When the Denver Art Museum (DAM) opened its new expansion, the Frederic C. Hamilton Building which was designed by Daniel Libeskind; art critics and some viewers complained about the unusual contemporary design. A common complaint of Libeskind’s architecture was that the slanted walls made it difficult to show lots of artwork.
However, the current show Embrace proved them wrong! Seventeen contemporary installation artists were invited to work with this unusual architectural space and it was a huge success in my opinion. The wonderful staircase and atrium in DAM gives the opportunity for the viewers to see several of the installations multiple times in different perspectives, and to see connections between the installations.
The Embrace show is about the dialogue between painting (in a broad scope) and the architecture. In the Embrace catalogue, Christoph Heinrich’s talks about the labyrinthine space, cavern qualities, mazes, and diagonal walls in the Hamilton Building at DAM.
Even in the very beginnings of art, cave painting responded to the shape of stone…with the bison… deriving their volume from the natural projections of the walls on which they were painted.
I found this to be an interesting analogy, having toured many of the ancient cave sites in Europe. Henrich’s discussion about the traditional “white cube” type of museum and the new role of the general public in art appreciation is very interesting. I highly recommend this Embrace catalogue to further understand museums, viewer’s roles, installation art and the artist’s concepts and process. The catalogue has so many great photos of the artists at work, plus their final installations, that you don’t have to see the actual show to learn from it. Unfortunately the show closes April 4, 2010, but the catalogue will still be available.
Leave a Reply