Movement and connections by Michaela Hall , artist and critic
We all feel something different and unique when we visit a gallery, the artwork that is usually static for us to ‘view’ provokes different thoughts and emotions depending on our own situations. However, when we are invited to be immersed completely in an artwork that is live, changing, and moving, we are given the opportunity to connect in a new way with the work, and the others around us in the same position. We are given the chance to bring the artwork to life with our own interactions and movements.
An artist who embraces this fully in their entire approach toward creativity is American-born Ann Hamilton. Well known for her large-scale scale inviting and interactive works that take over a space, she prioritises audience engagement. One of her most famous works in 2021 in Manhattan saw an exhibition space taken over with a massive floating sheet suspended in the air, which had 42 swings dropped from it, for viewers to interact with as they pleased. The more viewers chose to swing on the swings, walk around them, gently move them or not move them at all, all had a direct effect on how the sheet above would fluctuate and move throughout the space – an example of live and moving sculpture only enhanced by the moving swings below.
(Image courtesy of www.armoryonpark.org)
This audience engagement is vital to the success of the work, very much similar to a unique exhibition that took place in the Gateshead gallery BALTIC in 2016, which I remember very well as I was a gallery assistant there at the time. The Playground Project took over the biggest gallery space in the venue and was transformed into a tribute to playground design and experience. In the middle of the room, there was a mass of interlinking snake slides, bean bags thrown about, and interactive areas for all to get involved – no matter the age. Around the rest of the exhibition, there was information about the mid-20th century designs that led to spaces for children and adults alike to explore, without the same worries we may have in the present day around safety and the environment. What I remember most about observing viewers in the show was that it could look and feel completely different from hour to hour, when filled with motion and activity the space was vibrant, colourful, and fulfilling. Yet when quiet, the space could feel very small, less colourful, and more of a museum than an interactive artwork. This was a really popular show that I think made many think about art in a different way, yes it looked like a playground and it was a playground, but it was about much more – about the movement in the space and the interactions that brought it to life.
(Image courtesy of www.northeastfamilyfun.co.uk)
These artworks, both interactive and intended to get people enjoying the space – prove that creativity and art can offer much more than something to ‘view’, it can be very special when it is also something we can experience directly without fear or pre-conceptions. The audience’s physical movement around these spaces is so important that the artworks rely on them, so much so that the viewer’s movement is really a fundamental artwork in itself. An open-minded approach to what the art world offers to us all, and what a gallery space can be.