Thursday, November 3, 2005


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% NOIT & ALLA # TSNI

I just discovered that when archeologists excavate a site they don't understand, they call it an INSTALLATION.

What's interesting about this, is that the world of visual arts has appropriated that word to describe a very specific type of art exhibit --see photos-- in which various materials are supposed to express one cohesive message from the artist.

I've never had the desire to create an installation, but I've often admired those of others. The most brilliantly conceived and executed one I ever saw, was a large hall filled with 365 beautifully-made ceramic plaques, each of which had sculpted on it, the carefully-crafted letters of one 3-dimensional word. The installation was created by an Asian-American and its title explained the plaques immediately:
"365 days of learning English".

The installation-concept exposes artists for what they really are, however, and one of a slew of totally yucky installations, was a very large empty room that had a long, narrow hole in the floor. One saw nothing inside that hole. On the wall above it, a message informed the visitor that underneath this room, on a sub-floor, the artist was always present and engaged in masturbation.

Like with all other things, one can abuse the concept and cheapen it, or one could use it to enhance a creative message with expertly crafted items of intense beauty and the intellectual power to speak volumes.

My heading is a keyboard-installation.

I'm sure you figured it out.

Right?

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