LET’S PLAY WITH MIRRORS II

Mirrors play with the reality eccentric games that, by tickling our imagination, draw into worlds of great alchemy. Famous writers and artists have been repeatedly tempted to cross the threshold of this portal that, opening towards a possible 'beyond' belonging to parallel universes, made us dream so much. Over the generations, the exploration of these secret recesses has proven to be an inexhaustible source of unforgettable fantasies and adventures.
 
In Lewis Carroll’s 'Through the Looking-Glass', Alice exclaims these precise words the instant she is about to embark on her once-in-a-lifetime experience: “Oh, Kitty! how nice it would be if we could only get through into Looking-glass House! I'm sure it's got, oh! such beautiful things in it! Let's pretend there's a way of getting through into it, somehow, Kitty. Let's pretend the glass has got all soft like gauze, so that we can get through. Why, it's turning into a sort of mist now, I declare! It'll be easy enough to get through”.
 
It is not exactly a sort of mist we have to cross, but rather the language of an allusive geometry, outlined by 300 polished stainless steel poles, arranged in a regular sequence, all angled at 10 degree, that in Palm Desert capture with magnetic force into a space which promises us to connect with ancestral energies. In the vastness of the desolate context, where the absence of everything amplifies with contrasts of incredible lyricism the beauty and power of natural primordial and atmospheric phenomena, is emphasized this line that, emanating the seduction of a mirage, indicates the magic circle it encloses. It imposes itself and then gradually fades into the sand and the shades of the sky, guiding toward a converging point, anticipating an esoteric experience, moments of contemplation and contact with the sublimity.



'The Circle of Land and Sky ‘, by Phillip K. Smith III conceived for the first edition of Desert X in 2017. Photo by Ken Larmon/Flickr. 

Phillip K. Smith III, an American artist-architect, is the creator of this extensive atmospheric installation, entitled 'The Circle of Land and Sky ‘, conceived for the first edition of Desert X in 2017. Deeply rooted in this landscape, where he grew up and established his own studio, he realizes works mainly on a large scale, imbedded in natural environments as the desert or ocean beaches, whose soul-stirring enchantment and suggestiveness he loves to amplify and magnify. Sometimes, even if less frequently, he tackles the urban environment, as he did in 2018 during Milan’s Fuorisalone, in the courtyard of Palazzo Isimbardi, in Corso Monforte, exploring with 'Open Sky', a convex faceted composition of enormous polished stainless steel plates, an amalgam between sky and architecture. His intervention, achieving this symbiosis, confers the historic location particular vibes, suitable for escaping the city’s traffic and devoting some time to reflection.
 
Smith, rightly defined “a lightworker, an alchemist, an inventor and a magician", is perfectly aware that to aspire to "powerful and memorable experiences that we are unable to fully explain” is part of our human nature, convinced that "we desire mystery and beauty as they remind us of unity, love, immensity and incomprehensible complexity existing in the world ".
  'The Circle of Land and Sky ‘,by Phillip K. Smith III conceived for the first edition of Desert X in 2017. Photo by Ken Larmon/Flickr. 

Inspired by the mystery that the desert with its indescribable awe-striking beauty evokes, 'The Circle of Land and Sky’ with its sculptural ring, real but, at the same time, immaterial, made impalpable by the light reflections that continually renew on its components the eternity of cosmic cycles, invites us to experience a journey, which resembles a mystical, inscrutable ritual. The circle embodies the emblematic value of an archetype, alluding to the focal point of departure for an immersive, spiritual journey. It will be a timelessness, memorable communal and personal experience, which 'grabbing' people emotionally, will force them "to slow down and really look and experience the thing that’s in front of them, which quite often we don't have the opportunity to do in our everyday lives”.

I would like to express this project with the words of a famous writer, Susanna Tamaro. ‘Follow your heart’ could be the exhortation leading to that special place where "fallen stars disintegrate, becoming a kind of dust. The dust spread all around, but it is not ordinary dust, from dirty things. The dust of the stars is magical, it shimmers and vibrates without ever stopping and always forms the same shape, the shape of the circle ”. It is the description of the 'magic circle' that Tamaro in one of her children's books dedicates to the young readers, and I think exemplifies the situation very poetically, underlining the importance of maintaining a pure gaze and the capability to feel emotions.

The mirror often offers its complicity to artists provoking us, sometimes almost mimetically assimilating the surrounding and using a strong aesthetic attractiveness to push us to a pure ecstatic admiration, at times, exploiting the visual perception of beauty, making us reflect about what we are losing, incumbent disasters and the urgency to take our own responsibilities.


 'Human (Nature)', by ICY & SOT, Tbilisi, Georgia. 2017. Photo courtesy of ICY & SOT. 

ICY & SOT, known as the two brothers of street art, originally from the city of Tabriz, Iran, produce works mainly fueled by political dissent and social protest, due to their country's intolerant censorship. Above expressing themselves with activism towards those injustices that would not distinguish a civil society, they have, more recently, directed their commitment towards raising awareness, support and protection for our compromised ecosystem. 'Human (Nature)' inaugurates in 2017 a series of installations that, by condemning consumption and waste, two of the most ruinous plagues that are irreparably damaging our planet, hope to provoke a reaction, a change about irresponsible and devastating behaviors.

