To Dwell Upon Dwelling Must be a Terrible Way to Live

Dwelling… What comes to my mind when you hear this word? Is there something specific you dwell on? Maybe something you dwell in? The lobby of 33 E Congress in Chicago, IL has an art gallery entitled “Dwelling” open for students of Columbia College as well as the general public. At first glance, I noticed multiple white blankets tied together, hanging from a window pane, with TV screens in the background. The installation piece from Heather Boaz entitled “Escape” was the piece hanging. I liked the simplicity of it. Simply calling it “Escape” left it open for interpretation. In me, it evoked the emotions tied with sneaking out of the house for the first time, as well as some of the more troubling issues concerning my relationships with certain people and how I might sometimes be crawling out of that very window down the sheets.

            I moved on to the TV screens that I noticed behind it. As I watched the footage being looped on it I felt slightly creeped out. Here is this video on the left of an older man at a table walking to and from his fridge and they’re calling it “Art”?! I gave it a chance to redeem itself though and read the title and artist card, “Windows” by Olga Chernysheua. I also observed the second video screen on the right. This one was also outside of a window and provided the view of someone watching television; the curtains gave off a vibe of an older woman living there.

            I suppose together these two pieces of installation art can play off of each other really well. Together, they could tell the audience that we need to escape these mundane lives; that these windows allow us to see outside of our safe zones, or houses. There’s so much outside if we just looked out the window (including the creepy people filming us).        

There was one piece that I didn’t care for that much; “Untitled 1 & 2” by Emily Hunt came off as lazy to me. First, because of the lack of title for her photos, and second, because they didn’t seem well planned. The photos just gave off these lazy vibes like, “Oh man, I have to take pictures for that art gallery that’s going up tomorrow. Let me point my Polaroid at the window in my apartment and I’ll be done!” I can admire the effort in using a Polaroid since the film is so expensive and you only get one shot at getting the picture right but I just wasn’t feeling it. 

The next piece that caught my attention was, again, by Heather Boaz. Entitled “Defense,” it was a simple concept of putting a chair under a door handle as a means of locking yourself behind it. This door was more of an entire wall though. With an old iron doorknob, as if to say, “this has been around for a long time.” The chair underneath it also had a rustic/vintage look to it.

In short, Heather Boaz’s work was by far my favorite because of simplicity and it’s directness. And because the concepts were so simple, it allowed people of all backgrounds to attach something to it. It allowed us to see what we’re running away or hiding from. I enjoyed that the most and I’m sure I wasn’t alone on that feeling.

Overall: 

I’d say see it this week if you can.