MASS MoCA is a big place. That's a good thing because some of their art installations need all the space they can get. One such work is the Simon Starling: The Nanjing Particles installation.
The work challenges the viewer on many dimensions: time, size, and space. The photos transport us back to an earlier time, but they literally let us SEE through them into the present.
Looking through the holes, one sees an enormous version of two silver grains which are present in the photographs' film. The grains' shape is faithfully reproduced in three dimensions. They have also been scaled up to the size of a small car. From a distance, the grains appear as they would if viewed under a very powerful microscope. Up close, the giant silver granules take on a sculptural quality and answer the often asked question, "What would this thing look like if we were the microscopic ones?"
Another installation which we found interesting was the large wall drawings conceived by Sol LeWitt. They reminded us of some of the color-perception experiments from Psych 101.
Lines, arcs, colors and spacing are all described in exacting detail in LeWitt's instructions because works of this size cannot be done by just one individual (there were many people actually painting). In order to execute these giant paintings, LeWitt had to develop a vocabulary to describe how to implement his vision. The build "instructions" are as interesting as the results.
We took some images of the wall drawings at different resolution to give readers a sense of the enormous level of detail at all levels. The playful lines and colorful movements are evident at all scales.
There are a lot more installations at MASS MoCA. We have only mentioned a few of the ones that "spoke" to us in particular. If the ones we mentioned do not intrigue you, we are pretty sure something else there will. Go check out what's at MASS MoCA. It may push you in ways you may not expect. [Permalink] - More MASS MoCA
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