent to construct, without the will or the capacity to puncture and alter, to restore or recycle, we briefly inhabit, reinvest with social meaning, and render accessible to a large public abandoned buildings which resonate within their communities; involving ourselves, the buildings, and these communities in a discursive activity which fuses our experience of mediated space with other complexly related social issues. 

This is so interesting to read considering the installation that my group and I are preparing for. When I think about the spaces in the city I think of 2 types of spaces; utilised and abandoned. The space that we have chosen is interesting because it is located within a section of the city where the rest of the spaces are utilised. It is a space that has somehow seemingly become abandoned whilst being surrounded by functional spaces. This gives a meaning to the space; it is representative of the way a city can be fast-paced and unforgiving, that if you do not keep up then you will be left behind. I like this idea a lot. 

The artist discusses the way that they use the buildings within the works:

Armed only with a conviction of the primacy of our shared psychic experience of space, without any tool or intent to construct, without the will or the capacity to puncture and alter, to restore or recycle, we briefly inhabit, reinvest with social meaning, and render accessible to a large public abandoned buildings which resonate within their communities; involving ourselves, the buildings, and these communities in a discursive activity which fuses our experience of mediated space with other complexly related social issues.

I am drawn to the way that the artist describes the use of the space. They are temporary inhabitants, there to invest into their works social meaning and context, to give the viewer a opportunity to venture into these spaces that they would otherwise not. Thinking about our installation I find this notion interesting particularly as the space can be seen in clear view from the street but is hardly accessed. The installation draws people into the space, one that they may have passed by dozens of times, and allows them to experience it from the other side of the fence, an experience that I myself found completely different to just looking in from the outside. 

I can really appreciate the ideas that these artists had regarding their choice to install their works within these abandoned spaces and find that their notions of space and interpretations as a result of it are extremely important. 

Quotes sourced from
Martha Fleming. 2014. http://www.marthafleming.net/la-donna-delinquenta/

Exhibition Sittings: Ignas Krunglevicius

Ignas Krunglevicius at Art Gallery of South Australia
Interrogation
2009
Two Channel Video Installation
13 mins

Photo taken at the exhibition

Photo sourced from Ignas Krunglevicius

Clip from Sydney Biennale

I have viewed this work at the Art Gallery of South Australia three times since it has been on view; there is something that I find very compelling about it. The work is based on a transcript from an interrogation with a woman who allegedly killed her husband with his own gun. The video work condenses all of the information into plain white text on a black background that systematically changes to red or blue, giving the viewer a sense of the woman's mood. The two sides of the conversation are depicted on corresponding walls, the interrogators to the left and the woman's to the right. The minimalist nature of the work is accompanied by a very simple electronic soundtrack; all of these elements work quietly to built a feeling of tension and apprehension about the unknown. The viewer finds themselves trespassing on a conversation of which the complex psychological exchanges demands that every single word spoken counts, every hesitation and second of silence are crucial to the conversation. The piece, however, ends without a resolution and challenged me to ponder on what the artist was trying to achieve; he was not concerned with the specifics of this particular murder case but rather with the idea of power and the psychology behind it. The work explores the way that language can be used and abused to to coerce and manipulate.

The work is open to interpretation, based on the way that it ends, in particular. The artist's intention is unclear, he is simply presenting the viewer with a tense scene reduced to its very basic core. I found myself thinking about it so much that I had to return again to experience it for a second time. This time I was more aware of the way that the music was synchronised with each word and that the font size of the woman's text was slightly larger than that of the man. The work raised my sense of awareness, it forced a feeling of suspicion over me and made me feel tense. The work demonstrated to me how simple elements could be combined to have an effect on the viewer in quite a strong way. It showed how intrigue could demand the viewer to stay and really experience the work for its full duration. It also demonstrated that an effective work does not need to be fully resolved.

