Life as a Void Consisting of Only Time and Eternity (560 hits)
Life as a Void Consisting of only Time and Eternity
An exploration of Emptiness, Nothingness, Inner and Outer spheres/realms of being
Do women occupy the inner sphere/sanctum of purity? Is the enclosed female space a sign of sanctity whereas the open hinged male space the spirit of adventure? Are women contained by societal definitions of femininity resulting in us being “Birds in Gilded Cages”. What is the extent of the power we have as women to define ourselves?
Katrin Sigurdardottir’s piece “Boiserie” explores many levels of existence. The enclosed room a replica in white of the Hotel de Cabris located in the Wrightsman galleries of the Met brings to mind a sense of the finite and infinite.
As I observed visitors who thought they would be able to see their friends on the other side of the windows, they quickly realized the panes were security glass, meaning one could look in but not out. The mirrors in the room gave the impression of infinity by reflecting endless images. Like the worlds of many French society ladies and nobility they seemed to have everything, yet they had nothing as they were just “birds in a gilded cage” with their pleasure and privilege brought to an end with the French Revolution in 1789.
This first walled in room gives a sense of arrested development. Its progression halted within the pure white room encased in what appears to be rather dingy plywood. Viewing this exhibit is like looking into a surreal kaleidoscope minus the rainbow, where white is not just the absence of color but has the ability to reflect all around and within it.
Alice in Wonderland—Bigger, Larger, Smaller, Tinier
The extended accordion like rendition of the Hotel de Crillon room also located in the Wrightsman galleries gives a sense of expansion yet all the while the free hinges connecting the smaller and larger doorways gives the viewer the perceived ability to fold up and pack away in a suitcase this wonderful display of abstraction.
The larger doorway is a portal to the imagination, the rooms or cubes within our own minds. Have I like Alice in the story eaten the cake labeled “Eat Me” and grown too large, then drank the potion labeled “Drink Me” and shrunk too small. Or like the Alice in the Grace Slick song taken the pills that trick my mind into thinking I’m continually expanding and contracting. But I like the many visitors to the exhibit calmly walk through happily appreciating the aesthetic qualities of the piece.
These two exhibits are located on the Mezzanine of the Modern Art section of the museum. And just what is the definition of Mezzanine: “A partial story between two main stories of a building. An intermediate floor between main floors of a building.”
The interpretation of the two Wrightsman rooms is an intermediate, betwixt and between what is real and what is contrived. Similar to the Alice’s trip into Wonderland where reality changes from moment to moment and fantasy is the order of the day.
Can reality be perceived only through the five senses or is reality much like s*xuality and/or gender roles only a social construct which time, space and cultures eternally deconstruct and evolve to fit each generations needs.
But I have journeyed from 16th century France, where kings and queens once ruled by divine right only to be deposed through revolution into the 21st century where we read in the papers, on the web and see on television current megalomaniacs and dictators forced to cede their power and authority to the once frighten and enslaved masses who have reclaimed empowerment. Perhaps since both pieces are constructions of wood paneling or plywood that in itself signifies the falsity of temporal riches.
These two rooms pose questions on gender, race, class and social inequalities than possible answers or solutions to aforesaid dilemmas. Or perhaps queries that come to mind have within them never-ending possibilities and infinite resolutions.
