Three Gorges - Sonja

Hinrichsen

The exhibition uses a rather

common projector setup of
presentation as a form of
artistic expression where -
what would otherwise be
standard nature shots of the
chinese landscape, are halted
by the shadows of the viewers
watching; a metaphor for the
intervention of humanity.

This pieces poignancy is

important, as it is a piece only
clarified with the intervention
of the viewer. The piece alone
is only a landscape, but the
direct involvement of the
viewer - whilst innovative for
an art piece - is also
paramount to the pieces
meaning in a way often seen in
installation work.
One major motivator for many
artists installations is the
involvement of the viewer - as
seen within many works here,
not only through literal
physical interaction, but
through interpretation.
Jeniffer Hattam took the piece
as a metaphor for both climate
change and chinas industrial
expansion - this interpretation
is supported quite heavily by
the pieces very creator,
stating;
growing needs for space and
resources? Will they continue their
existence only as a memory that
can be experienced solely in a
virtual world?
- Sonja Hinrichsen
...............................
Inasmuch as its always
already taking place - Gary
Hill
This unique exhibition places
several monitors within a
small cut-out of a wall, on
these monitors are several
short video loops of body
parts - the body parts of the
artist in question; however,
what is missing from the piece
is any logic to the placement of
these pieces.
Ears lay side-by-side with feet
and groin, the breathing chest
of the subject is situated above
any logical placement of a
head -- there is a genuine
alienness to Hills presentation
of the human extremities;
alien mounds and limbs
connected with black wire,
tucking into the back to some
unknown source of power.
The reason for said wires is
obvious; they power the many
screens of the exhibit; but the
excess of wires and tubes for
such small simple displays
could only mean it as a

Will we turn around and decide to

protect and preserve what is left of
original landscape[s]? ... Or might
natural environments vanish
altogether sometime in the
not-so-far future, as a result of our
decorative piece - something
to be considered as part of the
whole; a network of limbs
connected to an unknown
source.

Daniel Schulman of the Art

Institute of Chicago Museum
Studies describes the piece as
a contradiction, stating;

the paradoxical manner in which

we experience the world from our
bodies
- Daniel Schulman

Daniels assessment of the

piece is an interesting take
indeed, as it clarifies many of
the elements within a
distinctive artistic vision of the
world as perceived through
the body.
Hills work acts as a memento
mori in a sense; not of the self
but of the body, a reminder
that we as the conscious are
but one part of a larger
organism, a ghost in the shell if
you will. It is alien, but it is all
too familiar.
...............................
24 Hour Psycho - Douglas
Gordon
This experimentation with
presentation - unlike the other
installations here - is the
entirety of the piece, as the
films slowed down nature is
the point rather than the
actual material.
The piece is extremely
to-the-point - quite
intentionally so given the title,
in fact Gordons most common
trait is his use and
appropriation of relevant
pieces to inform or otherwise
build his work.
I will admit that i find
Gordons work a lot less
interesting - there is very little
to interpret out of his work
other than tedium and even if
he means to make a point of
length or duration, id find far
more skill in brevity.

24 Hour Psycho is an
interesting piece as far as
installation work; for one, it is
nowhere near as original a
product, rather using film
footage from the classic 1960
film Psycho by Alfred
Hitchcock stretched out over a
period of 24 hours (over the
films original 109 minutes.)