Alvaro Sanchez-Montanes - Indoor Desert (2010)
“By the end of World War I, diamond mines in Kolmanskuppe, a site in the Namib Desert, ceased to be exploited. For over two decades it had been one of the wealthiest settlements in Southern Africa. During that time of splendour, German colonists who run the site had built their peculiar residences there evoking the architecture and décor of those in their homeland Bavaria. After it was closed down and its inhabitants left, Kolmanskuppe became a ghost town engulfed by desert sands. With his series Indoor Desert, Sanchez-Montanes enters these houses abandoned to the desert to unveil the serene enchantment that dwells in their chambers.”
Marina Abramović - The Artist Is Present (2010).
In 1976, Marina Abramović met the performance artist Uwe Laysiepen, better known as Ulay. They had an intense relationship and worked on a few pieces together.
In 1988, they decided to take a spiritual journey. They both walked the Great Wall of China, starting from opposite ends and meeting in the middle. Once they met in the middle, they said goodbye and ended their relationship.
In 2010, the Museum of Modern Art held a retrospective on Marina Abramović, where she performed The Artist Is Present. In this piece, the artist sits at a table and shares a minute of silence with a stranger.
Ulay made a surprise appearance.
(Source: theinspiringblankets, via s-umir-e)
“world of averages” - composite images culled from thousands of individual portraits resulting in symmetrical average faces.
(via alcool)
Olafur Eliasson & Ma Yansong - Feelings are Facts (2010)
“Based on a series of previous experiments by Eliasson that deal with atmospheric density.
Here, Eliasson introduces condensed banks of artificially produced fog into the gallery, shimmering with an artificial light spectrum, created using arrays of red, green and blue fluorescent lamps.
This illusion in light is not something we find in nature, however, as one walks through the space, the sights and sensations experienced become real.
Dimensions are further altered by the substantial lowering of the ceiling along with a nearly 60 meter long curving, inclined wooden floor space which Yansong created within the installation room. The sloping floor challenges visitors to readjust their balance, forcing them to constantly shift their weight and body posture to counterbalance the inclination. This emphasizes the important role of the moving body in the perception of our surroundings. The further visitors venture into the space, the steeper the floors get, reaching the point in which it becomes a wave-like curved wall. Since the ceiling imitates this construction, a seemingly boundless space is discerned above.
Within this installation, insecurity is induced on visitors initially,
reducing visibility, suggesting the need to invent new models for perception.”
