Hort

I came across Hort a German design company a few years ago when reading the creative review. it is interesting to see how they have developed over the years as I stumbled across them again online. They are a real inspiration to me, as i was always interested in making live visuals for bands as they were performing live. Hort have made visualisations that look amazing, and suit the style of the music perfectly. They also set up two day workshops for people of all design disciplines in which they teach a different way of learning, with no computers allowed!

Cildo Meireles @ Tate Modern, January 2009

Last week I went to the last day of the Cildo Meireles Exhibition. It struck me the amount of ideas i managed to come away with from this exhibition. It was very different to the usually gallery exhibitions due to the large scale installations and the opportunity for the visitors to actually interact with the installations and make their own mark on Meireles' work.

Through (1983-9)

This installation was the the largest of all and consisted of a glass floor, a range of netting and curtains, fish tanks and a large cellophane ball. The visitors were led onto the installation from each corner. As the first step was taken, the glass from underneath shattered, creating a huge sense of danger and foreboding whilst navigating through the maze of curtains. The sensation was quite difficult to come to terms with, as all the visitors were watching their step very closely to make sure they did not fall and cut themselves on the glass. Many questions were running through my head about health and safety but I tried to ignore this and concentrate on the installation.

The installation was set out like a maze and all the walls were transparent, such as the shower curtains, wire netting and fish tanks. This made it possible to see the centre of the maze which was a massive ball of cellophane.

It is the sense of touch that I was interested in this installation, and how the sense of touch can affect the emotions felt when seeing. The cellophane ball was threatening because my feet were on the broken glass, it felt as if it was leading to something much more dangerous than cellophane. Meireless suggests that these feelings and emotions are created in childhood when we are told that glass is dangerous, and therefore triggers these emotions.




Volatile (1980-94)

This installation consisted of one large room, separated into two sections, a floor filled with talcum powder and the slight scent of gas. As instructed, people were advised to take their shoes and socks off beforehand. After one step in the talcum powder the sensation of the talcum powder running through your toes is truly sensational. The first section of the room is dived off from the main room and is extremely dim, so the focus really is on the sensation of touch in your feet. when you walk through to the next section there is a candle lit in the talcum powder. Then suddenly, the smell of gas hits you and you are forced to feel a sense of emergency and terror, that this room could potentially set on fire.

Cildo's attempt for this installation was to associate 'sensation and emotion, producing an almost instantaneous link. It also navigates through this region of fear...This is beauty which also points at this insignificance of being'.

For me, i was thinking about the installation and the reaction of people in the gallery. this installation was special because the visitors were able to interact with the artwork, and feel the work through the senses, rather than just a mental observation. The senses used were mostly touch, smell and to see. Emotions then also became involved, as some people in the installation commented that it was reminiscent of the Jews in the concentration camps during the Holocaust.

It is emotional links that i would like to make in my first Artefact Experiment, to see what triggers these kind of reactions and how I can make these happen through eliminating other senses and just including the sense of touch.



Missions (How To Build Cathederals), 1987

This installation has an interesting concept and involved the sense of vision and touch. It was was built for Brazilian artists as a memorial for the times between 1610 and 1767 when the seven mission settlements were used to convert the native people of Argentina and South Brazil to Christianity.

There are 2,000 bones attached to the ceiling and 600,000s coins on the floor, and joining the two elements are 800 communion wafers. The reason behind this is because the missionaries hoped they could offer the Holy Communion to eradicate the cannibalism that was present at the time.

In terms of my artefacts this could be useful for the concept. However this is not relevant to my first artefact, but may be later on when I have my results.



Fontes (1992/2008)

This installation was made with 6,000 rulers, 1,000 clocks, and 500,000 vinyl numbers.

When you first step into the installation, there are 6,000 rulers hanging from the ceiling in a parallel spiral pattern, meaning that the visitor is to walk through the rulers to get to the middle. As the middle approaches, the rulers get denser and denser meaning you are almost blinded by the rulers and are just walking without seeing. On the floor are 500,000 vinyl numbers, and the walls surrounding the rulers are covered in 1,000 clocks all ticking to a different time. The soundtrack of ticking clock increases in volume when you reach the middle of the spiral, making time seem much more important, almost making it feel like a race to get back out again. The sensation is quite irritating, because as you keep going round and round it eventually just becomes so full of rulers that you don't even realise how to escape the maze.

Meireles is attempting to literally measure the phenomena of time and space though the clocks and the rulers. The strange this is that the rulers are all measuring a different measurement, as they are connected in a non-numerical order, and the numbers on the clocks are all in the wrong position.