A Brief Overview of Installation Art

Daniela Casalino

A Definition- Creating an environment - Viewing becomes an

experience, participation- Arranged on location- Commemorated through

documentation- Evoke emotions,

associations, thoughts, longings, moods

Background – Where did it begin?

- 1970s- Marcel Duchamp, ready-

mades- Gutai Group - 1954 - Social activism- Pieces become an

experience to express a message

- Constantly questioning boundaries of art, affect on society

Water, Gutai Group,

1956/2011

Three Important Figures

Kara Walker

Judy Pfaff

Félix Gonzáles – Torres

Kara Walker

- 1969 – present- Silhourettes, storytelling- Race, gender, sexuality, violence,

identity- Historical realism, fantastical

- Presents themes as an absurd theatre- Romanticizing the antebellum south- Inspired by Gone with the Wind- “Silhouette leads to avoidance of the subject. You can’t look at

them directly.”

Rise Up Ye Mighty Race! 2013

- Moved from California to Georgia

- Stone Mountain

- Meaning of “black” and “white” America

- Exchanges of power

- Inspired by historical painting- Freeze frame, characters on a stage

- Near life sized silhouettesInsurrection! (Our Tools Were Rudimentary, Yet we Pressed On), 2000

Insurrection!- slave revolt- Pre – Civil War- Destroying the master- Overhead projector engages

viewers- Skirting the line between fiction and

reality

- Cyclorama- Surrounds viewer, forces them to take park in the

experience- Narrative

The Means to an End: A Shadow Drama in Five Acts. 1995

Judy Pfaff

- 1946 – present- Pioneer of installation art- Mixed media, colorful,

physical- “Collagist in space”

- Anticipation, surprise- Exuberant, sprawling

installations- Weaving landscape,

architecture, color- Creates based on personal

emotions of the moment

cirque, CIRQUE, 1993. Steel, aluminum, stainless steel cable, blown glass, automotive laquer paints

Buckets of Rain, 2006. Made with wood, steel, wax, plaster, fluorescent light, paints, black foil, expanding foam

- About labor invested in installations- Abstractionist, high precision and spontenaity

Neither Here Nor There, 2003. Made with mechanical tubing, wood, rigid foam, paint, tape

- On Neither Here Nor There: “She seems to get order and disorder working for her at the same time. It’s a very contemporary quality, given our lives today.” – New York Times

- Intentional “randomness”

Félix Gonzáles – Torres - 1957 – 1996- American, Cuban-born, raised in

Puerto Rico- Gay - 1979 – moves to NYC- 1980 – participates in the Whitney

Independent Study program, influenced by critical theory

- Critical theory – philosophical approach to culture, confronts social, historical, ideological forces at work

Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star, 1993

- quiet, minimalistic installations - Used ready-mades like clocks, lights, stacks of paper,

packaged candies- Reflection of experience with AIDS- 1987 – joined Group Material

“Untitled”, 1991. Made with offset printer paper

- Majority of works are entitled “Untitled”- Works undergo process: lights flicker out, candy is dispersed,

paper shifted- Everything is art and everything is temporary- Confronting elitism in artistic community

“Untitled” (Revenge), 1991. Made with light blue candies wrapped in cellophane

“Untitled”, 1991

- Billboard installation- 24 locations in NYC- After death of long-

time partner from AIDS

How does installation art connect to the past and other cultures?

- Renaissance- Artistic obsession with creating virtual

realities- End of 19th century question tradition and

rules- Impressionism, Surrealism, Cubism,

etc- Gutai Group, 1950s Japan- Connects to socio-political groups to make

a statement

Berlin Wall – Asisi Panorama

- View from West to East Berlin- Reminder of past- Near Checkpoint Charlie

Yadegar Asisi, The Berlin Wall, 2012

Connecting: Now and Then

Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People, 1830 Insurrection! (Our Tools Were Rudimentary, Yet We Pressed On), 2000

- Romanticism (1800s)

- Repressed subjects, cry for change

- Epic- Rich color palate- Little room for

interpretation

- Installation (1970s – present)- Fairy tale narrative- Nostalgic and critical- Exaggerated silhouettes, unrealistic representation

Both romanticize brutalityDiffering degrees of subtlety, call for

change