INSTALLATION ART

The idea of installation came to prominence in the West in the 60s and is traced from Dada and Surrealism, and much later on, in Fluxus, an
international avant-garde art movement from the 1960s up to the 1970s participated in by divergent groups from Germany and other cities in Holland,
England, France, United States and Switzerland who delight in spontaneity and humor. Fluxus advanced artistic experimentation mixed with social and
political activism. Conceptual art, which promotes the idea above the form, and other radical movements such as German sculpture of the 1980s
likewise influenced the development of this art.
What Installation Art Is
Installation art is a genre that refers to temporary constructions or assemblages made of varied materials that are structured within a space. The main
idea of installation moves away from single objects to a complex relation of objects assembled in space, where the space is taken up not as a neutral
background but as a physical context. Installations place a premium on space as an element of design. It exploits its three-dimensional quality to re-
create new environments which the viewer can enter and engage in.
These reconstructed venues are essentially propitious to a vast range of information and ideas, and commonly point to contemporary social, political or
personal concerns. Such emphasis on ideas originates from conceptual art, where concepts and meaning, more appropriately conveyed through written
proposals, photos, documents, charts, maps, film and video, by the artists use of their own bodies, and by language itself, take precedence above
everything else. This results to a kind of
art that demands a new kind of mental attention and engagement on the part of the viewer or spectator.
How Installation Art Is Done
The materials used in installation are varied and range from the natural to the artificial. Most of these media are perishable and/or cast-offs or simply
object-detritus. Reeds, tree branches, rocks, textiles, plastics, empty match boxes, dead batteries, rope and machines --- working and not working are
among the endless possibilities that are used or assembled in three dimensions to make-up an installation work. These are set in ordinary spaces such
as a wide-open ground, a street, a corridor, a backroom or even a prison cell in contrast to the limited gallery niches allotted to traditional art objects.
In favor of their strong conceptualist tendencies and by the very nature of the materials and processes involved to create them, as well as the spatial
reconstruction within which they are assembled, installations do not seek permanence that typify traditional single art objects. In fact, most of them
have quick turnover. They are assembled, exhibited, and after display, they are completely dismantled or simply left to rot. They would be good for a
week then gone. Interestingly, such quality inevitably presses a bias against the trading, selling, collecting and commoditization of art.
Guide questions in analyzing the aesthetic qualities of installation art
The Form
1. What is the dominant element in the artwork?
2. How is it used in the artwork?
3. How is treatment of space related to the main idea of the work?
4. How does harmony organize the work?
5. How does the overall composition affect you?
The Medium
1. What is the material/s used by the artist?
2. Does this medium enhance the beauty of the artwork?
3. How well does the material/s used help convey the meaning of the work?
The Subject Matter
1. What are the objects presented in the artwork?
2. What is the significance of the object/s to you in terms of personal, historical, social or political value?
The Style
1. What particular characteristics does this artwork have that are also present in other works by the same artist?
2. Describe the use of elements of art and principles of organization that identify the artwork with other works done in the period.
The Use of Shapes, Space and Balance in Jose Tence Ruizs Pabitin
In the second Asia-Pacific Triennial held in Brisbane in 1996. Jose Tence Ruiz set up an installation work shaped like an airplane where
gifts suspends. It is made of bamboo wrapped in orange parachute nylon. This works reminds of the PABITIN, which is commonplace in Philippine Fiesta
and Parties. Two principal features or element of this installation are its shape and the created space in which it is set.
The airplane-shaped object from where gifts hang creates a space where participants are enjoined to jump and grapple for a prize. As participant leaps
and snatches a prize within the space, he/she in effect ritualizes the grabbing that is originally played in the traditional Pabitin. However, the work
points to contemporary issues related to power relations and tough competition, and to ideas alluding to ambition, manipulation, treachery and
colonialism in the contemporary world.
The balance employed in this work is it outmost importance. It shown in the way shape and mass equate in the work and more importantly, when
participants grapple for a prize and even out or displace symbolically the equilibrium of power in the real world. Here, balance is not static but
continuously shifting according to the movements or actions of each participant.
