Final Essay

The Flat Side of the Knife

        We went to MoMA PS1 to look at some installations made by artists. The one that caught my eye was The Flat Side of the Knife by Samara Golden. When I first saw it, I was struck by its strangeness. I hadn't seen an installation like that before. Her work is initially hard to understand. Second of all, I noticed how large it was, occupying the space from ceiling to floor. It felt even larger than it actually was also, perhaps due to the mirrors creating an illusion of depth. When you view it from the top, you get a different perspective than you do from viewing it from the bottom. 

      Samara Golden created this immersive installation, full of random household objects. Staircases, couches, lamps, musical instruments, fans, and beds are scattered in her vertically placed installation. I saw there was a wheelchair on a staircase, that when you viewed it in the mirror, was seen upside-down. Her use of mirrors, like the large one placed at the bottom of her installation, created an illusion of depth that was not actually there. Rooms that were presented by this reflective mirror-like object did not actually exist but looked as if they did. There was also a video projection. With her work, Golden wanted to create something physical with her installation, but with the mirror wanted to create an illusionary world to the viewers. At first this installation looks domestic and ordinary, but the mirrors reflecting spaces that do not exist create something more psychologically unnerving. I believe her work is showing opposites at work; negativity and positivity, and the strange and normal. The color scheme in this installation is mainly silver-coated objects and light-colored arrangements, emphasizing a dreamy state. 

        When I first saw the bed, I assumed it was a house. The arrangement is very domestic. When I saw a cup of wine dropped on the floor, I thought there lived a person who was disillusioned with life. However, when I saw the instruments, I thought whoever occupied this house was someone who knew how to appreciate the music. But when I saw the wheelchair, I thought that it was a hospital and that in that hospital they would have taken care of older people with many medical problems. Under one of the staircases with the wheelchair, you can see a cluster of fabric animals. This gave me the impression of something from childhood. This installation seemed to show the stages of life for someone, perhaps, present, past, and future. The sensation that the mirrors reflecting everything gave me was that people can see more than what there really is. I thought the artist had a real ability in changing things that are real, giving them another perspective, or layer.