"It's like plastic, it's right there."
Campbell used this phrase a number of times during her lecture to the point where it became a mantra to her work, for me. When saying this, she is referencing the "object" and how she incorporates elements of object culture into her pieces. Campbell is constantly playing with the "artifice and the real" in her installations. Usually this play involves duplications to the extent of achieving a mirror-like effect. When she used this phrase in reference to her storefront installation, Campbell is, in a very straightforward way, describing the reality of the piece. The reflected effect the work takes is only an illusion reinforced by the viewers' habits of looking and seeing in perspective. When they realize their own image is not reflected, the realization of the artifice is "like plastic."
3 Words
1) Dimensionality
2) Perspective
3) Illusion
About Campbell
The most interesting thing that I learned about Campbell that I didn't already know is something I don't think she is sure she wants anyone to know, the fact her eye position prevents her from seeing dimensions. I think Campbell keeps this so hidden because of a hesitancy for the questioning which surrounds the issues of making work about an element she isn't able to perceive. I feel very grateful she let this fact slip, however, because I think it makes the work. My questions posted below were really trying to get at the "why" questions in her work. From researching Campbell the other day, I gathered a sense of painstaking methodology to her work which is so carefully and meticulously created, it seems anxious. After learning about her eye issues, this methodology makes a lot more sense to me. It is headache inducing to imagine such laborious work complicated with such a large issue, but I feel this adds the personal element to the "why" questions I had.
Answers to Questions
1) My first question addressed the reasons for Campbell's work, for example, whether it is intended to challenge the viewer or herself or both. My paragraph above already explains how I feel this work may be very subconsciously challenging for Campbell. During her lecture, she also addressed this question, saying, "people entered into the piece in different ways...the viewer is the human presence" in the work. The installations incorporate the viewers own consciousness and self-awareness behaviors they acquire throughout life. Only, in these circumstances, their reinforced human behavioral tendencies fail, and they are wrong. The work also incorporates the moments after this occurs, when the viewer must sort out real from the artifice. Campbell mentioned to some viewers, this was very emotionally challenging, which is to be expected when the human experience has failed them.
2) My second question from below examined the material/form/reference in Campbell's wire flow chart sculptures. I wanted to know the reasons for the conflict of heavy and delicate and material and scientific cognitive references. I gathered from the lecture that these sculptures are still generally in the working stages and more discovery will happen in the future, making it easier to lecture about them. However, Campbell did say, "I think of them as drawings, they don't call them objects." This makes me think they are purely physical manifestations of her potential future drawings, and as the sculptures are beautiful, the work ultimately left me wanting more. I do think Campbell will ultimately incorporate all these ideas into a more cohesive final product, which will be very interesting.
Compelling Piece
The most compelling piece for me was Campbell's thesis piece of the two bedrooms. Not only did this piece reference the same virtual realities her newer pieces did, I think they must have been extremely jarring for the physical viewer. I feel like I would never be able to keep track of which compass direction I would be facing after a few minutes in that house, which, for me, is a huge Alice in Wonderland inducing phobia. Claustrophobia, disorientation, and even questioning my human existence would most likely occur if I were to view this installation physically. I think that more than her other pieces, Campbell truly gets at this idea of "cultural schizophrenia" in this piece as well as notions of truth within space, time, and the human condition.
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