If You Close Your Eyes… by Li GE

Amy Reinecke , Blind, Nov. 9^th, 2009, at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

On the first floor of Visual Arts Building in Pennsylvania State University, an entirely, white room filled with stagnant air was presented to the viewers. In the center of the room, a ruffled, white sheet made of salt was placed on the floor with a foot-long, honey brown-colored resin cube sitting on top of it. There was a piece of pork sealed inside the resin cube from half a year ago, but now, left only a hollowed cube and a hole in each side, which were secretly-created by the “big bang” and life cycle of nature. On one side of the cube, a light bulb hang on the edge of one of its holes with its electrical wire extending outwards from it to a wall outlet, irradiating light and evaporating the residue from the rotten meat and filled the space with a rotten odor. This is the most recent installation work by Amy Reinecke , named Blind.

Viewers entered the space with questions in their head, sniffing around, bending over, and crouching to approach the work, or maybe, chose to escape right away. If there was a boundary to the work, it must not be the walls of the room. The light, the scale, and the smell all created a surface with tension, which will either attract or expel the viewers, and put them right in an inevitable active position. Consciously or unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly, viewers were already engaged in the work.

It has been days since I “escaped” from the room, the glare of the whiteness, the smell in the air and numerous questions still hover in my mind. An artwork can never be completed without viewers’ narratives. So is the Blind. The organic and inorganic materials, the visible and invisible elements, the familiar and unfamiliar sensations, all are compiled together with viewers’ memories. If you close your eyes, they will bring you back to the Blind space.

如果你闭上双眼……

宾夕法尼亚州立大学视觉艺术系一层， 一间充斥着奇怪气味的白色房间呈现在人们眼前。在房间的正中央，在纯白色的地板上，铺着一张褶皱的白色盐毯，盐毯上面，放置着一个一英尺见方的棕色松脂块。难以置信的是，六个月以前，一块鲜猪肉曾被密封在这个松脂块里。然而现在，只剩下这个不知不觉间，由自然界的“宇宙大爆炸”和生物生命圈所创造的中空的松脂块。松脂块的四个侧面各有一个在爆炸时形成的洞，一个白色灯泡悬置在其中一个洞口，灯泡的白色电线延伸着接通着墙壁上的电源。灯泡发出耀眼的光芒照亮，也使整个屋子充斥这着蜡块中残留的腐肉气味。这就是Amy Reinecke 近期的装置艺术作品，名为“盲”。

当人们进入这个空间，启动嗅觉神经，弯下腰，趴在地上向蜡块里窥探，或者，转身逃离房间。如果说这个作品有它的界限的话，那一定不是四面竖立起的白色墙壁。空间中的光线，尺寸和气味，都用一种紧迫感形成了一道道无形的壁垒，其中的人们有意无意间，就会被卷入其中。

虽然“逃离”这个房间已经有几天了，但房间中那耀眼的光芒，刺鼻的气味带着一连串的问号使用萦绕在我脑海里。没有观众们的叙事艺术，一件艺术作品永远不能成为完整的艺术作品。Amy Reinecke 的“盲”也是如此。所有有机的和无机的媒介，有形的和无形的元素，熟悉和不熟悉的感知，都随同观众的记忆离散或汇合。如果你闭上眼睛，它们就会带你进入“盲”的空间。