LAMOA Considered
By Renée Petropoulos
The project created for LAMOA considered first the site. In this case the site as an idea and a reality. The site being a pavilion located at the end of a long driveway in front of a set of artists’ studios. A domestic pavilion that is also a public pavilion modeled on historical ideas of pavilions as ‘showcases’ – as separated spaces with single subjects. They in fact are designed to distinguish something; separate topics. Even social pavilions in parks create a separation both of space and of view. Those that are dancing or congregating separated from those that are strolling or loitering. Often pavilions represent nations. In the art world the most significant group of pavilions represent nations via culture. When these national pavilions are not in use, they lie dormant allowing weeds and animals to inhabit their privileged spaces. The two sculptures were created with both the view and the object of the view in mind. The two can be reversed and conflated depending on the viewer’s location. As both sculptures are locations and objects simultaneously, the interjection of sound completes or rather unifies the area between the works. The inside and the outside become defined. The use of the mirror can assist in melding the two works and the two areas of LAMOA, thus extending the perception of the pavilion. The materials of the work, the wood, the paper, the photograph and the sound weave these areas together and have allowed me to give a material form to the ideas that served to create these works. As the sculpture, Bouquet (Flower Girl) Between Libya, the United States and Scotland, suggests an association between elements, each of the elements refer to a succession of ideas that have come together through a series of associations. Links, as it were, in the process of constructing this work. Starting perhaps with the Bouquet, the flowers of which, the pomegranate, the red rose and the thistle, are the national flowers of the countries in the title and refer to the Lockerbie incident; the crash of the Pan Am flight 103 in 1988. Unfolding the conspiracy theories surrounding this incident, which was such a huge incident, one that signaled a change in so many ways, when air travel became treacherous, political and even controversial. We began as a nation to allow for the erosion of our civil rights; the acceptance of surveillance and compliance with measures to insure our “safety”. The allegations of blame and the political alliances that became convenient and satisfying coalesced, much like the images of the structure and viewers in the mirror of the sculpture. This fusing and confusion of sorts as to where one is located and the literal dissolution of the sculpture into the pavilion allowed me to realize this manifestation of ideas in a more concrete form. Monuments, gifts, and civic presentations are among the ways we fuse our more private selves with our more public displays. The platforms for presentation and ideology merge into a presumed seamless whole. So starting with a national identity and shifting from the presentational mode to role of occupation and social dynamics with the second sculpture I think I could create a moment where the two could collide. The stories of bombs wrapped in children’s clothing and stuffed into a Toshiba Bombeat began a series of inquires and following of threads to faulty aircraft, Mumar Kadaffi, retaliation, Iran, Frankfurt, Malta, Christmas lights, rogue CIA drug routes and a current television program, just to name a few. The Sculpture for the opening of a Pavilion, is a continuation of my interest in public seating. How we converse and position ourselves socially. At openings we often stand in small groups or clusters, which allow us proximity to our friends. This sculpture allows us to mimic or continue our most natural clustering but in a seated position. We can relax and ease our feet. Listen to the sounds… where composer Greg Lenczycki has realized a composition in five parts of alternating lengths to finally conclude a 75 minute work. The phasing in and out of the electronic composition includes the anthems of the three countries and various spoken word texts referencing the Lockerbie crash. The view of the pavilion from a distance, displays the body of the sculpture paying homage to the agit prop works of Varvara Stepanova in dissolution. To start with a reference to a revolutionary form and to think about the representation of nations and gestures of generosity and leisure and possibly the confluence of meanderings that an investigation into an international action of enormous consequence might lead; this is where I start. The logic of stepping from one type of sign to another; to associate in the way the forensic scientists did when investigating the ‘incident’ is a model of intrigue that morphs into a kind of fact. It is a question of belief. The ability to decipher it remains both uncertain and open ended.