Living things

In 2008 I was tremendously fortunate to be commissioned by the Nelson Atkins Museum to make a piece for their project space. I used it as an opportunity to make what I thought of as a prototype house. I made hills in the floor, I built some furniture for it and I installed a couple of existing pieces like Flood and Lunuganga.

The idea of the hills was to change the rules of the space both to make an unfamiliar environment where you know that the norms are shifted and to see what physical implications of it would be. It was interesting to see the effect the hills had on visitors to the Gallery, which was often regression to childhood. This is a familiar phenomenon in installations, but one that I find a little disappointing. It's nice to have fun with something, but it's a shame if that's where you stop. It was better when the gallery was quiet, when people aren't in groups they don't clown about in the same way and they're more open to exploring other ways of inhabiting the space. Then the hills become really good places to sit or points to stand and think.