ART INSTALLATIONS
I
Lead-in.
A) Look
at the images below. There are two examples of sculptures and two examples of
installations. Which images are the photos of sculptures?
B) Which
of the objects in images from question A
can you see in a museum? Have you been to a museum to see sculptures? Have you been
to a museum to see installations?
II
Vocabulary focus. Study the words and their definitions. Use three
words in your sentences.
three-dimensional - having three
dimensions (length, height, depth)
porcelain - white ceramic
tangible - that can be touched
replica - a copy
runway - a platform along which models walks in
fashion shows
immersive - that appears to surround a person
cutlery - knives, forks, and spoons
used for eating food
overwhelming - very strong (about emotion)
kudos - (informal) compliments
III Watch the video and fill in the gaps
with the words from the list. There are some words you don’t need to
use.
sculpture; separation; materials; colourful; sound;
story; relationship; installation; box;
object
For this edition of Art 101 we're talking about 1) ______. That form of
art that seems like it should be sculpture, but has way more parts and makes
your uncle mad.
A
2) ______is fairly easy to define. Encyclopaedia
Britannica calls it ‘an artistic form in which hard or plastic 3) ______are worked into three-dimensional
art objects’. So sculpture is a
three-dimensional thing, maybe it's a portrait bust or a unicorn, or just a
plain-looking 4) ______. But it's an
5) ______, it’s tangible, and it's
in one piece. You can pick it up if it's not too heavy, or you can take it away
in a truck, or you can just point at it and say: “Hey! That's a sculpture.”
The word ‘installation’ is a bit
different, call it sculpture’s complicated cousin. An installation might take
up a whole room. It might have some video, a bunch of sculptures, maybe even some
wind or some 6) ______. An
installation is made of many elements that have a relationship to each other to
make a larger point or build a larger 7)
______. And rather than the specific objects being independently important,
it's the 8) ______between all of
them that creates meaning.
IV
Watch the video and match the photos (1-6) to the names of installations (A-F).
Which installations do you want to see and why?
A.
Infinity Rooms
B.
Sunflower Seeds
C.
Wrapped Reichstag
D.
The Floating Piers (floating runway)
E.
The Dinner Party
F.
The Weather Project
V Match the artists and their projects. Watch the video in task IV to check your
answers.
|
1.
|
Yayoi Kusama
|
a)
|
The Dinner Party
|
|
2.
|
Ai Weiwei
|
b)
|
Wrapped Reichstag
|
|
3.
|
Christo and Jean-Claude
|
c)
|
The Weather Project
|
|
4.
|
Christo
|
d)
|
Sunflower Seeds
|
|
5.
|
Judy Chicago
|
e)
|
Infinity Rooms
|
|
6.
|
Olafur Eliasson
|
f)
|
The Floating Piers (runway
floating on water)
|
VI Watch the video in task IV and choose the correct
option to complete the sentences.
1.
In _______
there were a multitude of elements: pumpkins, mirrors, twinkling lights.
a) The Dinner Party
b) Sunflower Seeds c) Infinity Rooms
2.
______ was a
huge triangular table, and each place setting from plates, to cups, to cutlery
was made in honour of an important woman like Emily Dickinson or Virginia
Woolf.
a) The Dinner Party
b) The Weather Project c) Sunflower Seeds
3.
______
created magical atmosphere and made a tiny closet feel like an immense
landscape.
a) Wrapped Reichstag
b) The Dinner Party
c) Infinity Rooms
4.
_____ that made a major case for feminism.
a) Sunflower Seeds
b) The Dinner Party c) Wrapped Reichstag
5.
_____
included a huge blazing artificial sun and used light and shadow.
a) The Weather Project b) Wrapped Reichstag c) Infinity Rooms
6.
Installation _______
commented on mass production and made a huge political statement.
a) Sunflower Seeds b) The Weather Project c) The Dinner Party
7.
Installation _____ used a hundred million porcelain replicas of
sunflower seeds made by sixteen hundred people.
a) The Dinner Party
b) Sunflower Seeds c) The Weather Project
8.
_____ made the point that there have been a lot of
powerful women through history even if history's chosen to ignore them.
a) The Dinner Party b) Infinity Rooms c) Sunflower Seeds
9.
_____ created an immersive experience filled with
hope and wonder, and the moment before sunset that never ends.
a) Wrapped Reichstag
b) The Weather Project
c) Infinity Rooms
10._______ is an example of ‘environmental art’.
a) The Dinner Party
b) Infinity Rooms c) Wrapped Reichstag
VII Watch the video and choose the correct option to complete the sentences.
So why are installations importance/important/importantly, why not just stick to sculpture? If we break it down to its simplest,
installations let artists/art/parts
do things that sculpture can’t. Artists use installation to involve us more
with the parts/darts/art. We get to
stand in a space and have a different experiential/experience/experimented
than looking at a single object which, in turn, might make us think a little
more or feeling/fillers/feel a
little more. Installations let artists condemn/comment/commanded
on the world in a complex way and make us part of the experience. They're also
tricky to sell, so kudos to the artist for taking a risk/tricks/risked.
VIII OVER TO YOU. Discuss the
questions:
A) How do you understand the difference between sculpture
and installation? Would you like to see installations in your local museum? What
installations would you like to create?
B) Find information about the installations created
by the artists from your city or your country. Choose the installation that
impressed you. Share your ideas with other students and describe the
installation that impressed you (what objects and materials the artist used,
what message the artist wanted to share).
