Friday Afternoon in the Culture Capital in Parts: Stop One
Today seemed calm, but somehow slightly chaotic. Perhaps it had to do with the constant wind that blew under the warm sun that had people out and about enjoying the day but still blinded by their surroundings. On my way back home, while sitting at the light on Knight and Broadway, a guy was hit by a car. Another accident had happened further down the street. Something about everything felt off. I guess that’s why I feel some self of security in the curated spaces in the city and made a stop at three today.
Stop One: Megan and Murray McMillan, “When We Didn’t Touch the Ground” Cohen Gallery at the Granoff Center for Creative Arts
My first stop this afternoon was at the Granoff. I told myself if there was a parking spot on Waterman that I was going to go in to see the new work by this collaborating two-some. I knew that there would be a reception and talk this evening, but the new kick I’m on to see more work and less people, I was just going to play it by ear. There was a spot and with my quarter, I paralleled and went to see for myself. When I walked in, as luck would have it, Murray was there with a camera set up. I don’t think he recognized me since I’m cleverly sporting a completely different look, even you may not even recognize if you see me out. The gallery is darkly lit with spotlighting on part of the set that was used for the video performance. I arrived just as the video loop was starting over from the beginning. As cerebral music plays, you see in the foreground a group dinner being set up while a man in the background stand on the set. He moves slowly on the set without his feet touching the cement floor collecting sandbags. He moves toward the foreground, while people still move about the table. Suddenly as he is near the large pile of the sandbags in the foreground, a noise interrupts the quietness of the scene. A large square room raises in in the air and moves toward the middle of the room. The man moves to now find his place at the table as our attention is directed at the moving box. As I watched it, I heard a “Holy crap” slip out of my mouth. The sheer scale of this moving room was really something as it moved and rocked over the floor. Soon, you realize there is girl in a hammock inside. The hammock turns into an aerialist fabric and she slowly come down from the hanging room to find her place at the table.
I looked over at Murray and told him, “Go big or go home huh?” They make such incredible sets for their video work. He told me about the innocent sentiment he and Megan channeled for this piece, recreating their childhood activities only to be interrupted by their mothers to come in for dinner. With a new lenses on the piece, I watched the video again. It is sweet without being saccharine and abstract enough to not being a literal translation of childhood innocence set in a warehouse space, but not too abstract to not understand what is going on. Another feather in MMM’s cap.
