Installation Day: Ponder

Lots was unexpected when I arrived at the Art Center to install Ponder today.

The Center assigned me a corner (thankfully) but one side was very short -- a little less than 2 feet -- far too short for the spatial illusion to work. They assumed that the elements were going to be suspended; but of course, that's the illusion! The Center did shift a painting several inches, giving me a little more room to work with, but I had to flip the orientation of Ponder so that the swarm was going in the other direction, and shorten part of the paths on one wall (they were equal in the original installation), all of which impacts the spatial illusion. 5 hours later, instead of the expected hour or so, the piece was up and my head hurt.

I had a headache while flipping the piece -- very disorienting it turns out -- as I am used to the right to left flow and had trouble wrapping my head and eyes around a left to right flow while also trying to insure the piece looked enough like the original image that the juror had viewed to select the work for the show. Parts did not readily flip either. The hand has images on one side so it cannot simply be turned over... alas more disorientation as it is now an unnaturally facing hand like someone twisted the arm 180 degrees at a joint. The winged elements suffer from the same problem, though having these face the wrong direction looks less apparently off. I could not simply flip the floor element either, as the drawings on it and the cut out hand are oriented from one direction; so these too are a bit disorienting in the reassembly. I also had to assemble the piece in sections, as I did not have the ladder, which was in use by others, at all times; so there was less room for free form color balance/weighting during assembly. This, the limited time and the disorientation from flipping the piece forced me to lessen focus on color balance ... getting the paths to work spatially was more important. They do work. Thank god. So the essense of the piece is very much the same. Perhaps the essense is all reassembly in an altered context can achieve.

The white wall, verses the greenish wall of the original, is much starker. The absense of colored lights (I could not find low enough watts for the lighting system) changes the piece as well by taking away one aspect of connection between elements. On the other hand, the colored lights are less integral -- before they offset the darkness of the green wall. I was able to get some colored shadows to cast from brighter pigment in some of the elements, strategically placed for highlight effect. That works as nice points of emphasis with in the paths. The result of these color/lighting differences, I think, is a greater emphasis on the paths, a less blended effect. Starker. Different.

What did I find out: One has to rethink assembly while reassembling; it can NEVER be the same piece but essense carries over through differences.

I'll post an image when I have one.