(re)collecting rural — memory, heritage and a rural identify under threat [msd independent thesis]

Page 84

The wall The museum wall is the site of the work, it is conceived as a blank backing onto which the work can sit as an autonomous unit. Its vertical sets it in relationship with the eye of the human being, orthogonal to their gaze. The uninterrupted wall, matte and white does not distract and does not impose itself onto either the work or the human being. It is neutral and without agenda. The uninterrupted wall borders a spaces and conceals what is beyond creating the first boundary of the limit of space. The interrupted wall produces a gash, an interruption, a wound to the above relationship. No longer does it present as a singularity, now there is orientation, an above and a below. The wall does not delineate the human being from the work but gives passage to the outside. Now the human being sees through the neutral surface of the uninterrupted wall into the outside. The work no longer sits against the wall but against the outside. The wall’s new designation as delineatior to the outside gives it a coordinate in relation to the expanse beyond. The human being is datum 0, the work datum 2 and the wall datum 3. A myriad of datums exist beyond the wall as space expands to the theoretical horizon. The wall frames the outside. In some way it can be read as a vertical plane that sits behind the wall thus the vertical relationship to gaze is held. The gaze now extends past the work though, where it would operate in one vertical axis, to a series of vertical axes extending back into the outside. The human being sees the work and the outside simultaneously or is aware of the outside as they view the work. The gaze is not fixed or mono-focused. The gaze shifts in a constant process of contextualising and recontextualising. The work and the outside. The human being and the work. The outside and the human being. The wall is no longer opaque.

166

167


Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.