Podcast
http://creativetime.org/programs/archive/2007/nelson/nelson_artist_talk.mp3
rebuilding of a disused cannabis farm urban archeology rebuilding what potentially had been there in a sculptural fashion.
Disused reptile house fifteen different vetrines
Self indulgent? Taking a disused building, ambiguity between built and found undermined the viewers expectation. What they knew to be the work vs what they didn’t. There is an artifice involved. Make physical a narrative structure. A pact with the viewer to suspend your disbelief. A prop from a non existant film, make a reference to the site political and parralel literary natarative. Theatrical in a sense but also real, the worst floor boarding you’d ever seen, like a jigsaw puzzle trying to put the wood down. Rummaging in the world for material that informs the content of the world, coral reef – details – hunt for things which some how articulate. Create spaces for other peoples imaginations manipulate peoples empathy. Abject installations with sculpture, religious shrine type situations kennedy refferences, conspiracy theories venacular religion, Chinese restaurant into a series of absent collection of two parlors conscious reworking of the structure of coral reef – the first work which was a full labarynthine work which narrative space into found space, series of receptions based on London mini cab offices, place their identity through a few objects, the first reception I rebuilt the fake reception – each reception was used a vessel to represent a different belief structure, complex and fragile system – like an economic structure of capitalism. Revisit the coral reef were the oceans surface becomes a litteral sea of sand a visibility something which seemed very much inspired by the phsychic voodoo more present than in any other city i’ve been in, ultimately for an artist that has somehow made the majority of work about the presense of absence of the skyline of the city desire for a belief in religious structures biggest city full of the most junk I’ve ever seen. Joseph Beuys the gothic poe to lovecraft to Stephen king, the witch trials to macarthy islamaphobia – American darkness primitivism desire to find a handle of belief in the face of such absolute belief in other places in the world. Patriotic – American flag torn in half with a map – disperate and desperate found space – collection of memorabilia bits of sordid underwear and ducksauce a series of booth like rooms for some sort of naferious goings on – upstairs was this map seemed poiniagnt somehow bleek and sort of apocalyptic way of a country devided – a non lenear narrative an assemblage of atmospheres to get a meaning – instinctiveness informed by research, you have a certain sense of what your looking for – I always amass far more than I ever use meaning and formality – sculptural space convinces you to believe in what is actually there, finely tuned instrument – mechanics of disorientation mimic the waiting room at the beginning and repeat it at the end. Questioning of reality whats real and whats not - in each room theirs something different in each room – bearskin in the corridor makes it odd its mimicking what it once was – dreamlike space getting lost – david lynch film characters that look like eachother – two or three people is the preferable amount – half aware that there was someone else in there – undermined by the amount of people passing through – if theres too much in one room it destroys the whole thing.
taking audiences on an unexpected journey through reconstructed rooms, passageways, and meticulously assembled environments of his installation titled A Psychic Vacuum. Inspired by the building’s history the surrounding neighbourhood, literary and cultural references, and the current social climate in the United States, the project comes to life via materials gleaned from local salvage yards and debris from the market’s heyday.
The work draws visitors into a parallel universe by way of a series of deeply believable and disquieting architectural spaces, confusing the real with the fictionally derelict. Entering Nelson’s work is an active, and sometimes anxious, experience in which viewers move through an elaborate labyrinth of rooms often concealed within rooms, surrendering their bearings to experience the artits’s three dimensional narrative.
Notably ray Bradbury William s borroughs and HP lovecraft to create an enironment that can be seen as a metaphor for the turbulent geopolitical landscape of today.