January 18, 2011

Today, we learn that the basic structure has been completed and now it's time to make some decisions as to what colors to cover it with.

January 17, 2011

As the piece begins to be attached to the walls Henrique takes time out to thank his "team" of museum staff and volunteers. THANKS EVERYONE!!!

Working through the weekend

In honor of the great Martin Luther King Jr. and on his holiday, we've got volunteers, staff members and one Brazilian artist coming together to fabricate one pretty wild installation.  Henrique's background is as a painter.  To date, his installations have explored notions of surface -- the surface of a canvas, skin, fences etc.  Even when he's created fully 3-dimensional sculptures, the tend to look like enormous drops of paint.  For us, however, he has gone fully sculptural and imagined a tangle of roots, or maybe worms -- a la Kevin Bacon in "Tremor."  they are either busting out of the walls or holding them up -- right now, it's not quite clear.

strips of flexi plywood getting spritzed with water to enhance their flexibility

Henrique and volunteer, Walt, extending 2 more "roots" toward the north wall

Henrique has decided he wants to re-do the loop that coils around the column in the gallery, so here all the screws are being pulled out so that we can take it down and start over

We've also started installing Sandile's work, even though he won't arrive until the 22nd.  He works with fire and after months of trying to get a permit for him to burn in the museum, or in a warehouse in the region, or in the studios of a local art school... none of the options proved feasible and we decided to have Sandile make his art works in his own studio in Johannesburg.  He met with Henrique here in Washington DC last December and I went out to South Africa to meet with him, too, so the 3 of us had plenty of time to talk about how he wanted to create works in response to Henrique.  The crates containing his art works arrived a few weeks ago, so we opened them up to make sure the artworks arrived in mint condition and to think through how to hang them.  I've been on the phone most everyday with Sandile, so we've worked out a system that he's approved and the first work is up.  It's a modular, 15-part, 3-dimensional wall piece called "Spinal Diagnosis - a regenerate case no.1" and you can preview it here:



January 16, 2011

First phase done! Here Henrique talks about what's next and how he'll begin to "grow" it towards the walls.

January 14, 2011 -- Getting into a rhythm

In todays installment, Henrique speaks at length of the piece, how it will look when it's complete as well as what there still is to do.

January 13, 2011 -- It's taking shape!

Henrique updates us on his installation and why it's taking him a little longer than he originally expected.

Busy around here!

As you can see from the videos, it's been getting hectic around here.  Henrique sketched through the weekend and then started fabricating his installation on Monday.  It's been fantastic to see how he moves through the space and reimagines its potential.  it will also be great to see him interacting with Sandile when he arrives in about 2 weeks.

It's also been incredibly nuts around here trying to finalize the proofs for all the labels, getting a spiffy portrait photo of Henrique (who even shaved for the occasion), choosing angles for the time-lapse video, working on the possibility of an interactive mobile phone applicaiton, and the myriad other behind the scenes details that go into getting an exhibition ready.  Fortunately, Henrique has spared us a minute a day to share his updates and we've got to give you a sense of what's been going on!