10 weird and extraordinary installations that are still hotly debated

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Installations are one of the most powerful and exciting forms of timeless art. Unlike painting and sculpture, it requires special attention and space. This is akin to another dimension, where at first glance everything is simple and understandable, but in reality it is much more complicated. A unique, and sometimes even frightening world is so extraordinary that from the very first minutes it drags you on your head, prompting you to think.

This movement emerged in the 1960s and since then has become one of the most popular and widespread areas of modern artistic practice, with artists using increasingly adventurous and playful ways to transform space.

Many artists design individual installations to fit into a particular space, transforming it into a completely new arena. Scaffolding, fake walls, mirrors and even entire playgrounds have filled the contemporary art space, while light and sound effects are also a common feature of this trend. Interacting with the audience is a vital aspect of installation art. If desired, visitors can easily crawl under huge towers, squeeze past giant mushrooms, or launch various motion sensors. The rise of digital technology has undoubtedly had a profound impact on this interactive thread of installation art, offering artists almost limitless possibilities to bring their ideas to life.

Despite the fact that the art of installation emerged as an art movement in the early 1960s, before that time the first inclinations were already visible. In 1923, the Russian constructivist El Lissitzky first explored the interaction of painting and architecture in his world-famous Room of Prouns, where two-dimensional and three-dimensional geometric fragments interact with each other in space. Ten years later, the German Dadaist artist Kurt Schwitters began creating his series of designs called Merzbau (1933) from assembled wood panels that seemed to grow out of the walls.

French surrealist and Dadaist painter Marcel Duchamp was also one of the first to experiment with the way visitors navigate the gallery space, filling it with intricate cobwebs in Mile of String, 1942. In the 50s, happenings were in vogue throughout the United States. States, and artists including Claes Oldenberg and Allan Kaprow have combined experimental performing arts with crudely assembled objects, often with a politicized agenda.

And despite the fact that such works of art did not really take root on the art markets, since they were almost impossible to sell and had to be disassembled at the end of the exhibition, nevertheless, they began to gain immense popularity in the early 60s, becoming key objects many photos.

Since that time, the art of installation has remained a mainstay of modern artistic practice and is more diverse and experimental than ever. From prismatic displays of digital data to wobbly towers on the brink of collapse, these are just a few of what human fantasy and imagination can do.

1. Allan Kaprow, Yard, 1961

The Yard by American artist Allan Kaprow ushered in a new era in art history. The artist filled the open backyard of New York's Martha Jackson gallery to the brim with black rubber car tires, some of which were wrapped in tarpaulins, before inviting those who wish to join the playground, where they could frolic, jumping and running like children.

His iconic installation art opened up new, sensory experiences for visitors and allowed them to enjoy every minute they spent there. In addition to exploring abstract ideas around solids and voids in space, Kaprow also brought improvisation and group participation to his art, bringing it closer to the reality of ordinary life, thereby explaining that life is much more interesting than art. And the line between art and life should be as shaky and, possibly, fuzzy as possible.

2. Joseph Beuys, The End of the Twentieth Century, 1983-5

The German sculptor Joseph Beuys literally turned the art world upside down a year before his death. Huge stones (thirty-one pieces) of basalt rock were brought together and scattered across the floor to create this installation of art, each with its own unique sense of history, weight and character. Boyce drilled a cylindrical hole in each stone, into which he shoved clay and felt. He then polished and reattached the drilled pieces, leaving only the slightest trace of his artistic intervention in each one. In doing so, he destroyed the old / new, natural / man-made and difference / repetition.

He also referred to the dawn of a new age, still burdened with a history as heavy as his basalt stones, thus commenting on his creation:.

3. Cornelia Parker, Cold Dark Matter, 1991

"Cold Dark Matter", 1991, by British artist Cornelia Parker, is one of the most striking and memorable installations of recent times. To create this work, she filled an old barn with household junk, including old toys and tools, before literally blowing the entire barn into the air. She then collected all the remaining fragments and suspended them in the air, as if they were constantly hanging at the point of the explosion.

Complemented by gloomy lighting, this installation perfectly conveys that very oppressive atmosphere, causing goosebumps and leaving an unpleasant aftertaste in the depths of the soul.

