When In Doubt

Art for an unsure world.

My world has been off kilter for some time now.  I’m anxious about so many things. My career. The political climate. Gays being gunned down in nightclubs. Personal relationships. The loss of the most important person in my life. Nothing seems predictable or reliable.  I suspect I’m not alone in this uneasiness.

Art is often more adept at communicating the ethereal apprehensions gnawing at the backs of our minds. Such was the case during my trip to Italy. It started with Christo’s The Floating Piers and its temporary, ephemeral nature; it’s endless ebb and sway; it’s thin line between life and drowning. It continued with much of the art I saw during the rest of my trip.

Take Doubt.  Installed at the Pirelli HangarBicocca, this sprawling exhibition by Carsten Höller was unsettling. And yet, amidst all of the anxiety-inducing art, I found a strange solace. It was as if the Art world is aware of my anxiety and wants me to know that they feel it too.  That we're all in this together.  And that even if we don't know the outcome, there's still hope we'll all make it through.

An uncertain future.

This photo features two works: Y (2003) and Division Walls (2016).  Y is an amusement-park-like walkway that leads to entrances to the rest of the exhibit.  There were numerous warnings that those who could not handle complete darkness or are claustrophobic should not enter.  They weren't kidding about the extreme darkness.

Light at the end of the tunnel.

Decision Corridors (2015) was a maze made out of large metal walkways.  They were completely dark so that you had to feel your way through.  At the very end, you emerged into the larger exhibit.

An art carnival

The main area of the installation had a carnival like feel where I was able to soar above it all in Two Flying Machines (2015) and flip the world with Upside-Down Goggles (1994/2011) while riding Double Carousel (2011).

Celestial lights

Yellow/Orange Double Sphere (2016) was a blinking, blinding light that seemed to act as a guiding star for visitors. 

Lost in sleep

My favorite work int he installation was Two Roaming Beds (Grey) (2015).  These single beds were remote controlled by an algorithm and a GPS signal, so they aimlessly (and creepily) wandered the cavernous space of HangarBicocca. 

Night at the museum

Had I known, I could have spent the night at HangarBicocca.  The artist invited visitors to sleep and experience the exhibition by themselves at night, alone.  I doubt you'd get much sleep and the experience would likely induce strange dreams for some time to come.

Two Roaming Beds (Grey) (2015) was one of the most powerful works of art I've experienced. It was unsettling and emotional, feelings that were heightened by the work that led into the large open space: Light Corridor (2016), a flashing, hallucination-inducing collection of overwhelming light.  For visitors who chose to spend the night in one of the beds, they received, "a set of toothpastes . . . specifically designed to induce more vivid dreams and to remember them better." Below is a video of a walk through Light Corridor and into the space beyond.

A walk through Carsten Höller's Light Corridor (2016) and Two Roaming Beds (Grey) (2015).