During the first week, we wondered how would someone that does not have as much information about it as we do, react to the exhibition. Well, it is time to find out!
I asked one of my friends to come and see, which she did... it is important to highlight that my friend prefers to see the exhibition first and then, if it does awakens her interest she will do research on it.
Starting with the Haussmann's display and having in account she have not heard about the duo before, the expectations where up high for something unusual. Although it was more of a display of furniture rather than artwork for her, she still liked it as these are not the usual furniture. The wall with writings was easy to connect with as it had a strong message of LANGUAGE IS POWER. The archive was almost not noticed by her, as the neon lights chair and the golden curtain caught her attention. The neon lights chair is for her an artwork that looks like a chair, but that can't be used as a chair due to the lights.
A surprising factor for me was the red carpet being completely unnoticed by her !! (Which raises some questions... How aware is people when going to see art? How much time does one need to truly appreciate everything around him/her? The truth is every time you read a book or watch a movie again, you will find something new on it!) Anyway, once I told her about the carpet present on the gallery being the same colour and model as the one at the Haussmann's house, she agreed that it was a very interesting fact.
Pia Camil's exhibition amazed her, as her first thought was "WOOW! I'm going in an adventure" and the environment felt inviting because of the t-shirts wall, which was something that she definitely have never seen before. She liked the fact the video's screens where hanging from the ceiling and that the t-shirts wall seamed to be thought through in terms of colour pattern. She speculated on why the t-shirts were stitched together, saying that maybe the artist likes doing art from recycled stuff and that the character of the videos represented self-expression. Once I asked her about whether she would have touched things if she did not see people doing too, she was very clear on saying NO.
During her journey in the space she was in a hurry to get to the end and see what was there, but going out she took her time to have a better look around.
That concludes the fact that Split Wall was for her more engaging then The Log-O-Rhythmic side rule: A Retrospective.
Note: The fact that you have to go in and out trough the same door at Split Wall does allow more time for people to appreciate the space and meets one of the intentions of the artist of slowing down the audience, either when coming in or going out.
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