The two works I’ve decided to discuss and compare are Slow Arc Inside a Cube VIII by Conrad Shawcross and Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii by Nam June Paik.
#1: Slow Arc Inside a Cube VII
I actually saw this work in person at the ArtScience Museum last year. The subject of this work consists of a metal mesh cage, and single lights that are attached to each of the two arms within the cage. The arms travel diagonally from one corner of the cube to another, casting shadows of the mesh pattern onto the walls of the room it resides in.
The form of the work is largely focused on light and shadow. The light (and resulting shadow of the cage) fills the entire room the viewer is in, creating an environment that is constantly shifting and moving. There is no sound coming from the artwork, so the viewers will just be hearing noises occuring in the museum (which they will likely tune out). I would say that the work is extremely immersive in terms of visual sensation and engagement.
This work has been exhibited in different countries and museums. I feel that the most important aspect of the work’s context is probably the location it is in – because it directly affects the way the shadows are casted on the wall. For the version I saw in the ArtScience Museum, the shadows curved to the plane of the wall which was not completely straight due to the architectural design of the museum. Also, it was in quite a large space. In another gallery, the space might have been smaller, or the walls a different shape, which would affect the resulting visual presented to the audience. Of course, there is also the geographical context of the work – there is likely to be a larger number of Singaporeans visiting the work since it is a museum in Singapore, and they would have a very different set of experiences and cultural backgrounds as compared to British viewers (the very first version of the work was exhibited in a gallery in London), which would affect their reading of the work.
The content of the work is inspired by a description by the scientist Dorothy Hodgkin, who compared the long-winded process of extrapolating the dense protein cloud from reams of chromatographic grids to trying to work out the structure of a tree from purely looking at its shadow. The work questions: if you could only see the shadows upon the walls, would you ever be able to truly infer the machine and the geometry of the cage it is housed in? The artist invites the viewer to reflect upon the invisible phenomena in our universe and how we seek to understand it.
#2: Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii
For Paik’s work, the subject is a 47-channel video wall featuring the states of America outlined in neon lights. For each state, the TVs play and replay a piece of media that has some association to the state, for example, a clip from the Wizard of Oz for Kansas.
The form of the work is multisensory, as the viewers consider not just the visual images but also the sound coming from all the different clips, and the brightness of the neon lights. I would imagine that the entire artwork is quite an overwhelming experience. The scale of the work is huge, and the viewer is confronted with a massive amount of media and sound that is on a rapid and constant loop. It overloads the viewer with information, who cannot find a focal point.
The work is displayed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. The work is a commentary on the media landscape of America in the 1990s, which aligns with the geographical context in the sense that it is directly related to the history of its location. While it could be that American visitors are more able to connect with the work in terms of its images that reflect American media culture, the universality of the work as a commentary on mass media’s influence on societies could also make it accessible to viewers from other countries as well.
Paik’s work comments on the influence of the information age in 1990s America, during which mass media had become a huge part of American lifestyles. The states are linked by a network of neon lights, which echoes the network of interstate “superhighways” that economically and culturally unified the continental U.S. in the 1950s. However, whereas the highways facilitated the transportation of people and goods from coast to coast, the neon lights suggest that what unites us now is not so much physical transportation, but electronic communication. By representing each state with one singular video clip, Paik also invites the viewer to consider the impact of mass media on native cultures. Because mass media is now so widespread, our image of distinct cultures is also largely influenced by the media we consume. like TV and film.
#3: Use of Time
Shawcross’ installation embodies both measured and experienced time. As the mechanical arms travel from one end of the cube to another over and over again, at regular intervals, there is a sense of measured time from this recurring movement. And as the viewer looks at the shadows moving across the wall, they experience time passing. The experienced time probably varies depending on the location of the artwork. In a smaller space, the shadows would be bigger, and vice versa, which can affect how the viewer perceives the speed at which they are moving, and hence their judgement of how much time has passed (faster movement = less time passing).
Paik’s installation also has experienced time, as the viewer experiences the time passing, and quite quickly, since the videos loop rapidly at constant rhythms, which is an indicator to the viewer that time is passing with the moving of images. But his installation relies more on edited time in comparison to Shawcross’ measured time. Paik edits various clips together for each state, creating a montage of different times within that screen, but also on a larger scale, when we consider the artwork as a whole, and it is a montage of montages all playing at the same time. The arrangement of time through the use of video stands out in this installation.