The video installation was very effective within the space. I liked the way that the two sides of the conversation were shown on a split screen to walls meeting at the right angle to one another. It demonstrated a divide between the woman and the interrogator. The seats for the viewers created a square with the two walls involved. The way that I was sitting, against the wall, really did make me feel like a fly on the wall to a conversation I shouldn't be listening to.

The one thing that I did notice was that there was a spelling mistake on one of the screen texts. The 'where' should have been a 'were'. This did work to break my concentration a little. I was unsure if this was intentional or not, if the word 'where' had been written on the original transcript or if it was a mistake by the artist. I am unsure, however, if I would change it. I liked the way that it distracted me from the conversation for a brief moment, in the same way that could actually happen in a real life conversation. I also felt as though the spelling error reminded me that I was, in fact, simply a viewer and ultimately disconnected from the conversation, viewing its transcript rather than the actual interrogation. 


I also found this piece of writing by Theodor Barth about the work that I found quite interesting:

INTERROGATION

1. The video interrogation of artist Ignas Krunglevicius could be precisely described as a forgetting device: forgetful of the recording and forgetful of a found document (a real murder interrogation in text).
2. It would therefore be wrong to understand interrogation as a quoting-device. The device is the interrogation. It comes in a split screen, as though the viewer’s cerebral hemispheres are being addressed separately. This is the container.
3. At the level of contents, there is this really weird conversation – called interrogation – that doesn’t really take place, but is installed inside the viewer’s brain. There is no slippage. The surface is completely clean.
4. The structure of the container/content device is simple: the text featuring the interrogator’s meandering questions are to the left on the rectangular screen, while the curt answers of the perpetrator are to the right (always in larger Helvetica type).
5. But this is a lure. The exchange featuring in the inter-changing sequence of white type is as much about the darkness behind. The stretched rectangular screen could be a burst generator covering the eyes of a suspect, or a prisoner.
6. During the interrogation, the suspect makes herself known (Mary Kovic). The interrogator is Robert John. The interrogation is not conducted in quest of names, but rather homes in on a mental disturbance of sorts, or a psychological condition.
7. It is at this exact point at which the interrogation starts working as a device, and eschews the video recording: the music played to intensify the exchange is accurately synchronised. Delays in the suspect’s answers feature in occasional red, white and blue impulses (a tricolour).
8. The synchronicity of text and music is the disturbance. In a normal person words are neurologically slower than sense intelligence. Their function – it has been argued – is to censor impulses (Libet). Not so here.
9. In the scholarly text that Ignas Krunglevicius has joined to the device, the diagnostic that corresponds to above condition has been censured. Or, alternatively, left vacant (as yet another symptom belonging to the same syndrome).
10. But this is a lure: or a placeholder, in the language of computing. Whoever occupies the place – for no other reason that it is vacant – becomes at once available to an endless and extremely destructive manipulative series.

http://krunglevicius.com/2/interrogation/

Exhibition Sittings: Bill Viola

Bill Viola at Art Gallery of South Australia

 The Encounter, 2012 colour HD video on plasma display mounted on wall 19.19 mins Performers: Genevieve Anderson, Joan Chodorow photo: Kira Perov 

Fire Woman by Bill Viola. Photo: Kira Perov

The Bill Viola exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia was extremely eye-opening in that I was familiar with the video works of the artist but had never actually experienced them in person. I found that the video works were able to capture and hold my attention for extended periods of time whilst actually doing very little. The work that I found most interesting was the work The Encounter. This piece featured two women, one older and one younger, walking across a desert plain toward the camera. They do not interact with one another until they reach the foreground and then switch sides before walking away, back towards where they had initially begun. I was struck by the sense of presence of the work. It quietly demanded attention and suggested notions of the passage of time, family relationships, and growing older. I think that this work is incredibly open to interpretation, not directly in the actual work itself but purely in the sense of where the viewer is taken by the piece. The intention of the work may be to do just that, to simply transport the viewer to a place within his own mind. I found that as I was watching the two women slowly approach the camera my mind wandered and I thought of my own personal relationships and directions in life. I think for the purpose of intention the artist allowed an openness for perspective and thought process within the audience.

