The Creators Project: Like a window to another dimension, a giant effervescent archway is coming to the Nevada desert. All visitors bring a contribution to the isolated desert bachannal, and self-taught Chicago artist Davis McCarty's is Pulse Portal, a massive crystalline structure that that makes even the sober viewer question reality.
4 comments:
The pictures of this installation piece are beautiful, but what I find most interesting is the analogy to Schrödinger's Cat. Schrödinger's Cat is a thought experiment and the material was chosen specifically to have an undecided state as to represent the entrance to the Burning Man. It is interesting that the plan is to move the piece to a different location. As an entrance to a self governed zone, which is also a thought experiment, the idea for an art piece based on a Schrödinger's Cat makes sense. I would have thought moving the piece, especially to the lobby of an building, would disrupt the metaphor of the Burning Man. In addition, the piece is meant to have a different look based on the time of day. I would have thought that in a well lit lobby that aspect of the piece would disappear. Nonetheless, I would go to see the piece if it were nearby, which may validate moving the piece from Black Rock City.
I think it is fascinating that Davis McCarty designed this piece, "Pulse Portal" with the absolute intent to not only move it, but make the piece packable and rearrangeable. I know that many of the structures built at Burning Man are erected with the intent of at the very least being taken down, sometimes destroyed (burned). The concept and value of transience is a core principle guiding these art pieces and exhibitions. The fact that "Pulse Portal" approaches this transient property in a different manner - having it simply move away from this initial site instead of passing out of "existence" - is fascinating.
Beyond the concepts driving this piece, the materials utilized to create it are fascinating. I love the potential this structure presents, how it shifts in different kinds of light. Furthermore, the way this geometric and straight-edged piece approaches an curved archway is compelling, even more so in its current setting, where the rolling desert is the backdrop.
The sculpture looks elegant and awesome especially with the huge contrast between its colorfulness and the desert's monochrome tan sand color, between the liveliness that resides in its uncertainty in color depending on the time of the day and desert's wilderness, the sculpture's permanent stillness in its motion and the desert's occasional brutality and violent movement. And interestingly, it was created to embody the atomic cloud but in fact desert is the one that has more of the "atomic" power.
This could easily grab your stare for a really long time and hence a perfect choice for tourists' site. The material is commonly used in fashion I believe, there are clothes and shoes and bags with the same color, and in visual art installations. With regards of set design, this could provide a really science-fictional, future, mysterious atmosphere to the storytelling of the stage. However, at the end of the article, McCarty mentioned that modern building's lobby would be perfect fit for this kind of sculpture, and I could not agree with that. The materials of the modern buildings, the sense of closure and crowdedness they create will attenuate its elegance and also the contrast it has with its background area. When I start to imagine this in a gigantic tall bright building with glass wall, it appears just to be a decorative object in the lobby and will less likely to bring its viewers into reveries.
This sculpture is an extremely beautiful piece that captures the eye. Therefore, the idea that it will reside in a building's lobby is slightly upsetting to me. I believe that this work would benefit the public more so if it was on display in an outdoor area, or perhaps an amusement park or theatre. It is a sculpture that encourages people to walk around it and admire the angles and colors, and if placed in a lobby it wouldn't inspire such curiosity in my opinion.
Post a Comment