Statement
Kathleen Campbell
Descartes once said that, through reason, "we will become masters and possessors of Nature." This hubris, passed down to us in the West from the early modern age, pervades contemporary life, from capitalist disdain for the ecosystem to the destructive effects of technological weaponry to the increasing attempts by biotechnologists to play God.
This "chapel" is dedicated, tongue-in-cheek, to this "Modern Theology" and our "worship" of rationalistic values. The room depicts an artificial universe of the sort western "Man" could presumably create if he tried. Yet its construction suggests the limits of human abilities, as well as the effects of the West's rationalized and destructive treatment of nature.
Five "stained glass windows" adorn the walls. Four of these represent the ancient elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Two refer to pollution and two to destruction. They are paired, male and female. Banal material objects suggested by each element surround the figures. The fifth window assumes the central role in the installation. It refers, through the ancient symbols of mystical geometry -- the compass and the ruler, to the Platonic idea of God, the Great Architect of the Universe - and to his microcosmic duplicate, Man, the human architect, or Rational Being, who has gradually usurped the role of the Divine and created the universe in which we now must live.
The room in which the installation takes place echoes these ideas. The gridded ceiling is painted midnight blue. The "stars" are golden hubcaps, bottle caps and tin can lids set in geometric designs. A fluorescent light fixture in the center of the room creates the rays of the "sun," shining down over a circle of golden rocks and fallen paper stars. Digitized Christmas tree lights flicker in patterns around the ceiling, while contemporary Gregorian Chants emanate from a gold-painted tape deck on a pedestal near the front. Here is a world filled with wonders -- our own artificial "Nature" -- entirely man-made and self-sufficient. As in the myth of King Midas, everything we touch turns to gold.
Essays/Reviews
|
