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'Unsettling Space: Trauma and Architecture in Contemporary Art'

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'Unsettling Space: Trauma and Architecture in Contemporary Art' ‘Unsettling Space: Trauma and Architecture in Contemporary Art’ Dr Eliza Burke BA (Hons); PhD Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Fine Art (Theory) Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania September 23rd, 2015. Declaration of Originality This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for a degree or diploma by the University or any other institution, except by way of background information and duly acknowledged in the thesis, and to the best of my knowledge and belief no material previously published or written by another person except where due acknowledgement is made in the text of the thesis, nor does the thesis contain any material that infringes copyright. Eliza Burke Authority of Access This thesis may be made available for loan and limited copying and communication in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968. Abstract This thesis is an inquiry into relationships between concepts of trauma and architectural forms and spaces in contemporary art. Through critical analyses of a selection of the sculptural and site-specific works of four key artists - Krzysztof Wodiczko, Rachel Whiteread, Doris Salcedo and Gregor Schneider - it argues that architectural form and space provides a rich material and metaphorical framework for exploring the shifting conceptual terrain of contemporary trauma. Where the representational problem of trauma has traditionally been theorised in relation to subjective experience and the failures of language, the thesis suggests that through their engagement with architecture, all four artists present it as a problem of space and social relations. It argues that these artists utilise architectural form and space as a medium for exploring contemporary anxieties about trauma and its continued effect on both our political and personal lives and our experience and memory of past and present events. The thesis is structured in three chapters that analyse meanings of trauma in the selected works along a trajectory of different approaches to domestic, institutional, and public architectural sites and spaces. It suggests that through the sculptural strategies of displacement and the blurring of structural boundaries between interior/exterior space, the works straddle the traditional, psychologised space of private, individual experience and a broader, more political space that encompasses collective experience and public forms of commemoration and inhabitation. As such, the thesis argues that problematizing the experience of inhabitation across these spaces is an aesthetic and political strategy that has the power to unsettle the viewer and initiate affective engagements with some of the more ethical dimensions of trauma and our collective response to it in contemporary contexts. By identifying conceptual links between the works of Wodiczko, Whiteread, Salcedo and Schneider, the thesis develops a critical framework for theorising how the unsettled parameters of architectural spaces and forms can foster new approaches to trauma. Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the encouragement and collegial support of the staff and students at the Tasmanian School of Art at the University of Tasmania. I gratefully acknowledge their committed interest in the project, particularly the opportunities presented through the Postgraduate Forum program to discuss and receive critical feedback on my work. I extend my warmest gratitude to my two supervisors, Dr Brigita Ozolins and Dr Llewellyn Negrin whose continual encouragement and belief in the project has been integral to my own and whose knowledge has provided the best possible foundation for its development. I thank them for their assistance and patience in the development of many drafts and their comprehensive and always helpful feedback provided in emails, phonecalls and discussions. I also acknowledge the support of Dr Meg Keating and Mr Paul Zika who have overseen the administrative aspects of the project with professionalism, warmth and encouragement. I extend my heartfelt thanks to Chris Phelps whose assistance in graphics and formatting has been crucial in preparing this thesis for submission. I lastly thank my closest family and friends who have provided support of many kinds over the course of the project and whose interest in the topic of this thesis and the work of the four artists has generated many rich conversations and pathways for exploration. Contents List of Illustrations Introduction – Trauma, art and architecture 1 Trauma: A shifting paradigm 2 Architecture: Unsettled foundations 7 Thesis Structure 11 Chapter One - Displacing the Room: Installing the Uncanny in Public Contexts 14 Schneider’s Haus u r (1985): Disorientation and the uncanny 17 