Installation Art is a term that loosely refers to the type of art into which the

viewer physically enters, and which is often described as theatrical, immersive

or experiential.1 The term has since then expanded to describe any arrangement
of objects in any given space even to the point where it can happily be applied
to a conventional display of paintings on a wall. Another definition classifies
installations into two broad types. The first is a collection of objects of which one
large object is composed and the second type aims to completely transform a
space.2 Over the course of this paper I will largely confine myself to a slightly
more narrow definition that would range from the type of art into which the
viewer physically enters to a simple three dimensional arrangement of objects
but not so far as to include a conventional display of paintings on a wall.
Though the above definition is of all-encompassing nature, one must briefly
ponder on what an installation of art and what an installation art is. An
installation of art can simply be used to describe say how an exhibition is
arranged, and in the 1960s the photographic documentation of this
arrangement was termed as installation shot and this gave rise to the use of
installation art for works that used the whole space. 3 Even if we blur the
differences in the arrangement of these words and the subtle meanings
associated with them, what remain is a desire to heighten the viewers
awareness of how objects are positioned in a space and the viewers bodily
response to the same.
This bodily response to a work of installation art is what I believe makes it
divergent from a traditional work of art, say a painting on a canvas. I cannot
deny that a painting could evoke emotions in you, it could take you in memory
to the landscape it depicts or the subject of the painting could even bring out
anger, happiness or any wide range of emotions but undeniably it remains a two
dimensional piece of work hanging on a wall. The interaction that one
encounters with a painting is largely limited to the visual senses. Another
distinct difference from a traditional work like a painting is the position of the
viewer. Often the viewer walks into the work to experience it and there is no
specific position that the viewer is given. The artist now has lesser control of
how the individual views his piece without techniques like vanishing point that a
painter can employ. One must also not forget the other viewers in the same
space turn into part of the piece for each viewer. Ilya Kabakov who I had earlier
referenced for his differentiation of the two types of installation has more to
1 Claire Bishop, Introduction : Installation Art and Experience, Installation Art as a
Critical History, (Tate Publishing, 2005)
2 Ilya Kabakov et al, About Installation, Art Journal Vol 58 No 4, (College Art
Association, 1999)
3 Bishop (ibid)

elucidate on the theme of total installation, the main motor of the total
installation, what it lives by the cranking wheel of association, cultural or
everyday analogies, personal memories. One can then conclude that the
experience of the viewer is a combination of conscious associations with the
objects that the artist has placed and the unconscious association that Kabakav
speaks of. Thus context too becomes an important aspect of the relationship
between the viewer and the artwork.
If were to trace the origins of installation art it would lead us to explore the term
Gesamtkunstwerk. The literal translation means total work of art and this term
thus encompasses the utopian aspirations beginning in early nineteenth century
towards the union of all arts into one single art. Though the idea was lent
popularity by Richard Wagner, its first appearance is arguably owed to K.F.E
Trahndorff who in a paper stated four arts,the art of the sound of the word,
music, mimic art and dance bear the possibility of coalescing to become a single
production.4 Wagner first uses Gesamtkunstwerk in his essay Art and
Revolution to refer to his view of Greek drama as combining music, dance and
poetry. It must be noted that this differs from his own application of the term in
the future. The ultimate goal was not limited to simply artistic expression but
also to cultivate a harmonious social relationships and this was explored in his
later operas. It is this idea that I believe in a way creates the roots for the
concept of installation art. This leads me to the works of Allan Kaprow who is
said to influence Installation Art to the way it conceptualized today.
Kaprows early focus was on intellectual and theorized view of art, and rejection
of the Abstract Expressionism movement. He called for a shift from permanence
in art to non-concrete modes of production. Drawing from this thread, he went
on in the 1960s to stage his happenings. 5 The term was first used to describe
the performance events that took place on George Segals farm in 1957. He
defined it to be an assemblage of events performed or perceived in more than
one time and place. 6 For example his happening titled Household
commissioned by Cornell University was set in a lonesome dump out in the
country with trash heaps all around part surrounded by red tin fence and part by
trees. He goes on to sequence the events as they are to take place and it
includes building saplings and strings on a trash mound and women licking
strawberry jam off a car (see figure 1). These changed the definition of the art.
Art no longer is confined to be something viewed hanging on a wall or pedestal.
4 Gesamtkunstwerk viewed at http://www.see-this-sound.at/print/41 on 14th Oct
2014
5 Happenings viewed at http://www.theartstory.org/movement-happenings.htm on
14th Oct 2015
6 Allan Kaprow, Definition, Some Recent Happenings, (Great Bear Pamphlet, 1966)