A mirrored surface, with human shape, lying in a vast plane in Tbilisi, Georgia, reflects the sky above, highlighting the modest size of man compared to the extensive green expanse. 'Nature's Reflection' leaves us free to interpret its enigmatic presence, even if probably it intends to metaphorically suggest the grave that man is digging with his own hands in the abused soil of earth that will surely outlive him. The mirrored intense blue sky could also allude to another urgent calamity, the disappearance of a precious, vital resource, the water swallowed with man in his burial pit.

An American artist and filmmaker, using the mirrors’ specular properties, has created several site-specific installations, focusing the attention, through the essential link that would exist between context and architecture, on the will to deepen dueling desires, innate in man, to preserve and conquer nature. One of these creations was conceived for the first edition, held in 2017, of Desert X, an art festival organized with the participation of international artists, not far from Palm Springs, in the valley between Whitewater Preserve and Coachella, southern California, with the intent to amplify and enhance the charm of an arid, barren landscape like that of the desert and to establish a cross-cultural dialogue on issues of vast global relevance, outside the museums and galleries’ claustrophobic walls.



In the year between the two events, in a very different setting, inside a century-old bank, remained uninhabited for several decades, in the middle of Detroit, the artist, placed ‘Mirage Detroit’, an installation apparently similar to the other two, with some very significant differences. An illumination system entirely artificial accentuate the continuity linking the proposal and the location, this time not represented by a natural open-air habitat, but rather by an important architecture, "a jewel", "a moment of greatness crystallized in the history of Detroit", which has remained " intact, as if frozen in time and waiting to be awakened ". The contrast between modern and archaic style of the bank building is extremely strong and the two realities intersect in the dynamic succession of reflections alternating on the walls of ‘Mirage’, pushing to consider the industrial past and reflect on what the future will be. Detroit, as we know, was the largest city in the United States to declare bankruptcy in 2013, and the prosperous years of its flourishing auto industry remain of course alive in anyone's mind. Aitken's goal was to focus on a possible rebirth, choosing a structure, which, unlike the decayed and abandoned spaces commonly used to attest to the state of the city, had been preserved over time. The aim consisted in "giving a heartbeat the architecture”, a location that, born during the Golden Age, has gone through many lives, "it was a failure, it was dormant, it was crowded".

'Mirage Detroit' currently devoid of its residents and of its own narrative, does not pretend to present itself as a house with specific characteristics but rather a generic American suburban residence, awaiting its own identity. The entirely mirrored interiors, accessible, appear as a labyrinth of rooms and corridors, while the external walls without windows and openings, not to disturb or interrupt the visually versatile, incessant mirrored reproductions, suggest that there is no single vision but different perspectives regarding the outdoor situation, at the moment, in constant transformation.

These various minimal structures, geometric shaped-house sculptures, anonymous houses whose architecture you don't remember, despite their apparent uniformity, acquire each one, deprived of any evident banality, a precise, distinct identity. Light becomes an ingredient of fundamental importance that helps to weave the textures. Each visitor will have a unique experience and will read a different narrative. Their skins have learned to tell a story that speaks of interaction with a beloved and respected landscape, which does not want to be destroyed for yet another building without soul or personality.

Virginia Cucchi


Credits: 

Doug Aitken: https://www.dougaitkenworkshop.com/
Phillip K. Smith III: https://www.pks3.com/
Murray Fredericks: https://murrayfredericks.com/
ICY & SOT: https://icyandsot.com/

Luma Foundation: https://www.luma-arles.org/luma/home.html
Library Street Collective: https://www.lscgallery.com/
Desert X: https://desertx.org/

Cover: Doug Aitken, Mirage Gstaad, 2019. Part of Elevation 1049: Frequencies, Gstaad, Switzerland. Image courtesy of the Artist and Luma Foundation; Photo Torvioll Jashari.
01: Doug Aitken, Mirage Gstaad, 2019. Part of Elevation 1049: Frequencies, Gstaad, Switzerland. Image courtesy of the Artist and Luma Foundation; Photo Torvioll Jashari.
02-03: Philip K. Smith III, The Circle of Land and Sky. Part of the first edition of Desert X in 2017. Photo by Ken Larmon/Flickr
04: Philip K. Smith III, Open Sky at Milan’s Fuorisalone, in the courtyard of Palazzo Isimbardi, 2018. Photo courtesy/archive COS. 
05: Doug Aitken, Mirage, 2017. Part of the first edition of Desert X in 2017. Photo by Ken Larmon/Flickr
06-07: Doug Aitken, Mirage, 2017. Part of the first edition of Desert X in 2017. Photo by Darek/Flickr
08: Doug Aitken, Mirage, 2017. Part of the first edition of Desert X in 2017. Photo by Binx/Flickr
09-10: ICY&SOT, Human (Nature)' ,Tbilisi, Georgia. 2017.
11-13, 15-16, 19 : Doug Aitken, Mirage Gstaad, 2019. Part of Elevation 1049: Frequencies, Gstaad, Switzerland. Image courtesy of the Artist and Luma Foundation; Photo Torvioll Jashari.
14, 17-18 : Doug Aitken, Mirage Gstaad, 2019. Part of Elevation 1049: Frequencies, Gstaad, Switzerland. Image courtesy of the Artist and Luma Foundation; Photo Stefan Altenburger.
20-23 : Doug Aitken, Mirage Detroit, 2018. Photo by Lance Gerber. Image courtesy of the Artist and Library Street Collective