I found this work very important in terms of what it was able to do. In my day to day busy life of routine I found myself in a quiet interaction with a video, the length of which I was unaware. This, however, was not a concern. I felt as though the work brought a stillness with it that was so powerful and I felt as though time was no relative. This is an interesting and powerful aspect of all of the works that were in this exhibition; if the video had already appeared to be halfway through I felt the urge to wait until it started again and watch the whole thing, even if I was able to correctly assume what had happened so far.

The space in which the works were exhibited were taken over by the works. The whole space was changed to a viewing station for these works. Most of the works took over one whole wall of the space and I found myself overwhelmed by the size of the gallery space; I wondered whether I had ever noticed the sheer size of the rooms in which these exhibitions were held. I liked the way that the work was able to force me to consider my surroundings. I particularly found it effective that the wall on which The Encounter was displayed was also displaying the work Walking on the Edge. The juxtaposition of these two works, side by side, worked to allow the viewer to deepen their interpretations of both works by comparison to one and the other. 

Viola, within these works, took interesting scenes of activity or what seemed to be inactivity and created an environment where the viewer felt compelled to be part of. I felt as though these works made me feel very insignificant in terms of my physical presence. The thing that I find very interesting about video work is that if the viewer is to walk in front of the projector the work will be displayed on their body. I found this extremely interesting in these works particularly; when members of the audience walked in and out of the rooms the works seemed to still be commanding and owning their presence by portraying onto their bodies.

These works are so powerful and I would have only changed the size of the gallery to have been able to house more within one exhibition. The works are spiritual, profound, intimate. They seem to be screaming silently, quiet in their noise. 

Exhibition Sittings: Gail Hocking

Gail Hocking (at FELTspace)
Shifting Terrains - A Quiet Disturbance
2014
Plaster, Latex
Dimensions variable

Photo taken at exhibition

Photo sourced from Gail Hocking

I again arrived late and missed the artist speak for the work by Gail Hocking and so went into the work without preconceived ideas on what the work was about. I found that this was a really important way for me to experience the work as I was able to find my own meaning within the work and interpret it without influence. I found the work to be extremely evocative and emotive, it gave me a feeling of longing and hope. I felt a sense of transition and hanging in the balance. When I read what the work was actually about I was surprised to see that I had not been so far off with my interpretation. The work was about the idea of migration, the known and the unknown, displacement, belonging, and being an insider or an outsider within a community. I did feel this when looking at the work. The use of the solid plaster against the semi transparent nylon helped to create this sensation of uncertainty.

The work was positioned within the space beautifully. The small number of pieces worked within the space as they allowed you to look at them in isolation from one another, while the size of the room was small enough to allow for the work to be viewed as a whole. I think this was an important aspect of the work as it allowed me to feel connected to it and experience a feeling of almost being part of the work whilst being present in the work. The most intense feeling that I received from the work was however a sense of quiet. The colour of the natural feeling walls (white) against the almost organic colours of the work were peaceful and calm, something that I felt was heightened by the fact that the work was in a room over from the Steven Cybulka work that gave me such a sense of harshness and unease. The works were hanging from the ceiling which added to the work and also impact on my physical presence as I became aware of the fact that we were doing opposite things. I think this was an important part of my interpretation of the piece because it really confirmed the fact that the artist was feeling different to the way that I felt being born in this country; she was hanging from the ceiling and I was protruding out of the earth. 

The work really does explore a sense of loss of identity and the idea of migration and the impacts that it has on the individual. The artist explored these ideas through the sculptural forms that, through their structure and the materials used, really resonated an instability and uncertainty of place. I liked every single bit about the work, there is nothing that I would change. 

