Page 49 - Studio International - September October 1975

Everything is reduced to the
perception of a phenomenon which
fluctuates between interior and exterior;
and there is no pausing to dwell on a
crystallized or quantified object or
product, for example in the light rooms of
Irwin, Wheeler and Turrell. By reducing
as far as possible the references to
quantified images and by polarizing the
senses on simple happenings, which
might be a window (Nordman) or a door
(Asher), these artists are trying to make
the periphery of the body reduce the
attention it gives to external objects and
turn to experience-processes.
Such spaces, in contrast to those
which are full of complications and which
oscillate between primary image and
life-event, become permeated with
nothingness and emptiness, with
immobility and non-images, managing to
Michael Asher Untitled 1974. Courtesy Claire Copley Gallery, Los Angeles bring about a state of concentration and
of meditation on the visitor's own
The Bar, London 1972, the artists use between natural nature and artificial experience. In them, there is the feeling
their own personal experience as a nature, is noticeable particularly in a city of entering a non-material world, but
starting-point and make images of like Los Angeles, where artists such as this sensation then reveals itself as being
themselves coincide with the Irwin, Turrell, Wheeler, Nordman, `full of things'. The main things at first
environment. Each detailed moment of Asher, Munger, Nauman and Orr, with a are the basic, minimal presence of light
their life is projected onto the walls, so European counterpart provided by and sound, and then the light and sound
as to constitute a second skin which Moraud, have since 1968 built a series of themselves. After having felt and
takes on the shape of the environment. spaces for discovering one's own experienced the very slight disturbance
Kounellis does not seem to accept this experience. The purpose of building caused by the light and sound effects,
logic which links support and surface these spaces is to 'test' one's own one feels the need to be alone with
document (slides or drawing) with the dimension and energy on a human scale. oneself, to sit in silence without moving,
concrete presence of a living organism. First of all, each space is generally and wait for something to happen. In
He contrasts the passive spatial constructed independently of the this way a 'calm, alert, relaxed state is
synthesis with the actual body of an existing architecture, although sometimes reached, open to all pleasurable
animal, or a human being. This a 'memory' of the architecture may be experiences' and 'finally one's attention
remains inert so as to transform the used (I refer in particular to Asher and unfolds in all directions'.
surrounding inertia; and in this way the Munger). This normally tends to (Translated by Jane Carroll)
environment, through centrifugal force, produce an 'a-spatial' situation which has A. Marcolli, Teoria del cameo, Florence, 1971.
becomes a field of energy which can be no dimensional characteristics. Such a 2 For Balla's Lowenstein house, see E.
either organic or historical, according to non-dimensional quality, caused by the Crispolti, 'II Bal Tic Tac a Roma', in
the presence. At the first level we find lack of reference-points like corners Palatino, Rome, VI, nos. 9-12, Sept.—Dec.
the eleven horses inside the Attico or walls, is often accompanied by the use 1962, and Giacomo Balla, Galleria Civica
Gallery, Rome, in 1969; at the second of pigments and non-echoing materials d'Arte Moderna, Turin, 1963 (both now in
there are the three rooms with yellow, which can eliminate the sense of physical II mito della macchina, Celebes Editore,
grey and white dancers drawn by Stein; and sound limits. Light and sound Trapani, 1969, pp. 156-66); M. Calvesi,
Il futurismo, Arte Moderna, Fratelli Fabbri,
or else the artist on horseback with a effects are created in such a way as to Milan, 1968; and M. Fagiolo, Le
Greek mask on his face, in the bright polarize and amplify natural or artificial `compenetrazioni' iridescenti, Bulzoni
yellow-painted rooms of the Sonnabend events. Each space, according to the Editore, Rome, 1968.
Gallery at New York. degree of reduction or expansion of simple 3 Reproduced in M. Martin, Futurist Art
It is important to add that these phenomena, purposely allows a 'descent and Theory 1909-1915, Clarendon Press,
`life spaces' are the dialectical into the self'. Anyone entering one of Oxford, 1968, plates VII—IX.
consequence of an activity taking place these non-physical, non-spatial fields has C. Gray, The Russian Experiment in Art:
outside themselves. There exists, the experience of being in a pre-logical, 1863-1922, Abrams, New York, 1962,
however, apart from exterior pre-external phase. There is a feeling of p. 216, plate 196.
5 E. Crispolti, 'II Bal Tic Tac', in Palatino,
relationships, an intimate and inner sensory deprivation. And since this Rome, VI, nos. 9-12, Sept.—Dec. 1962.
experience of one's own 'life space'. feeling acts as an insulator, the individual 6 V. Marchi, Architettura futurista, 1924.
The spaces of Niki de Saint-Phalle, finds himself face to face with his own 7B. Zevi, Poetica dell 'architettura
Kusama, Fioroni and of the recent individuality and his own way of neoplastica, Tamburini, Milan, 1953, p. loo.
Womenspace exhibition in Los Angeles understanding things. He begins to 8 E. Lissitzky, `L'ambiente dei proun',
seem to have this characteristic of concentrate on himself and uses the in GI, Berlin, July 1923 (now in El
inwardness. Inside the intimate field, elementary stimuli around him as new Lissitskij, Editori Riuniti, Rome, 1967,
which can be reached through a 'vagina' experiences. He can put to the test his PP. 354-55).
9 E. Crispolti, costruttivismo "meccanico"
in Hon, the large 'mother' by Saint- way of perceiving sounds and sights in di Pannaggi9', in Palatino, XII, No. 4, Rome,
Phalle, and the whole house constructed front of 'walls' which seem to have lost Oct.—Nov. 1968 (now in E. Crispolti, op.cit.,
in Womenspace, there is an their function as boundaries, or else pp. 382-402).
`objectivisation' of feminine existence fulfil their function to such a degree that 10 Reconstruction in formica and wood at the
which has enormous expressive power. they tightly enclose his own body. Pace Gallery, New York, 1970. See J. Lane,
(f) Experience Space. After an artist has Self-revelation comes through the 'Mondrian', in Artforum, New York, June
moved into a space and into a time which manifestation of a latent means of 1970, PP. 84-85.
are unreal, vital, factual and logical, he discovery, no longer based on the 11 Fontana's first spatial environment, with
feels the need to try himself out in the external object, but on inner lighting by Wood, dates back to 1949, while
first person, using spatial and temporal perceptive/psychic states. In a field the later ones, with fluorescent lighting, were
begun in 1951 and went on being designed
characteristics which are determined in empty of reference points, the person's until 1961. The photographs showing
relation to his own body. This basic urge attention turns towards himself, as in Pollock walking, while using a drip
to experience one's self as both fulcrum Nauman's corridors and tactile walls, in technique, date from 1950.
and border between inside and outside, Moraud's meditative spaces, or in Orr's 12 C. Oldenburg, Store Days, Something
between city and private environment, Zero Mass. Else Press, New York, 1967, p. 23.

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