During my research on Real Space I was especially interested in Bruce Nauman’s corridor installations. I was immediately struck by their ability to make me feel claustrophobic without even having to stand in them. You are able to mentally place yourself in these artworks. Nancy Spector wrote for Guggenheim, “Using puns, claustrophobic passageways with surveillance cameras, and videotaped recitations of bad jokes, he has created situations that are physically or intellectually disorienting, forcing viewers to confront their own experiential thresholds.” This got me thinking about my own artworks and how I was able to make myself uncomfortable by placing a desk in my bathroom, combining two very different moods of productivity and relaxation. Nauman focuses on how the viewer feels in his sculptures. Spector again wrote, “Nauman enforces the contrast between the perceptual and physical experience of space in his sculptures and installations.” This brief is getting me to think about how space can be intervened and transformed to physically and mentally change how we relate to a space.
Emma – the way you using your research to inform your work is great. You can see it clearly here as you have digested the reading and then considered how it relates to your own interest. Nice job.