Josheen Oberoi of Saffronart shares a note on the ongoing installation by Ann Hamilton at the Park Avenue Armory, New York

New York: The Park Avenue Armory, a magnificent 55,000 square foot indoor space in the heart of New York, lends itself well to the public art projects and installations it has been hosting since 2007. It is currently home to the project the event of a thread by the visual artist Ann Hamilton. The individual, their place in a media and technology saturated world and the relevance of individual actions is a central concern of the artist, and this is most evident at the Park Avenue Armory where the audience is a direct participant.

The installation is constituted of many seemingly unrelated tableau (on which you can read more here), united by the fact that each signifies a human action like reading, listening, writing, playing, and swinging. The core of the project is a white diaphanous silken curtain that hangs from the 70 foot ceiling in the center of the exhibition space. This curtain, hung by a rope and pulley system, is connected to a field of swings. Available to the public for use, these swings control the movement of the white curtain. For me, this was an oddly mesmerizing experience. The exposed rope and pulley system allowed me to directly trace the path between the motion of my swing and the enormous white curtain. Swinging, a childhood activity and an act of leisure, was now a productive action creating tangible results.

This is just one of the many experiences you can have in this space with the installation. On view through January 6, 2013, try not to miss this if you are in New York. You can also hear the artist speak about the project here and read Roberta Smith’s New York Times review here.

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