Unlock the doors to the unexpected and the exceptional in “Hiding Places” at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center (JMKAC) before Dec. 30. The JMKAC's expansive “Hiding Places: Memory in the Arts” delves into the inner workings of the mind and how humans cope with memory—memories accumulated, lost and shared, changed over time or triggered by a physical object.
In “Forget Memory,” one of four components of “Hiding Places,” the overall theme reveals itself through the interactive installation House of Mind (a gallery separated into several “rooms”). Pat Graney, an artist from Washington, and her acting troupe, the Pat Graney Company, enhance the installation with planned performance art that questions what happens when shared experiences, objects and moments become lost in a person's mind.
Floor-to-ceiling bookcases hold volumes of information and stories that influence a person's life. A door beckons the visitor to enter this world filled with artifacts, dolls, photographs and video frames with old pictures. In the bedroom is a projected vision of a sleeping girl on the undone bedsheets, as though the sheets are occupied.
Another room features four giant-sized, blue satin dresses suspended from the ceiling. These grand garments, resembling magnificent balloons or parachutes, could represent a way to escape from memories.
In the adjacent hallway, vintage keys are tacked to the wall, well ordered, with messages that read: “my first car key,” “key to my magical room,” “this key opens up life,” “key to my first apartment.” Visitors are reminded of these moments, real and metaphorical, of opportunities to exit one's past and present through these common objects.
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Elsewhere, one will find a two-story cabinet housing miniature objects and a wall sculpture constructed from thousands of vintage buttons shimmering with the white and golden tones from the mother-of-pearl materials. Sand, sculpted in sensuous borders, ebbs and flows all along the exhibition's floorboards, similar to a never-ending shoreline or hourglass. What happens over this passage of time, when people can no longer remember the past, including where they came from or perhaps even their own name? Physical objects suddenly lose their meaning.
“Forget Memory” and the other fascinating exhibitions on display at the JMKAC are worth exploring. These interactive moments may well transform one's thinking, as provocative art presents visitors with an imaginary key that opens the mind to untold reflections.
