Most people think of architecture as a stable structure for human shelter and activity, yet what happens when that sense of security is compromised? When domestic spaces are no longer a safe haven and public buildings become sites of danger and suspicion is the basis of the new, thought-provoking exhibition, Out of Place: contemporary Art and the Architectural Uncanny, opening at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave., (MCA). on June 8 through Aug. 11.
Bringing together an international group of 14 artists from Chicago to Berlin, MCA Associate Curator Dominic Molon explores larger social issues of place and displacement by using the idea of the uncanny as a metaphor for the unlivable modern condition. He explains, "the spaces they represent vary from everyday spaces to places drawn from recent history or literary and pop culture, each given an eerily unfamiliar presence."
The idea of an "architectural uncanny" was put forth by architectural historian Anthony Vidler to describe how our understanding of architecture is often characterized by strange and threatening experiences. His concepts build upon Sigmund Freud's classic 1919 essay on the uncanny, explaining how the German word unheimlich, of "un-homely," describes the sensation of the uncanny as being estranged from the comforts of home.
To make these familiar spaces unfamiliar some artists explore the intersection of cinema and architecture, such as Paul Pfeiffer with his work Quod Nomen Mihi Est? (1998), a miniature reconstruction of the bedroom from The Exorcist, installed inconspicuously in the gallery wall. Others, such as the British twins Jane and Louise Wilson examine how historically-charged spaces are made sinister by photographing decaying architectural structures where history once took place. Their photograph of the notorious "Stasi City" secret police headquarters in the former East Berlin, now empty and abandoned, evokes the bleak history of cold war repression. In his collages from 1994-95, Sam Durant inserts tacky furniture, children's toys, and irreverent text into images of Case Study houses—domestic buildings created as prototypes by architects such as Richard Neutra and Charles and Ray Eames. This "corruption" of these pristine spaces that incorporate utopian modernist design, suggests the ultimate failure of idealistic notions about transforming society through design. For more information call (312) 280-2660 or visit their Web site www.mcachicago.org.
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