Monday, June 20, 2011

Scribbledehobbledehoyden: The Magpie's Eye: Page 118

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"This continual [something] has had a strange effect on urban sculpture (. . .) they have started to grow, like giant, thirsty tropical plants" and so they have been brought inside, to keep them from growing faster.  Well . . . though this is a work that grows out of science fiction and uses science fiction tropes throughout, the artist does not claim it is a work of pure science fiction.  Our genre is only a jumping-off point for her purposes and obsessions.
In fact, the sculpture is the best part of the installation.  A supersized version of one of Louise Bourgeois's spiders steps into the visual footprint of Calder's Flange.  No museum would dare overlap the two sculptures thus, but seen together they comment on each other, to the detriment of neither.
To the front of the installation, clips from SF and art films play continually, commenting on the fix of those caught in the shelter.  A lone radio plays an awful song.  And ranks of spiderlike machines on

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2 comments:

Frank Böhmert said...

Wow. I like that. Much.

Michael Swanwick said...

It was a remarkable installation.