It could simply be a movement, sound or even scent best captured by Kaprows

statement, The everyday world is the most astonishing inspiration conceivable.
A walk down the 14th Street is more amazing than any masterpiece of art.
Formal aesthetics he believed were no longer relevant when the art left the
canvas and his work was based on an aesthetic of regular experiences, a
transient and momentary experience felt by the viewer being as significant as a
painting on canvas. I would from my earlier argument even go on to say that the
experience felt by the viewer though momentary might even be more intense
than a traditional work of art owing to the multiple senses at play. The
Happenings were largely affected by the involvement of the viewer. When each
instance of a Happening occurred the viewer was used to add in an element of
chance so every time a piece was performed it would never be the same as the
previous time. It is with this thought that I explore a more contemporary living
artist specializing in installations.
Olafur Eliasson specializes in large scale installation art employing elemental
materials such as light, water and air temperature to enhance the viewers
experience. His work with light can be best described through his piece in 1997,
Room for one color (see figure 2). The room is illuminated by yellow
monofrequency light which makes the room appear colourless by reducing all
other colours to a scale comprised by yellow. At the same time, the viewer sees
objects with an uncharacteristic sharpness because the eye has lesser
information than usual to process. However the eye eventually compensates by
generating in excess the missing blue and red spectrum. Together they give
violet, the colour in which the adjacent room gets bathed in the moment the
viewer leaves the yellow room.

Figure 1"Women licking jam off a car", Happening 'Household', 1964

Figure 2 Eliasson, "Room for one colour", 1997

Eliassons very minimalistic settings makes us question what it is that

constitutes art even in an installation art framework. One is confronted with this
question with more intensity when considers installations like Shibboleth (see

figure 3) in the Tate Modern. Placed by the artist Doris Salcedo, the installation
takes the form of a 548 foot long meandering hairline crack that widens to a foot
at one point. A New York Times piece on the installation said that some might
agree with Tate Modern that the work concerns with the divisions between
creed, color, class and culture that maintain our social order, precariously
balanced as it is on the precipice of a chaotic void of hatred. The piece went on
to take opinions of the viewers present with many culminating to statements
like, theres some kind of meaning behind it, although I dont know what. 7 An
art that comprises of a crack created by opening up the floor takes us to the sort
of confusion that philosopher Arthur Danto faced when confronted with Warhols
Brillo Boxes which were merely boxes that one would find in the supermarket. I
am tempted to borrow from the space of the Brillo Box question to explain
Shibboleth. George Dickie said that any artifact . . . which has had conferred
upon it the status of candidate for appreciation by some person or persons
acting on behalf of a certain social institution (the art world). With this quote in
place I am not only tying the links of this art type with the early conceptual art
movement but also being more accepting of many of the art installations that I
have seen (through images) over the course of writing this paper. 8

7 Sarah Lyall, Caution : Art Afoot, (NY times, Dec 11, 2007) viewed at
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/arts/design/11crac.html?_r=0 on 14th October
2014
8 Cynthia Freeland, Paradigms and Purposes, Is this Art? (Oxford University Press,
2001)

Figure 3, Salcedo "Shibboleth", 2007

Also art installations cover a wide range of types and mediums, many that I
havent explored so far in this paper. In this area, the works of Maurizio Bolognini
becomes interesting with his installations that explore the potential and
implications of new media technologies. Some of his installations are designed
in a way that the viewers can activate processes (see fig 4). Of late there has
been an increasing trend towards interactive art installations using digital,
video, film, sound and sculpture.

