"Control Room" by New York based artist Roxy Paine, 2013.
Photographed by Joseph Rynkiewicz
metal, wood, automotive parts, glass
I was just watching The China Syndrome last week on television and thinking to myself how lovely power plant control panels are, and it looks like I'm not the only one to think so. This installation will be on exhibit as part of the "Apparatus" show at the Kavi Gupta.
"With Apparatus, Roxy Paine introduces a new chapter in his work, a series of large scale dioramas. Inspired by spaces and environments designed to be activated via human interaction, a fast-food restaurant and a control room, the dioramas present spaces and objects which are hand carved from birch and maple wood and formed from steel, encased and frozen in time, void of human presence, making their inherent function obsolete. Rooted in the Greek language, diorama translates to "through that which is seen", a definition that has evolved throughout time as dioramas became conventionally known as physical windowed and encased rooms used as educational tools. Paine transforms the environments on display by using the diorama's traditional experience as a tool to create a contemplative experience where what we see behind the glass transitions between being real and being a mere shell of something real. These dioramas are not intended to be specific or accurate replicas, but merely gestures of their real life inspirations. As Paine himself states; "they are translations from one visual language to another". The environments ask the viewer's to consider their pre-conceived knowledge of the mechanics and functions of a fast food restaurant and that of a control room, as well as open up to the possibility of how this knowledge can, and will, change through time and context. "
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