The Form
1. What are the dominant elements in this artwork?
2. How are they used in the artwork?
3. How is treatment of Space related to the main idea of the work?
4. How does balance organize the work?
5. How does the overall composition affect you?
Analysis
1. The dominant element in this work are shape and space.
2. They are used in the installation to help convey and reinforce the meaning of the work.
3. The shape of the installation reminds of the traditional Pabitin, and the actual space it creates allows for the grabbing ritual or gesture.
4. Balance shifts as one grabs a prize from the hanging contraption.
The Medium
1. What are the material/s used by the artist?
2. Does this medium enhance the beauty of the artwork?
3. How well does the material/s used help convey the meaning of the work?
Analysis
1. Bamboo, parachute, nylon, cartons, aside from enhancing the beauty of the artwork, remind of the local Pabitin, which reinforce or support the
meaning of power play and grabbing.
The Subject Matter
1. What are the objects represented in the artwork?
2. What is the significance of object/s to you in terms of personal historical, social or political value?
Analysis
1. Airplane contraption, gifts hanging-it reminds me of those who hold high positions and have attained power and those who are neglected and
powerless.
2. It makes me think of the great impact or consequence of the actions of those who have attained power.
3. The artwork empowers the viewer and converts him or her into a participant.
4. This is evident in other installation works not only by Tence Ruiz but as well as other Installation artists.
5. Space converts into context and supplies meaning to the work.
6. Alludes to contemporary social and political issues.
The Style
1. What particular characteristics does the artwork have that are also present in other works by the same artist?
2. Describe the use of elements of art and principles of organization that identify the artwork with the other works done in the period.
Analysis
1. The artwork empowers the viewer and converts him or her into a participant.
2. This is evident in other installation works not only by Tence Ruiz but as well as other installation artists.
3. Space converts into context and supplies meaning to the work.
4. Similar works of the era allude to contemporary social and political issues.
The Use Of Value And Harmony In Mona Hatoums Light Sentence
Mona Hatoum made a series of wire mesh, which look like cages such as found in a hen house. They are piled on top of the other and
arranged in a U-shape enclosure. The whole arrangement looks like an architectural model of a small city that is made up of box-like, uniform and
functional mesh lockers. It is lighted by one bulb that swings, making the wire lockers cast their shadows all over the walls and ceilings. The effect
creates a feeling of spatial and emotional disorientation in the spectator.
In this installation, Hatoum plays with light and shadow to create a sense of dread and suffocating atmosphere. She manipulates harmony through the
repeated duplication of the box-shaped chicken wires to create a dreadful atmosphere. The use of chicken wires as the principal material implies being
able to survey the contents, and alludes to being watch or scrutinized like animals in cages. The title Light Sentence is actually a word play and suggests
that existence in this kind of condition or environment is like having a prison sentence.
Using some guide questions, let us analyze the aesthetic qualities of the Light Sentence
The Form
1. What are the dominant elements in this artwork?
2. How are they used in the artwork?
3. How is treatment of space related to the main idea of the work?
4. How does harmony organize the work?
5. How does the overall composition affect you?
Analysis
1. The dominant elements in this work are value and space.
2. They are used to effect boredom, suffocation and dread.
3. Space connotes surveillance and at the same time enclosure.
4. It makes me think of the reality of living in cities and the dread it brings to those who are not capable of coping.
The Medium
1. What is the materials used by the artist?
2. Does this medium enhance the beauty of the artwork?
3. How well does the materials used help to convey the meaning of the work?
Analysis
1. The principal materials are chicken wires and a light bulb.
2. The chicken wires convey surveillance and the light bulb and the shadow it casts bring an eerie and disoriented feel to the whole set up.
The Subject Matter
1. What are the objects represented in the artwork?
2. What is the significance of object/s to you in terms of personal historical, social or political value?
Analysis
1. The subject matter in this Installation art cityscape.
2. Modem man can sometimes feel alienated in a place that runs in city routines.
The Style
1. What particular characteristics does this artwork have that are also present in other works by the same artist?
2. Describe the use of elements of art and principles of organization that identify the artwork with other works done in the period.
Analysis
1. The treatment of space the converts into a contact is common to installation not only of Hatoum but to those of other artists as w