Installation Project

Installation art, to me, interacts with its environment in some way. Perhaps the artwork can be transferred to a different space, perhaps not. Either way, it defines whatever space it is in, and cannot simply be plopped in a new space without altering the environment. I don't think there is really any limitation of art materials when it comes to installation art. Typically, one would be working with 3-dimensional materials, but I don't think this has to be the case. A wall drawing, for instance, would be installation art, for it interacts with and is specific to a certain space. Or, installation art can be a projected video, which requires very little materials in the gallery.

What sets installation art apart from other forms of art is that it not only personalizes a space, but it often personalizes the relationship between the artwork and the viewer as well. While a painting may present the viewer with a picture of the world, installation art brings that world right to the viewer. In Richard Wilson's 20:50, he instead doubles the environment that the viewer is already in. The waist-high oil-filled room perfectly reflects the ceiling above, giving the room the appearance of being twice as large, with a lower floor visible underneath where the viewer stands. I think this was my favorite of the installation artists we saw, for it was the simplest idea, but drastically transformed the room. I like how quiet it is, allowing the viewer to ponder it at his/her own speed.

For my own installation project, I suppose I was most inspired by 20:50 and Andy Goldsworthy's Reconstructing Icicles, Dumfriesshire. I liked the contemplative nature of the former, and I liked the ephemerality of Goldworths's melting icicles. I also admired how he interacted with nature and made the artwork itself out of natural materials. The theme I explored was labeled in the text as "looking inward: the human experience," but I think I would have to tweak that a little to make it fit with my piece.  Instead of focusing on the universal emotions, thoughts, and experiences that all humans face through their lifetimes, I widened it to the universal emotions, thoughts, and experiences that all earthly creatures experience in their lifetimes. Like Goldsworthy, I wanted to represent this idea using mostly found materials in nature. It is thus created mostly out of fallen sticks, with string and some fabric tying them together.

Journey of Two Animals, after it's completed but before it's been set in the water.

To represent this journey through life that all creatures face, I wanted to place my installation on water. Out of sticks I fashioned a female human figure and an animal, somewhat cow-like, journeying together on a raft, which I set afloat at the lake near the Albright-Knox. I wanted them to be on a largish body of water where one can still see the land on the other side, to show that they both have a common destination at the end of their sail across the lake (meaning the end of their lives). This also gives the piece a somewhat Noah's Ark feel, but with some notable differences. Noah has been replaced by a woman, and only one animal accompanies her. This puts them on equal levels and makes them feel like companions, rather than the human mastering over the animal, which was the case with Noah. Originally, I had the raft tied to a piece of string so I could pull it back in from the water, but then I decided that the work would be stronger if I let it loose so it truly could make its journey. That way, people can stumble upon it after I'm gone, and wonder how it got there. Eventually, the raft will probably sink, and then the installation piece will be complete, like Goldsworthy's icicles.

The raft, woman, and cow are all made of the same material, just as everything on earth is made out of the same material, that keeps being recycled and reused. They look fairly crude and ancient, which gives them a sense of wisdom and mystery. The woman is wrapped in warm, colorful "clothing" that mimics the colors of the fall trees, and makes her seem vibrant and lively. Most of the sticks (in the raft, the cow's body, and the woman's arms and legs) point in the same direction, which is the direction that the raft is moving in. Thus, the "lines" of the piece create a sense of motion and direction. The use of the sticks of fairly even size and shape gives it some unity, while the coloring of the thread adds some variety to the otherwise brown and gray bark. It is fairly well balanced, with the woman on one side of the raft and the cow on the other, again emphasizing that they are equals. Space is obviously employed, as the environment of the raft is a key factor. If the raft were simply sitting on the ground, as it is in the first photograph, the installation project would not make sense. They would be stagnantly going nowhere, instead of going on a journey at sea.

Here's a video of Journey of Two Animals setting sail, anchor free

By having to come up with both a project and the space that it can fit in, I found the initial planning of this project rather difficult. There was more that I had to take into account. Once I began to formulate my general idea, however, things fell into place pretty easily. I have to admit I was self conscious when I was constructing and setting my project afloat, as there were many people walking around. For this project I was much more out in the open than I'm used to. I hope, however, that some of the people walking by at the least wondered what I was up to, and took a minute to look at my two little travelers on their raft.