4. Damien Hirst, Pharmacy, 1992

Damien (Damien) Hirst's pharmacy is reminiscent of an old-fashioned clinical atmosphere, where pill packs, bottles and medical instruments are placed on snow-white shelves. But his art of installation is too geometric and orderly.

He deliberately arranged the medicines so that they form repeating patterns of seductively bright colors on the labels, reminiscent of sweets in pastry shops. His installation hints that modern man is obsessed with medicine as much as he is obsessed with sweets and colorful wrappers. Indeed, according to most people, only drugs can prolong life and give a kind of immortality, but in fact this is far from the case. Our world is fragile and unsteady, and life is fleeting, so every moment is priceless.

5. Carsten Heller, The Mushroom Room, 2000

The Mushroom Room by Belgian artist Carsten Holler is a sheer pleasure in terms of tickling your nerves and senses. Holler deliberately chose the red and white mushroom for its psychoactive properties, grossly exaggerating their size, color, and texture to enhance their dramatic effect.

Suspended upside down from the ceiling, they impede the movement of the participants, thereby forcing them to squeeze between them so as not to damage the seemingly delicate and fragile "hats". According to the artist, this installation allows each viewer to plunge into a new fairy-tale world and feel what it is like to be a part of a story invented by someone.

6. Olafur Eliasson, Weather Project, 2003

Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson has designed his impressively ambitious installation, The Weather Project, which captures the effect of a huge sun emerging through a thin and wavering veil of fog. Low-frequency lamps around his artificial sun allowed the golden sunshine to dominate the space, reducing all surrounding colors to magical hues of gold and black. The Illusion Master made his luminous ball out of a semicircle of light reflected by mirrored panels on the ceiling that complete the circle, giving the upper half of the sun a hazy, shimmering glow that mimics a true solar glow. These mirrored panels were placed throughout the ceiling, allowing visitors to see their reflection as if floating in the sky above them, creating a sense of weightlessness in space.

7. Anish Kapoor, Swayambh, 2007

Made from thirty tons of soft wax and pigment, Swayambh slowly moves back and forth along a specially designed path between the museum's pristine arches, leaving behind an incredibly dirty trail of sticky matter. Kapoor's installation is a colossal ten meters long and, thanks to its texture and red color, evokes different kinds of sensations for visitors. Someone is given nostalgia, and someone falls into thought, what is the meaning of this installation, which is difficult to understand from the first time, however, from the second, third and fifth time it is not easier …

8. Yayoi Kusama, Mirror Room Infinity, 2013

The Infinity Mirror Room by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is one of the most breathtaking endless rooms that has captivated gallery goers around the world. Created by installing mirrored panels around the walls, ceiling and floor of a small enclosed space, and decorated with hundreds of thousands of glowing multi-colored lights, this room turns into a vast and endless darkness, illuminated by the reflections of lights.

Visitors entering the room walk along a mirrored path and see prismatic reflections of themselves scattered throughout the space, thereby feeling as if it absorbs them from head to toe, completely erasing boundaries.

9. Random International, Rain Room, 2013

The well-known installation by Random International "Rain Room" laconically combines art and technology into one whole. Visitors can walk through a rushing stream of rainwater, but miraculously stay dry as sensors detect their movement and cause the rain to stop around them. This deceptively simple idea of the London collective encompasses a natural symbiosis between art and the viewer, as the installation only comes alive through physical interaction. Designed for temporary gallery spaces around the world, the first permanent installation "Rain Room" was installed at the Sharjah Art Foundation in the United Arab Emirates in 2018.

10. Phyllida Barlow, Doc, 2014

In Phyllida Barlow's Dock, made for Tate Britain, a series of huge, haphazard assemblies created from recovered debris, nailed down and hung around the room. Piles of scraps of wood are hastily glued together to form flimsy-looking forests, with tufts of brightly colored fabric, old garbage bags and discarded clothes tied with colored ribbon.

At first glance, this installation resembles a child's attempt to build at least something out of nothing, but in fact, her work reflects the alarming instability of life in the modern urban environment.

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