Figure 4, Bolognini, urban installation that uses the viewers cellphones

Yet the way in which installation art has such a direct relationship with the
viewer has affected the effectiveness with which I can define the concept or
even talk about examples that I have never experienced. I have come to realize
that this work of art demands the presence of the viewer and to at least partially
overcome this limitation, I decided to include an experiential component into my
paper. This component can be divided into two parts.
I decided early that I wanted any creation to be made with minimal wastage of
material. This eventually led me to think of creating an installation with the
many empty bottles of packaged drinking water lying around in my room. It
made me wonder how I would have dealt with the challenge before studying the
Art Appreciation course. This thought eventually developed into what I call my
experiment 1 in installations. I reached out to friends outside of the fellowship
with no background in art theory which included a diverse group with some who
would define themselves as artistic and others who avoid anything that perceive
as art. Text messages with instructions were sent out. It formed a 3 point
message as given below,
1. Read the Wikipedia entry on the topic Art Installation. A cursory reading
would suffice.

2. Think of an installation that you can make with the primary object being
30 empty plastic bottles. You are free to include other objects as well.
3. Make a rough sketch of the plan you devise and send the image over to
me.
Note You are encouraged to complete the entire activity in 30 minutes.

It is clear from the images that the five participants interpreted the idea of
installation art differently. Participants 1 and 2 (the two images in the first row)
have understood it to mean simply an arrangement of objects to create a larger
object. They have also not ventured to add any additional material in their
creation of their installation plans titled Statue of Liberty and Rocket
respectively. Participants 3 and 4 (the two images in the second row) have
interpreted the concept to have to involve some level of movement of the
viewer. Participant 3 had decided to simply place the thirty bottles at random
across an empty room with no underlying order for the arrangement. Participant
4 brings two other elements to her creation. She chooses to place the 30 bottles
in a hexagon wood cut and by strategically placing three pieces of mirror strives
to enlarge the space and also create an illusion of depth. The fifth participant
however within the thirty minutes managed to both ask relevant additional

questions over my instructions concerning about the space and the viability
constraints and also create a full-fledged plan for a total installation. It must
however be admitted that this participant often indulges in artistic pursuits
which raises an area for further exploration. How much role does natural ability
play in tackling an artistic challenge? Is a large part of speedy ideation merely
owing to repeated works in art mediums?
Even though the above experiment helped me understand the concept better it
was largely again limited to how people interpret the idea. I realized that there
was need to be a part of the creation of a piece of an art installation to truly
understand it. With the help of individuals on my residence floor, in fact largely
leaving the creation to them, I decided to attempt an art installation with the
same challenge I had set in experiment 1. However the time constraint was
loosened to fall between 45-50 minutes.

Figure 5, Title Geometry

Representation of three dimensional space is often not satisfactory through a

two dimensional format so I shall attempt to narrate the experience and the final
scene. The theme Geometry was decided with consensus for its ease of
application. The corner space of my chosen and a handmade geometric quilt in
my possession was strewn on the floor. Left top corner of the photograph shows
the first bottle hanging freely. Moving towards the right one sees a combination
of three bottles affixed to the wall to create a triangle. The top half is also
occupied by a canvas of geometric space sketched in pencil and partially
coloured in using pastel crayons. On the canvas 7 bottles are taped together to
create a three dimensional circle. A string of fairy lights follow the bottles on the
wall and another string of fairy lights is loosely placed over the bottles arranged

haphazardly on the quilt. Also a number of bottles filled with coloured water is
placed on the quilt to create an oval shape. In the image, I play the role of the
viewer. To engage the auditory sense of the viewer, a playlist by the blind New
York composer, Moondog was played in the background. Though it does not
function as a total installation or even an interactive one, I must admit there was
an almost unidentifiable emotion of being part of an art work created even if for
a short while.
To conclude I cannot say I much closer to understanding or defining the concept.
I do believe that there is a need to explore more artists and installations to
gauge if there exists any underlying pattern. I am however tempted to believe
this precisely is one of the objectives of this art, to defy being bounded by a
narrow definitions.