| The medium of sculpture is an umbrella that covers
many divergent types of art-making, as shown by the work done over the
course of this semester. Far from stopping at the single object, the boundaries
of sculpture extend to include installation, time-based media, and performance,
and can incorporate sound, light, and movement as elements along with
more traditional methods and materials.
The specific aspect of sculpture that I have chosen to explore in this
self-designed endeavor is that of installation- that is, a multiplicity
of elements in a space that interact with that space in order to create
an environment, whether that environment is constructed or synthesized
with the existing landscape. I prefer installation because it allows me
to explore the use of sound and light, and also because it allows me to
create microcosms over which I have complete control.
When one creates an environment, one must choose how to manipulate a viewer’s
movement through that space. I have chosen to use a voice to control my
viewers, directing their progress through the room and therefore how they
experience the work. By disguising this voice as a pedagogical one, I
hope to manipulate the viewer in a subtle enough way so that they will
be complicit even without their knowledge.
Rather than making objects to interact with one another, I chose to use
found objects as a medium. Found objects have their own specific language,
in that they already carry with them certain meanings and associations
from their original context. By using found objects in art making one
can either disrupt their commonly held meanings or use those meanings
to reinforce a point, or both. They can also speak to each other, in their
similarities or divergence. The language of found objects and their value
as referents serves me well in my endeavor with this project, which is
to create an installation that mimics reality in order to deconstruct
it.
The reality I choose to imitate is a modern natural history museum, with
objects displayed on pedestals and labeled in an exhibit vernacular. In
order to reinforce the verisimilitude of the museum environment, I added
elements such as track-style lighting on the pedestals, a large interpretive
label as is commonly used in an exhibit, and a sound element much like
the headphone tours one receives when experiencing an exhibit. While I
realize the near impossibility of total mimicry due to monetary and locational
limitations, I wanted to make it as easy as possible for the viewer to
suspend their disbelief.
My deconstruction of such an environment serves two ends: to call into
question the process and structure of classification, and to critique
human, specifically American, material culture. By positioning the “classifiers”
as a species separate from humans, more advanced even, the traditional
methods used for classification are rendered useless, and a new set of
culturally specific biases is established. Also, by forcing the viewer
to confront objects that are not meant to speak for them, objects considered
junk, or novelty, or kitsch, as a representation of human civilization,
I intend to force a dialogue concerning what we as humans wish to be remembered
by, and why.
“The New World Natural History Museum” also deals with the
idea of cultural relativity. Just as throughout history objects from indigenous,
extinct, or colonized societies are subjected to the beliefs of the culture
that analyzes them, disguised as anthropology and archeology, so too might
human objects be subjected to the same transference, the same imposed
frame of reference. What will post-humans, if they exist, think of our
lava lamps, our cheap jewelry used as an exchange rate for nudity, our
elaborate apparatuses of sexuality, our children’s playthings?
I fully realize the ambitious scope of this project, and that I have chosen
to pursue several themes within the same space. However, I feel that the
multiplicity of the medium of installation lends itself well to this pursuit.
I also feel that the combination of visual and aural material will be
crucial in communicating my intention to the audience.
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