Exhibition Sittings: Steven Cybulka

Steven Cybulka (at FELTspace)
2014
Like I'm Apart
Perspex, glass, spray paint, spray paint
Dimensions variable

Photo sourced from Steven Cybulka

Photo taken at the exhibition

Upon visiting this work I was late and missed the artist talk by a couple of minutes. This was beneficial to me as I was thus able to experience the space free from understanding of the artist's intent. I did find that the work would be open to interpretation in the sense that it combined elements that might resonate with each viewer in a different way. The light, mirrors, photographic pieces, perspex and space of the piece to me felt very constricting and harsh. I was conflicted between two responses to the work; a) I felt as though all of the elements within the space were placed there as a potential risk to me, and b) I felt as though the artist was reflecting me, the viewer, within the work. The work made the space seem smaller than it actually is and the high  number of viewers within the space added to this feeling. I felt as though I was suddenly very aware of my body in the sense that I wanted to be able to move through the space without disturbing the work; this proved to be quite challenging. I think that this was the most powerful aspect of the work. It made me not only aware of its elements in respect to the space, but also raised my aware of my own self in respect to both the space and its presence within it.

The work was interesting in that my presence affected its appearance. When walking past a section of light, my body would cause the shadow to change, ultimate changing the work. It was interesting to think about this in such an unnatural and 'made' environment; I found that upon leaving the space I was very aware of the way that my presence was altering the space around me when walking down the street to my car. I think that was the most important part of the work for me, the overwhelming sense of awareness of my physical presence and the way that it affects the environment that I am in. 

I think the positioning of the work within the space was effective in the sense that it forced the viewer to carefully move through it. Had the space been larger the work would not have been as effective in creating a sense of borderline claustrophobia and and a heightened sense of awareness. The abstract forms that protruded into space that might often be considered 'personal space' by viewer were effective in achieving this.

Based on my understanding of the piece I would interpret the work to be addressing the idea of art as the simple evocation of an emotion from a viewer. The space did not intend on doing anything other than cause the viewer to feel something, anything at all. Upon leaving the space I found it interesting to think about the way that the space may have felt comforting to some viewers whilst very aggressive to others. A viewer might find comfort in the darkness and the shadows whilst others might feel widly uncomfortable and on edge. I think the piece reaffirmed the sense that installation art can have the sole purpose of getting a response from the viewer. 

Although I did have reponses to the work there were sections of it that I thought I would have done different had I created the work. There were two areas within the installation where the light appeared to have been born out of the work and I thought those sections were particularly interesting and would have recreated that on different levels to give a sense of height to the work in the way of light. 

Aluminations Project: Final Setup

Aluminations Project

Upon returning to the space after one week I was surprised to find that the installation had remained largely untouched. There were 5 locks that had been broken to allow for individuals to gain access to their lockers but it was interesting to note that 4 of these seemed to have undergone an attempt to repair. One individual who was in the space at the time that I was observing the work seemed to have a moral dilemma regarding whether or not she should break the lock to gain access to her locker. Upon letting her know that the work was mine and that it was ok to tear the aluminium foil she was adamant that she would try and put it back as she had initially found it.

This was quite odd to see. It made me wonder whether the same reaction would have been had if the work had been set up in a space where the visitors were the general public, rather than art conscious visual art students. Would the work have been treated with the same level of delicacy? 

The moral dilemma is an important subject to address within this piece as it is the artwork directly influencing the viewer. In order to gain access to their personal space, they must break the foil and directly disturb or, in the eyes of the viewer, ruin the piece. I would be interested in watching the space to see the reactions to the work by the passersby. 

This is the only lock that was removed from the locker and left on the floor, all of the other locks remained in place, partly broken but with an attempt to be repaired.

I left the lock on the floor and scattered the leftover keys that I had made in front of the lockers. I felt that this added to the message that I was intending to give. 

The lockers in the studio room.

The keys attached to the existing locks worked to allow the viewer to also connect those with the work. The key seemingly counteracts the existing padlocks.

Apart from the keys scattered on the floor, it would actually be quite easy to pass by this work without noticing its presence.