Installation, Integration & Intersection @ MIAD & JMKAC

Response: MIAD Critiques Art Installations

Feb. 09, 2012

3:05 a.m.

On on Tuesday afternoon, Jason Yi conducted a critique in his Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design class: “Integrated Arts: 241 A- Integration and Intersection.” In a previous Art Talk, his students critiqued a sculpture. Also in his class on that day were two projects presented in the form of installations that the students had created for their assignment. One installation was placed in a single, small room within the MIAD gallery specifically designed for installations and video work, darkened and painted black. The students had mounted an open vintage suitcase on the wall, placed on a shelf. Approximately eight feet away, an upholstered chair and end table that held a stack of books with a slide projector on the top of the books were facing the suitcase. The interior of the suitcase was the screen, and someone sitting in the chair could view slides that were projected on the interior of the suitcase. This installation related to the intimate space, and each of the parts, chair, end table and slide projector reflected a past time that was integral to the installation. The technology, even if vintage, performed easily and well, and could be controlled by the viewer. Yi\'s class discussed why each specific photograph for the slide show was chosen, which the four participants explained were specifically arranged for color, location and season, so the slide show flowed well when viewed. While several students had personal slides, another student used found slides, so each could contribute to the installation. The memories the slides generated became a reference point for the suitcase, as if the slides and those memories were being held or carried in the suitcase. The entire installation invoked domesticity, home, longing, personal memories and warmth, which was in fact what the four artists desired to communicate in this exhibition. Some students had commented more should be added to the installation, an example being other items placed on the end table. Other students enjoyed the simplicity of the three objects, and only the stack of books (all photography books) with the projector placed on top so a viewer could use one\'s imagination and fill in any additional memories for him/herself. While the viewer sitting in the chair had a more personal experience because they were in control of the projector, the other people in the room had a group experience. While several students thought this installation could be viewed by only one person sitting in the chair, an optimal experience, there was an equally interesting experience seeing the show from the back of the room and with other people. In a specific situation, the slides could stimulate discussion in a group as opposed to one viewer left with his own impressions and memories. The artwork transformed into a multi-level experience with everything working well. Installations, especially site specific installations, become a singular, individual artwork unlike what could be seen or created in any other medium, and has risen in popularity over the past decade by smaller galleries. Perhaps because of this uniqueness and one time experience that an installation offers to a viewer.  Some pieces are ephemeral and transitory, left for a moment or a specific amount of time and then removed. Others remain permanent installations, yet, often require upkeep unless it\'s purpose is to see the marks of time change their surface or structure. Public art projects often include a installation where viewers might add or help create the project. A great installation can be one of the most difficult artworks to attempt, and can involve almost any art material one can possibly think of, and placed where other works could never be found.   Several installation artists that Milwaukee might be familiar with include a former Museum of Wisconsin Art One from Wisconsin participant, kathryn e. martin, who often uses recyclable materials, such as styrofoam cups to create an object from using repeated patterns and shapes cut from these materials. They border on sculptures, although are usually made for a specific site, and change when moved to another, unlike a sculpture. International artist Joan Backes created several temporary installations at Dean Jensen Gallery last year. One envisioned a life size tree made from recycled materials with colored, plastic leaves that referenced nature, and how this wood reclaimed from construction projects was then reorganized into a tree, from which the wood originally came. A concept inspired from her childhood in Wisconsin amid the vast woods. The project by Backes required two years of work to collect, create and then exhibit. Holes were placed throughout the installation, so that it could be moved from studio to a gallery, and easily put together or taken apart. This requires forethought, planning and time, in creating and exhibiting, for the installation to be set up and then removed. Installations, while involving huge amounts of time and energy, are rarely saleable artworks, unless to museums or venues with the appropriate space so a viewer could appreciate them properly. An artist envisions them to create art, to make a statement, to communicate an idea or thought instead of for commercial purchase. Backes eventually sold this work to the Racine Art Museum for their permanent collection.   Backes had created numerous temporary and permanent installations for venues outside the United States, in Europe and Asia. When interviewing her last year, she found the permanent installations, which require more forethought and planning, immensely satisfying. Even though these installations required translating the project into using permanent materials, especially when placed outdoors. Unless they involve environmental materials, where some are permanent and others are meant to be taken down after a period of time, or the intent of the installation might involve the decaying process. In the upcoming exhibition at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center there will be five new site specific installations especially created for the exhibition “The Line Unleashed.” These are extremely work intensive. When visiting the center before the exhibition\'s opening, artists and crew were feverishly working to place colored and taped lines in rhythmic and sinuous patterned line on the floors and walls from an installation by New York artist Dave Eppley. Pennsylvannia\'s Caroline Lathan-Stieffel would be coming in the following days to fashion a monumental work suspended from the ceiling using fruit nets, pipe cleaners, rice, thread and newspapers, among other assorted materials, in her attempt to invoke a viewer\'s sensuous response to that particular space. Artist installations need to be viewed in situ, or on site, for the viewer\'s best experience. They require the most advanced planning of perhaps any artwork, except sculpture, for which there are more controlled applications, mediums and methods available to the artist. These artworks then have a exceptional opportunity to communicate and inspire a viewer to examine the world from an alternate perspective to initiate fresh dialogue, a true integration and intersection of art, process, medium and viewer experience. Which first begins with these very small class projects for the art students in Jason Yi\'s class at MIAD. Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design presents the interactive exhibition "New Exchanges" through March 3 while the John Michael Kohler Center presents a series of five exhibitions on the theme "The Drawing Season," with several already on display. Enjoy watching the artists construct their site specific installations for the new exhibition in the main gallery "The Line Unleashed" at the center through February 16th.   <o:p> </o:p>

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