New Allen Exhibit Examines Modern Architecture
by Christina Morgan

Architecture is undoubtedly an art form created by people, for people. The 28 works displayed in Contemporary Art from the Permanent Collection, which opened Tuesday in Allen Memorial Art Museum’s Ellen Johnson Gallery, are designed to explore human relationship to architecture.

(photo by Hans Peterson)

The exhibit highlights newly acquired pieces from Slovenian artist Marjetica Potrc, who was this year’s winner of the Hugo Boss Prize, established by the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Six of the 28 pieces on display are Potrc’s, consisting of two sculptures and four prints. 
According to AMAM’s Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Goran Tomcic, Potrc is a self-described “social anthropologist” who “takes examples from reality and brings them to exhibition space.” The exhibit’s most notable example of how Potrc implements social issues connected with architecture in her work, can be seen in her newly commissioned architectural installation East Wahdat: Upgrading Program. 

East Wahdat: Upgrading Program, is Potrc’s depiction of one of the many core units, or toilet sewage systems, that were added to the shanty towns of Amman, Jordan, that were upgraded in 1995. The piece boasts bright colors such as yellow, red, pink and blue, and is the largest object in the gallery. Also notable in East Wahdat, is a large satellite dish installed on top of the core unit, which seeks to illustrate how even those living in the poorest of conditions still want to be connected to the world.
Contemporary Art from the Permanent Collection also chronicles “how an artist gets caught into an idea and makes plans,” Tomcic said. The exhibit boasts several examples of how architectural and sculptural projects begin on paper. American artist Eva Hesse’s drawings of her sculpture of the bodies of Trojan Priest Laocoon and his two sons trapped in the grip of pythons, is the first of these “works in progress” seen in the exhibit. These drawings of the sculpture, which now stands in AMAM’s sculpture court, illustrates Hesse’s obsession with her project both before and after its completion.

The other “works in progress” displayed were created by artists Claus Oldenburg. The exhibit shows three drawings of his plans for his Three Way Plug sculpture, complete with a model of the sculpture sitting below the preliminary sketches. Of particular interest, are Oldenburg’s drawings for Allen Memorial Art Musuem, which gives viewers a glimpse of what Allen would look like if Oldenburg had received the commission. 

In keeping with its theme of “the human relationship to architecture,” Contemporary Art from the Permanent Collection, displays two works by African-American artists Roy Decarava and Carrie Mae Weems, that explore emotional connections to architecture. Decarava’s Harlem Hallways depicts the “economics of buildings for poor people,” through a simple print of a dark, decrepit hallway like many that Decarava passed in his youth. Harlem Hallways, is a simplistic, yet emotionally detailed picture that successfully emits the sentimental connection humans share with architecture. 
Weems’ Grabbing Snatching Blink and You Be Gone from the series Africa, also explores the emotional connection to architecture. Her mournful images of abandoned slave prisons off the coast of West Africa, much like Decarava’s Harlem Hallways, clearly reinforce the idea that there is a human connection to architecture.
“We shelter architecture as much as it shelters us,” Tomcic said. Those who view AMAM’s Contemporary Art from the Permanent Collection, will clearly realize the truth in this statement.