Page 50 - Studio International - November 1967

'n roll music, slide and movie projections and a least for the moment-gravity bound. Newtonian important because it was informed by all the
battery of pulsing strobe lights' (The New York physics may have been bypassed intellectually, but arts-particularly the literature of Robbe-Grillet,
Times, Sept. 16, 1967). it still pertains to the human plant. When we it would seem-and because it obviously stands at
More sinister effectiveness of the multimedia is move through corridors, we may have sensations the beginning of a fruitful collaboration among
suggested by reports from recent police conven- of lightness, of confusion, of terror, of amusement, latter-day humanists in the arts.
tions where riot-control methods were discussed. of claustrophobia, of disjointed time. But those Another heartening event in New York this Fall
Not butter but guns are America's answer to its sensations seem never to cede totally to spaces not was the opening of the CENTER FOR INTER-
riots. Not lethal guns, but only multimedia guns anchored at our own point of gravity. (For instance, AMERICAN RELATIONS. Although its sponsors include
that will spray the streets with plastics that are no matter how marvellously hallucinating the re- a number of prominent politicos, none of whom
ultra-slippery, and fill the air with such high deci- capitulated corridors might be, we do not stumble have ever shown the least understanding of the
bels that no one could bear to remain in the area. on the taped grid.) This limitation may also be social, political and cultural conditions in the
McLuhanism with a vengeance. the reason why the Electric Circus, with all its rest of the hemisphere, and some of whom have
In contrast to these applied McLuhanite ventures way-out intentions, had in the end to revert to the profitted considerably from Latin American
which serve various extra-artistic purposes, is a old circus acts to give its environment a tangible exploitation, the Center is an important event. It is
series of experimental exhibitions sponsored by the organization and a bearable time span. important because it is the first acknowledgement
ARCHITECTURAL LEAGUE OF NEW YORK. SO far the For all its shortcomings in terms of its prospectus, of any substance in New York that there is another
series has served as a laboratory for fresh ideas Lobell's and Steiner's project was satisfying and `American' culture, and that there are artists of
about how to make environments reflect the new
artistic and philosophic preoccupations of both
artists and architects. They too reach out into the
world of sound, light and space produced by
machines, but, their ends being different-they do
not wish to numb the senses but to awaken them-
their means are more restrained and original.
For instance, the most recent environment in the
three-room gallery was produced by architect
John Lobell and sculptor Michael Steiner as an
experiment in spatial sensation as produced both
by the physical structure and concomitant light
and sound effects. Called Corridors, the environ-
ment was billed as a 'musical instrument of
architectural scale'.
It is rather difficult to describe the project. It
amounts to an orderly maze of L-shaped partitions
aligned on a diagonal grid and producing a
mirror-like conundrum not unlike the scenes in
Last Year at Marienbad. As the viewer enters the
diagonal corridors, he sets off an electric eye which
activates a tape recording of electronic sound.
Lights also respond to a visitor's presence. But the
real effect (one sense always wins in this multimedia
contest) remains a spatial, or architectural, effect.
This is obviously a serious attempt at applied
philosophy. John Lobell speaks of a revolutionary
change in our relationship to our environment, a
change as radical as the `Renaissance formation of
space (seen in perspective painting and in Newton's
physics) and at the turn of the century with the
destruction of space (seen in the painting of
Cezanne and Einstein's physics)'.
There are many rebuttals to this argument, but
they are not important. What is important is that
a young architect is grappling with philosophical
concepts, hoping to 'restructure the major portion
of our environment and to reorganize our lives in
recognition of the absence of Newtonian space and
time'. This is a hope, at least, and finds better
`messages' than riot-control experts will provide.
Where Lobell might have miscalculated, accord- Above Bottom left Julio Ruelas
At the Electric Circus-'customers range from Criticism (self portrait)
ing to my experience in his environment, is in
young Turks of the psychedelic movement to etching, 7¼ x 5¾ in. (plate)
believing that he could produce a musical instru-
tired lawyers' Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
ment as an architectural structure. The music
recedes, as it must in the face of the powerful
Facing page Right Francis Picabia
experience of moving through physically shaped
Top left Joaquin Torres Garcia Chanson Negre
spaces. It is really incidental music. The human
La Figura 1929 Coll: Alfred Stieglitz
physique is the fly in the ointment. We have flat oil on canvas, 23½ x 18¾ in. Metropolitan Museum of Art
feet and stand square on a baseline, and are-at Coll: Torres Garcia family, Montevideo