Whiteread’s Rooms: Architectural outcasts 23 Displacing the Uncanny: Installing the room in public contexts 29 Conclusion 37 Chapter Two – Inside the Institution: Traces, Cracks and Divided Spaces 39 (In)Human Space: Gregor Schneider’s Weisse Folter (2007) and Rachel Whiteread’s Untitled (Room 101)(2003) 43 Unsettling the Border: Wodiczko’s If you See Something…(2005) and Salcedo’s Shibboleth (2007) 52 Conclusion: Political Implications 66 Chapter Three – Precarious Memorials: Unsettling the Present 69 Unsettled Memorials 72 Rachel Whiteread’s Holocaust Memorial a.k.a Nameless Library (2000) 75 Time-based Memorials: Wodiczko’s Hiroshima Projection (1999) and Salcedo’s Noviembre 6 y 7(2002) 79 Displacing History 91 Conclusion 99 Conclusion 102 Bibliography 107 List of Illustrations Chapter One - Displacing the Room: Installing the Uncanny in Public Contexts Page 17 Figure 1: Gregor SChneider Haus u r (1985-present) 12 Unterheydener Straße in MönChengladbaCh-Rheydt, Germany. External site view. Image source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Schneider Page 18 Figure 2: Gregor SChneider Haus u r, Kaffezimmer (1993) Rotating room within a room, plasterboards and Chipboards on a wooden ConstruCtion with wheels and posts, 1 engine, 2 doors, 1 window, 1 lamp, 1 Cupboard, grey wooden floors, white walls and Ceiling, detaChed, Ca 35-105cm to outer room, window looking south, 246 x 289 x 234Cm (LxWxH), Rheydt. Image source: www.benlewis.tv/films/films_artsafari/gregor-schneider/house- horror/ Page 21 Figure 3: René Magritte In Praise of Dialectics (L'Éloge de la dialectique) (1937) Oil on Canvas, 65.5 x 54.0 Cm National Gallery of ViCtoria, Melbourne. Image sourCe: www.ngv.viC.gov.au/Col/work/4157 Figure 4: Dorothea Tanning Birthday (1942) Oil on Canvas 40 ¼ x 25 ½ inCh. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Image sourCe: www.dorotheatanning.org/life- and-work/view-work/work-63/ Page 22 Figure 5: Gregor SChneider Basement Keller Haus u r (Basement cellar house) (1985 – 2012) External installation view, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 2012. Image sourCe: www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/ColleCtion/works/?artist_id=sChneider-gregor Page 23 Figure 6: RaChel Whiteread Shallow Breath (1988) Plaster, polystyrene. 75.2 x 36.6 x 7.08 inch. 191 x 93 x 18cm. Image sourCe: www.luhringaugustine.Com/artists/raChel-whiteread/ Page 24 Figure 7: RaChel Whiteread Ghost (1990) Plaster on steel frame 269 x 355.5 x 317.5 cm 106 x 140 x 125inch. Installation view, reverse angle, Saatchi Gallery, London. Image sourCe: www.saatChigallery.Com/aipe/raChel_whiteread.htm Page 32 Figure 8: Gregor SChneider Totes Haus u r (2001) German Pavilion, 49th VeniCe Biennale, VeniCe. External site view. Image source: www.hatjeCantz.de/gregor-schneider-1154-1.html Chapter Two - Inside the Institution: Traces, Cracks and Divided Spaces Page 43 Figure 1: Gregor SChneider Weisse Folter (Passageway No. 1) (2007) 1500x200x230cm (LxBxH) K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf Image sourCe: www.gregorsChneider.de/plaCes/2007ddorf/images/20070317_k20k21_due sseldorf_008.jpg Page 44 Figure 2: Gregor SChneider Weisse Folter (High Security and Isolation Cell No 2) (2007) 338 x 220 x 230 Cm K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf Image sourCe: www.gregorsChneider.de/plaCes/2007ddorf/pages/20070317_k20k21_dues seldorf_004.htm Page 49 Figure 3: RaChel Whiteread Untitled (Room 101) (2003) Plaster and steel frame, 300 x 500 x 64Cm. ViCtoria and Albert Museum, London. Image source: news.bbc.Co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/03/entertainment_enl_106872 5504/img/1.jpg Page 53 Figure 4: Krzysztof Wodiczko If You See Something (2005) Installation of four projeCted video images with sound 4 high-resolution video projeCtors, 4 computers, 5-channel sound installation. Each projection: 13 feet 4 inches x 48 inChes (416 x 122 Cm) Installation view: Galerie Lelong, New York. September 10 - October 22 2005. Image source: www.artnet.Com/galleries/galerie-lelong-new-york/krzysztof-wodiCzko-if- you-see-something/ Page 59 Figure 5: Doris Salcedo Shibboleth (2007) CraCk in the floor of the Turbine Hall, filled with ConCrete and fenCe wire, 167m approx, (detail), Tate Modern, London. Image sourCe: www.tate.org.uk/art/images/work/P/P20/P20335_10.jpg Page 64 Figure 6: Doris Salcedo Shibboleth (2007) CraCk in the floor of the Turbine Hall, filled with ConCrete and fenCe wire, 167m approx, (detail), Tate Modern, London Image sourCe: golondon.about.Com/od/londonpictures/ig/Doris-SalCedo- Shibboleth/Crackwire.htm Chapter Three – Precarious Memorials: Unsettling the Present Page 74 Figure 1: Horst Hoheisel Negative Form Monument (1987) AshCrott Fountain Kassel Germany. Image sourCe: d13.documenta.de/fileadmin/newsletter/2011/Aschrott_425.jpg Figure 2: JoChen Gerz and Esther Shalev-Gerz The Hamburg Monument Against War
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